They were filming in Chicago Chinatown's Wentworth Street. The film crew totally transformed one of the gift stores into a movie set! They moved all of the nick-knacks out of the store and put some meat on display and random Chinese candies inside the store. There were extras and cars lined up on the street to pass through the scene at the right time. Only part of the street was blocked for filming, so the lucky tourists that happened to walk by were able to take pictures and watch the magic happen. Most of the Chinese people that lived in Chinatown just wanted to cross the street because they had no idea what was happening. Who the heck is Channing Tatum? I just want to get some bok choy!
Luckily, I lived near Chinatown so I could run to my house to grab my camera with huge zooming lenses to get clear pictures. Other people were caught by surprise and only had their phones and iPods. "There's lots of paparazzi here," the security guard said. Gosh...I'm sure he was just talking about me. The security guards blocked the streets when they were filming and told me that pictures weren't allowed, but someone with more authority told us that pictures were allowed, but no flash. I was going to take pictures anyways- it's much too exciting.
The Hollywood interpretation of a Chinatown store
Here's the scene: Channing Tatum parks his car and gets out, leaving Winona Ryder inside. He walks into the store and buys a roast duck from the Asian dude. The salesman dumps the duck into a plastic bag and gives it to Tatum. He gets out of the store, waving the duck at the woman. Then, he gets back in the car and drives away. They must have done the same scene at least ten times.
Tatum with duck in a bag
Hollywood is hilarious... in the real Chinatown, the butcher chops the duck up and puts it in an aluminum take out box, all of the drivers aren't white, and the people walking aren't all young and hip.
If I walk around Chicago, I might just end up watching the whole movie!
