If the mid-century Mad Men aren't for you, perhaps you've been tuning in to HBO on Sunday nights for Boardwalk Empire, the show set in Atlantic City during the Prohibition Era. While New Jersey may be the backdrop, there's plenty of New York City to be seen—and not just in the New York gangsters portrayed on the show. First of all, they've been shooting all over the city, and the 1920s boardwalk was actually built in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Check out this timelapse below:
Now Crain's reports that this once empty lot in Greenpoint—previously slated for a luxury condo—is not only housing the city's largest outdoor set ever built (at 300-feet long), but the the city's most lucrative production. The show's co-producer, Joe Iberti, told the site, “We are the biggest production of the season. In terms of scale and the number of people employed, it's on the level of a Law & Order and is probably even bigger.” Other shots are filmed inside Steiner Studios (and elsewhere in New York, like Far Rockaway and Park Slope), but this one is the centerpiece—and it's being closely guarded from the public behind many, many crates (ScoutingNY tracked it down).
One Syracuse professor says the set reminds him of "the kind of things they used to build in the golden age of filmmaking in Los Angeles, which has never been done in New York. It's different than just shooting on the streets of New York, because it's got the right look, like Law & Order did. This show isn't just good for employment; it's glamorous.” Take that, Gossip Girl. If you haven't watched it yet, check out the trailer for the show below:
