Thanks for the memories

Bayonne crowds greet Cruise in his last days of filming

By Al Sullivan
Reporter senior staff writer

The moment the cameras stopped on Nov. 19 and the crews began to pack up for the night, a crowd began to gather, believing that the filming of Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the War of the Worlds would cease operations in Bayonne and move onto its next filming site on Staten Island.

So extensive was the six-day shoot that Spielberg's team had to close off blocks in order to avoid crowds, and has approached many of the residents along First Street and Kennedy Boulevard for use of their yards for parts of the film.

For most of the day, only a handful of people clung to the barriers set up a few blocks away from the production, their faces struck with awe as lights flashed and smoke rose from the set near the foot of the Bayonne Bridge.

These were a dedicated and diverse collection of curious souls, some from the local neighborhood who could not get their fill of the excitement, others from elsewhere in Bayonne and beyond, all of whom hoped to catch sight of Tom Cruise or Steven Spielberg.

As the day progressed their numbers increased, some bringing expensive cameras with exaggeratedly long lenses with hopes to snap a picture of the stars huddled behind the wall of equipment several blocks away. Some had only small digital cameras, while others brought binoculars. Some brought nothing at all, pushing baby carriages or clutching shopping bags from some chores they meant to complete when they got caught up in the drama of waiting.

Many of these people were repeat visitors, returning again and again over the weeklong filming session, knowing that this was an event they were not likely to witness again in their lifetimes - even though Bayonne seems to have become a kind of movie capital thanks to studios located at the former Military Ocean Terminal.

One would-be actor from Jersey City - who did not wish to give his name - followed the progress of the film via the Internet. He knew where the filmmakers had been, such as downtown Newark, and where they were expected to go next after leaving Bayonne. He had even seen photos from some of the scenes sneaked out by staff or allowed out by Spielberg for a little free underground pre-release publicity to Spielberg fan club websites. This Jersey City man had even tried to get a job on the film as one of the extras just so that he could be closer to the action, but had not been selected.

Tom Cruise poses

But on this Friday, when filming was scheduled to stop, more and more people began to show up, knowing that their brief contact with fame was about to end. Some of these had already managed to catch what had become something of an evening ritual of waiting for Tom Cruise - the film's star - to appear. Each night when he was finished shooting for the day, Cruise made his way from the film set on Kennedy Boulevard to Gorman soccer field in Dennis Collins Park on West First Street, where a helicopter flew him out of Bayonne.

On Monday night, Nov. 15, only a handful of people knew of this small secret, so that about 25 people greeted him at the gate when the black Cadillac Escalade dropped him off at the field gate and his bodyguard accompanied him to the waiting helicopter.

"He must have been tired that night from shooting," said Donna Antisz, a teacher at Woodrow Wilson School in Bayonne. "The first night, he just waved as he went to the helicopter."

By Tuesday, word had spread and more than a 100 people were waiting for Cruise when he climbed out for his helicopter ride home. Local police had to urge people back from the gate to make room for him to pass. Many - including some police - were surprised when he did not rush off as he had the first night, but halted at the gate to greet his fans. He shook hands, hugged people, gave autographs, and even put children on his shoulder as he posed for pictures.

Stacie Lee, a Bayonne resident, had brought her 6.5-year-old daughter, Anastasia, to the barriers on West First Street, hoping to get a glimpse of Cruise. A big fan of the superstar, she couldn't pass up the chance to see Cruise, who was scheduled to spend six days shooting in Bayonne.

"I came early about 4:30 (p.m.) hoping to see him," she said.

Then, someone whispered in her year about the helicopter parked in the field. She was standing outside the gate on Tuesday when Cruise appeared - a smiling, waving and extremely friendly Cruise, who greeted everyone near him.

"He posed for pictures and signed autographs," Lee said. "He was very nice. While everybody else was excited, he seemed calm and relaxed."

Then one of the security people picked Lee's daughter up, apparently to help her see Cruise better, and Cruise took the child on his shoulder and posed for a picture.

This is a moment that will remain fixed in Lee's memory forever, and by far the most exciting moment of her life so far, because she and her daughter managed to talk with the star for almost 10 minutes.

"He asked me my name and I told him, and when I went to take the picture, he noticed that my zoom was out," Lee said. "He instructed me on how to take the picture."

Looks like he does in the movies

Caren Horvot, another local resident, was also there on Tuesday, waiting with the others even though the temperature dropped. People were anxious partly because Cruise's schedule varied. On Monday, he had finished shooting by 3 p.m., but on Tuesday, he didn't get done until nearer to 7 p.m. City Council President Vincent LoRe said Spielberg had pressed Cruise to repeat a scene at the Kennedy Boulevard home of Henry Sanchez. "He must have asked Tom Cruise to park the car eight times until Spielberg got what he wanted," LoRe said. But Horvot and the crowd waited for a glimpse of Cruise anyway.

"He looks like he does in the movies," Horvot said. "He's not tall. But he's handsome, and he has an incredible smile."

Most of the crowd was as enthusiastic as she was. One teen, she recalled, even held out a sneaker for Cruise to sign.

"The teenager yelled out, 'Will you sign my shoe,' but the police officer told him to put it away," Horvot said, surprised how accommodating Cruise was in posing for pictures, signing autographs and even giving people hugs. "He talked to a lot of people," she said.

Stacie Engdall recalled how the crowd surged at times, but that Cruise never lost his cool and even allowed his assistant to snap the picture so she could pose with him.

The crowd gathers

By Friday night, word had spread so that many more people showed up early and many more continued to come, each believing this would be the last chance any of them would get to see Cruise.

Mary Lou Dembowski said she had missed Cruise on Wednesday because her father had reported Cruise showing up late on Tuesday. She came the same time, but by then Cruise had already gone.

Vincent Mokpsycki, who had talked to various members of the production staff, said Cruise's family had come to the shoot on Tuesday night, but that Cruise's sister was on the set every day.

Denise Yurek had brought her deceased brother's dog Sudsy to see Cruise. She had tried to get the dog hired as an extra, but was informed the film company wasn't hiring pets.

Annette Greedon, hadn't originally come to see Cruise, but lived across the street and used the parking lot next to the field to park her car. Since the exit was blocked by police and fire vehicles, she figured she might as well wait to see Cruise.

Member of the film company had come to her house last spring to tell them and others on her block that Spielberg would be filming her.

"They asked us to be patient with them," she recalled. "They also asked if any of us wanted to be extras in the film."

While the production company had not make use of her property for the film, they had used her brother's back yard a block away, and she had seen some of the action through the window.

"We could look out the windows, but we weren't allowed to go out on the deck," she said.

Something different for the neighborhood

Joe Magenhimer, who was cleaning his car earlier in front of his West First Street home, said he had watched from of the scenes being filmed from a distance. A bus driver for 40 years and a resident of the area since 1958, Magenhimer admitted this was one of the more exciting moments he had seen, although he could remember when Uncle Milty's Amusement Park operated just down the street and also recalled when the park where Cruise's helicopter landed was once a swamp. Film people had also visited his house for use of the yards his block for a chase scene featuring Cruise.

"It's something different," he said with a laugh.

Nelly Basile, sitting on a porch hear where Cruise was expected to flee from attacking space aliens, said she had only seen Cruise at a distance when he was climbing into a car. Even then, she couldn't make him out clearly because he wore a hat.

A life-long resident of Bayonne, Basile admitted this was the most unusual thing she had witnessed in the neighborhood. When asked if she was Cruise fan, she shook her head.

"I don't go for these actors nowadays," she said. "I like old-time actors."

But she seemed impressed by the fact that Spielberg was filming a horror movie here, and recalled how terrified she was when as a little girl she had seen vampire movies staring Bella Lugosi at the DeWitt Theater on Broadway.

Thanks, Tom, and come again

By 5 p.m. on Friday, the crowds near the landing field had grown so that hundreds of people - perhaps as many as a thousand all totaled - waited for Cruise to come, all wanting to wave to him and wish him well as the film moved onto its next location. Many of the crowd wanted to thank him for spending some time with them in Bayonne and let him know that all would remember his coming.

Of course, all intend to see the film when it comes out in early July, 2005.

"It would be nice for Mr. Spielberg to hold a premiere here," said Lois Denny. "But Bayonne doesn't have a movie theater."