The makers of the “Amazing Spider-Man 2” came to their Spidey senses and promised to mitigate their impact on parking in South Williamsburg during Passover.
Columbia Studios will not budge on its plan to shoot the superhero film in the neighborhood from March 22 to March 27, but the film crew agreed to alter unloading and parking strategies to avoid disrupting residents of the predominantly Orthodox Jewish community during the holiday, which begins on March 25, said Councilman Steve Levin (D–Williamsburg).
The studio vowed it would haul its equipment into the Marcy Avenue Armory after sundown on Friday, when Orthodox Jews are forbidden from driving, and said it would park its trailers in a lot rather than taking up coveted street spaces — meaning the entire film production would obstruct just a half-block of public parking spots.
Levin, who hammered out the agreement with representatives from Columbia Studios at the United Jewish Organizations headquarters on Tuesday, said the Spider-Man crew’s decision is something to marvel at.
“Reducing the amount of parking the production uses will avoid the parking struggle that had been anticipated and will allow everyone celebrating the opportunity to safely enjoy the holiday with family and friends,” said the pol, who earlier this week issued a pun-packed press release comparing the film company to ancient Egyptian slaveholders and urged authorities to “let my people park.”
The movie, which stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, took heat from Jewish leaders who worried that trailer-parking would make holiday shopping a nightmare in the community.
“It’s congested and there is no school and people are shopping,” Community Board 1 member Simon Weiser said earlier this week, before the filmmakers changed course. “It would be a hardship in the community.”
This isn’t the first time that Williamsburgers have battled the film industry — and gotten results.
Residents of the area bounded by Kent and Bedford avenues, and S. Second and S. Eighth streets won a temporary movie-making moratorium from the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater, and Broadcasting in 2009, effectively removing the community as a possible location on the city’s so-called “hot list.”
Reach reporter Danielle Furfaro at dfurfaro@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2511. Follow her at twitter.com/DanielleFurfaro.
