(Photo: Robin Platzer/Twin Images)

Even Law & Order’s Jesse L. Martin gets annoyed when his show’s production shoots take over a block. He says his neighbors still hold a grudge after the time the series filmed on his Tribeca street. “Everybody in my building was mad—God, were they mad—because they blamed me for taking their parking,” he said. “They know it’s not my fault, but they take it out on me.” He’d nearly forgotten about it, he said, until one morning: “On my block there were these orange signs—and I know what those signs mean. I thought, Oh, God, please don’t let that be us, please don’t let that be us. And I look and it’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It doesn’t matter if it’s Criminal Intent. They’ll still hunt me down and say, ‘Hey, man, you took my fucking parking today.’ ” Meanwhile, Martin’s good friend Judy Greer recounted her own battles with New York movie production. “I walked out of my building and The Devil Wears Prada was shooting outside. I was like, I wanted that part so bad and I didn’t get it. Those motherfuckers. I auditioned for that!”

Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Jada Yuan
• Table of Contents: May 1, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!