By Will Hasty

Brooklyn settings for movie shoots probably have their roots in historic Brooklyn Heights.

The sedate, 19th century scale of the neighborhood, as well as the calm acceptance of residents, provided a comfortable backdrop for a movie director to work in Brooklyn Heights. But that was decades ago. Traffic was much less a problem, and neighbors — as well as neighborhood associations — were more compliant.

In the 1960s and 70s, movies that featured obvious Heights-based scenes included Come September (actress Sandy Dennis seen prominently on Montague Street), The Detective (Lee Remick and Frank Sinatra seen prominently on Pierrepont Place), The Sentinel (John Carradine, David’s father, seen prominently on Montague Terrace), No Way To Treat A Lady (George Segal seen running to subway at St. George Arcade) and Three Days of the Condor (Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway seen parking a car on Cranberry Street off Columbia Heights). A footnote: when that movie was shown at the Heights Cinema, locals laughed out loud when Dunaway and Redford drove up to the front of their building and parked: there were no other cars on the street. Parking was tough in the Heights even three decades ago.

Today, making movies on the streets of New York is tougher if the neighbors are inconvenienced. One might imagine a news story that reports, “Residents of Lorimer Street were excited when they heard that Jennifer Connelly and Denzel Washington would be filming a new movie on their street but after a week of lost parking spaces and miles of wire and nocturnal noise, they were calling City Hall to complain.� Such a scenario is not unlikely these days, but still, movie stars and TV personalities are, well, sexy to most people. For every complainer there are two or three average folks with cameras in hand, hoping for a shot of a famous person.

A persistent throng of passersby, paparazzi and teenage girls gathered on Middagh Street Tuesday, hoping to catch a glimpse of tween idol Robert Pattinson, who was briefly sighted peeking out of a trailer parked between Henry Street and Cadman Plaza West.

Pattinson, who recently shot to fame with his role as a vampyric heart-throb in the movie Twilight, is in New York filming Remember Me, a romantic and family drama that also stars Pierce Brosnen and Emilie de Ravin. According to TheHollywoodGossip.com, Pattinson has been hounded so relentlessly by female fans over the past few weeks that producers have put the set on lockdown. Scores of gossip blogs also reported that Pattinson has been growing increasingly distressed by all the attention he’s received in New York — and, if the screaming girls on Middagh were any indication, in Brooklyn too.

Greenpoint has also recently become the trotting ground of many New York and Brooklyn directors and producers. Both the seasoned and the green alike have descended on this drowsy Brooklyn neighborhood in search of gritty and unique locations. Greenpoint has become so popular in recent months that during a recent five-day period three simultaneous shoots invaded, soaking up parking for days at a time.

The shoots included a parade scene for The Bounty, an upcoming Jennifer Aniston flick, a outdoor party scene for the hip-hop romance titled Step Up 3-D and the majority of principal photography for a Martin Scorsese-directed HBO pilot titled Boardwalk Empire. At least five other projects have been filmed in the area in recent weeks.

While Greenpoint residents are calling for film crews to be less obtrusive and free up some much needed parking space, for now, it seems, the film industries demand for “gritty� Brooklyn locations isn’t going anywhere.

Mark Feuerstein and Paulo Costanzo were sighted in Greenpoint on the set of “Royal Pains.� Feuerstein plays a young ER doctor who, after being wrongly blamed for a patient’s death, moves to the Hamptons and becomes the reluctant “doctor for hire� to the rich and famous. The show is currently in production and is scheduled to be distributed by Universal this fall.

Date Night, a comedy starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell, was being shot in Greenpoint last week. While the residents were up in arms over the disruption to their quiet part of town, Fey herself elaborated on her love of Brooklyn and her wish to feature Brooklyn more in her hit TV show “30 Rock,� which until now has only glorified Manhattan. Is “30 Rock� coming to BK?

World-renowned filmmaker Martin Scorsese was seen alongside Steve Buscemi on the set of the upcoming TV show “Boardwalk Empire� in Greenpoint last week. The Scorsese-directed HBO pilot looks at the history of the Atlantic City’s boardwalk from its origins as a quiet seaside resort to the casino empire it is today.

The show is based on the book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson. It has been rumored that Scorsese is in negotiations for the rights to shoot in historic Brooklyn Heights, too. The Heights has long been accustomed to film and television shoots, accommodating everything from “Gossip Girl� to 25th Hour and Trading Places.

Kevin Smith’s new comedy, A Couple of Dicks, stars Bruce Willis, Seann William Scott and Michelle Trachtenberg, among others. Lucky Greenpoint residents got a glimpse of Smith’s trademark antics when he was seen giving notes to Willis during the shoot. As reported by the Brooklyn Eagle, the cast, including Tracy Morgan, was previously seen filming in Bay Ridge in June.

The film tells the story of two cops who cross paths with a woman in need of rescuing, gangsters and laundered money. The anticipated comedy is scheduled to be released summer 2010. As has been previously reported, A Couple of Dicks will be Smith’s first feature film based on a screenplay that he didn’t write.

In other news, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are moving to Brooklyn.

With the arrival of their new twins, Parker and Broderick have bought a mansion on Prospect Park West. The mansion itself, rumored to have sold for just under nine million, was previously owned by Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany. Connelly, who grew up in Brooklyn, recommended the mansion to Parker.

It was also recently reported that SJP’s production company Pretty Matches has optioned (with HBO) the newest novel of Amy Sohn, titled Prospect Park West for a series. Sloper Sohn, former New York magazine sex columnist, was a contributor to Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell, the companion book to the television series.

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