Participants in Sunday’s Hunger Walk at Morristown’s Church of the Redeemer witnessed a startling sight: A gunman fleeing Braunschweiger Jewelers on South Street.
Fortunately, it was only actor Jakob Voneichel.
The TV show America’s Most Wanted spent the weekend in town shooting an episode about an international ring of jewel thieves called the Pink Panthers.
On Sunday, Braunschweiger’s stood in for a shop in Liechtenstein, while the Dark Horse Lounge became a Serbian bar.
For nearly 12 hours on Saturday, the United Methodist Church and its parking lot variously served as a Parisian hotel lobby, a hospital and a prison courtyard.
Peter Gillespie, who directed the episode, is a Parsippany native who chose Morristown because of its diverse backdrops. (His first choice, the College of Saint Elizabeth, had a scheduling conflict.)
The weekend gave some area residents a chance to don new personas, as extras. At the church, Pastor Neill Tolboom, board president Andrew Cattano and parishioner Leslie Raff had non-speaking parts, as did local attorney Jerry Levine.
“It’s fun, but it’s a lot of hurry-up-and-wait,” said Jerry, who was recruited by the producers over coffee at SmartWorld.
He did some theater work in college and actually has a commercial under his belt, as “Employee No. 7” for an electronics company.
Pastor Neill was ready for a speaking part– “that’s how I make my living” –but settled for a silent walk-through in the “hotel lobby.”
Andy repeated his walk-through four times. Fun, yes. A new career?
“Probably not,” he said.
Daniella Bachar had a similar take over at Braunschweiger’s, where she played a terrified salesperson during a robbery scene.
She studied psychology in college and is a waitress at George & Martha’s American Grill. A friend told her about the America’s Most Wanted role; her prior TV appearance was on a game show, Chain Reaction.
“I lost,” she said with a smile.
Daniella’s part on Sunday consisted of putting her hands up for a couple of hours. She thought it was a paid gig, but she wasn’t sure.
“It’s very cool to see how it all works together,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s really for me. But it’s cool.”
America’s Most Wanted is interested in the Pink Panthers–named after the movie series made famous by Peter Sellers–because they have struck in the U.S., Peter Gillespie said.
The show works closely with law enforcement in hopes of generating tips that will lead to arrests, said segment writer Keith Greenberg, who has written a book about professional wrestling and has a new one coming out about the day John Lennon was assassinated. Over 22 years, America’s Most Wanted claims it has helped authorities collar more than 1,100 fugitives.
This 12-minute episode will cost around $100,000 to produce–chump change for the Pink Panthers, but enough to hire a small army of actors and technicians. Their courteous and efficient manner earned good reviews from their hosts at each venue. Shards of “sugar glass,” a fragile prop that simulated a jewelry counter, were vacuumed up almost as fast as an actor could break them at Braunschweiger’s. And the crew managed to work around a large religious gathering, the Road to Emmaus, at the church.
Peter was assisted by line producer Miles Perman, who recently took up hockey playing to blow off steam. First assistant director Inna Braude held everyone to a tight schedule–overtime is expensive–while sticking to a schedule of her own: Her first child is due in a few weeks.
What if the baby had decided to make an early appearance? Would the show have gone on?
“Of course,” she said. “The show always goes on!”
The episode is scheduled to air on Nov. 6, on Fox. Linda Walsh, owner of the Dark Horse, hopes she will be able to view it. Fox has yanked its local stations off Cablevision in a contractual dispute.
