I was making my way to Grand Central yesterday evening, doing a little Pershing Square dancing with the usual two minutes to get from 42nd Street to my train.
There was a massive crowd in front of Grand Central; clearly, a film shoot was going on. It takes a lot to get more than a few dozen New Yorkers to stop and actually watch a shoot–remember, we had live Law & Order whenever we wanted it for the last 37 years–and this shoot was succeeding in that regard, easily a few hundred people watching the proceedings.
At the heart of the shoot was a man with wild, dark hair and a rakish top hat. The Missus had PPV’d Tim Burton’s trippy “Alice in Wonderland” the night before, so I immediately thought of Johnny Depp as I crossed 42nd.
Nope, wasn’t him. As I got closer, I saw it was actually Russell Brand hamming it up for the crowd. He’s starring in a remake of Arthur.
Who would’ve thought Brand, a.k.a. Mr. Katy Perry, was so recognizable to the chubby, moneyed white GCT demo?