Crowds gathered at the corner of California and Battery streets in San Francisco on Friday afternoon for an unlikely sight: a sprawling tent encampment in the heart of the Financial District that spread out across all sides of the intersection. The primary stretch was on California Street, but something wasn’t quite right: The half block was cluttered with tents that looked a little too clean, and carefully placed debris included an odd sports trophy.
“To the trained eye, somehow they don’t look like regular homeless encampments,” said Bryan Talmage, a former San Francisco resident who was in town for a wedding. Talmage first saw the tents yesterday. “… A burn barrel? That was my first clue, come on, this is like the movies.”
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Talmage’s initial suspicions were correct: It was indeed a movie set. Security guards stopped bystanders from walking into the scene, which was an active film shoot with a boom camera perched overhead across the street and camera-equipped vans driving by. Every few minutes, the stretch of sidewalk came to life with extras milling about. Although the encampment was somewhat lacking in verisimilitude, it didn’t stop some San Franciscans from reporting the tents to 311.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt was spotted stepping out of a production van and into the middle of the scene just before 3 p.m on Friday afternoon. Gordon-Levitt is the director of the film, which is shooting under the working title “2034.” The publicist team for the film confirmed that they were in town for three days of filming. Eagle-eyed Redditors spotted Gordon-Levitt filming in additional locations earlier in the week near City Hall, with Mayor Daniel Lurie standing by.
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Available details about the film frame it as an AI-related thriller to be distributed through Netflix, with a star-studded cast that includes Rachel McAdams, Jeff Daniels, Joel Edgerton, Alfre Woodard, Toni Collette, former Oakland Raider Nnamdi Asomugha and “Stranger Things” breakout Caleb McLaughlin. Gordon-Levitt co-wrote the film alongside Kieran Fitzgerald (“Fallout,” “Snowden”), with Natasha Lyonne contributing to the story. Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman, the duo behind the “Knives Out” series, serve as producers. Although he’s best known as an actor, this is not Gordon-Levitt’s first time behind the camera. He also directed 2013’s “Don Jon” and the 2021 Apple TV series “Mr. Corman,” among other credits.
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In an email to SFGATE, the “2034” publicity team noted that they hoped the city’s expanded tax incentive will bring more filming to the city. SFGATE reached out to the San Francisco Film Commission for details on additional locations but did not receive confirmation by time of publication.
Know of something interesting happening at a San Francisco venue? Is there a movie filming in your neighborhood? Do you have a friend working on a cool project we should know about? Email SFGATE’s senior culture editor at Dan.Gentile@sfgate.com.
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