Brunswick, Ga. — A crew that is setting part of Brunswick back 90 years and 230 miles south is nearly done with its work.
The storefronts and vacant lots along the city's Newcastle and some connecting streets have been transformed as a movie stand-in for Prohibition-era Ybor City, the Cuban enclave and cigar-rolling district where rum was shipped north to speakeasies in the big city. Filming of Ybor City scenes in the Ben Affleck movie, "Live by Night" will begin Nov. 2 and continue several days.
Affleck will direct and star in the film that is based on a novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. "Live by Night" is an Irish and Italian gangster tale set in Boston and Ybor City.
Crews have been working for several weeks, constructing a store and restaurant from scratch and dressing up others, several with new facades. On Monday, dirt and mulch were piled high in the median waiting to be spread onto the street, which is now closed to traffic.
"It's meant to give it the look of a sandy, old dirt road," City Manager Jim Drumm said. "There was no asphalt on the streets back then."
Drumm said the dirt also will be spread into the 1400 block of Newcastle and onto Mansfield Street, which intersects with Newcastle.
Storefronts along the street-turned-movie set have been strikingly transformed with the addition of balconies, awnings and signs with Spanish names and pitches.
The technical wizardry of the movie industry has not gone unnoticed. Mathew Hill, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority, has worked closely with movie officials and has watched the progress from his Old City Hall office that is separated from the set by a park.
"It's been an attraction," he said. "There have been people walking all over the place, looking at it. Even on Sunday, there were a lot of people. Some of them were people who haven't been to downtown in a long time or maybe ever. Hopefully, they will come back."
The sidewalks will remain open to pedestrian traffic except for when the cameras are rolling, Hill said, allowing onlookers possibly to get a glimpse of Affleck, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, Dakota Fanning and other cast members.
"It will be interesting," Hill said.
Shooting will take place during daylight hours and at night, Hill said, and will continue through Nov. 4 barring any unscheduled delays.
Scenes also will be shot at a building on Monck Street, the 1600 block of Newcastle and at Old City Hall, which did not require a makeover.
"They're taking down a handrail," Drumm said. "That's all. It's old. It will fit in just fine."
The movie has caused a disruption in the business-as-usual downtown, officials acknowledge.
"We realize this will be an inconvenience for everyone and we will try hard to minimize our impact," the movie's location managers, Laura Bryant and Madeline Bell, wrote to merchants.
But Hill said downtown won't be the same as now when they're gone.
"After they get through filming, they're going to start taking it all down," he said. "It will be sad. It was not built to be permanent."
Some painted-on signs and other mementoes may remain, but that will be up to the building owners, Hill said.
