Walked down to the set of Max Payne on Sunday afternoon, and was not disappointed. They were all there, Mark Wahlberg decked out in full leather jacket included, filming a scene outside the made-up NY Police Station on King Street. Mark seemed really nice (and a lady on the crew told us as much, and clearly she is the definitive authority on the subject), and once he was done filming the scene he walked by, smiled and waved at those us of who were watching and got into his car to be chauffeured away.

Pictures to follow, with mild plot spoilers in commentary/alt text:

This was around the corner on Yonge Street, where they were obviously prepping the destruction that would happen later that evening. The snow machines were also at work, somewhat ironic considering Toronto has plenty of snow already, but I guess they like their pretty white fake snow over the ugly brown dirt coloured local style. Understandable. Although I will have to note the colo(u)r if I ever go to NY.


One of the NY police cars that was being prepped for the evening shoot. Notice also the destroyed office equipment to the left of the car.


This massive crane was holding up slabs of concrete, that looked as though they had been torn off the side of a building. Promising, if you ask me. I didn't get a good picture of it unfortunately, mostly because there was a security guard standing on that side whose glare made me feel like I was a small insect, and that actually taking a picture (*gasp*) would give him the excuse he had been wishing for since birth to crush me between his thumb and forefinger. So I continued on.


A couple more of the NY cop cars.


And finally, around the corner on King Street was the actual set where they were shooting. It was snowing on and off at the time, which either really pleased or really pissed off the director.


So here is Mark Wahlberg standing on set. As you can see I unfortunately did not get a good picture of him. I can assure you I had a better view of him than my camera did, and that his head did not actually turn into a boom mic.


And this is blurry!Mark walking to the car. Again, not a great picture but I blame Mark for walking too quickly. You'd think hope he'd be practicing his bullet-time (or maybe he was???).


Now that the sole celebrity on this project was out of the way I actually took a picture of the set. They had made the the building across the street out to look like the Fifty Fifth Precinct PD, and had done a very nice job of it too, if I do say so myself. And I do.


A closer view of the front of the building.


They were filming all this past weekend, and I know they had helicopters down flying low around between the buildings in the late of the night on Saturday (last fight scene anybody?), although they unfortunately weren't letting people near when they were doing this for safety reasons or some other made up garbage like that. Honestly. I know they're filming down at lower Bay street next week as well, so if I go check that out* I'll be sure to give some updates. All in all, very satisfying, and despite some itching qualms (can qualms itch?), I'm hopeful that maybe they will not completely butcher one of my favourite game franchises.**

*And I say "if" to pretend that I actually have a life and might have something better to do.
**Although I do have to say that if they exclude certain baby crying blood-trailed dream sequences I will not be entirely devastated.