Rarely do City Hall press conferences feature appreciative catcalls, whistles and quality impressions of Mayor Nutter, but that was the scene minutes ago, as Jamie Foxx and other crew members of the film now taping in City Hall appeared with the mayor for a few remarks in front of a bank of television cameras and very, very enthusiastic city employees.
The film, Law Abiding Citizen, features a few notable names, including Gerard Butler, Leslie Bibb and Bruce McGill, in addition to Foxx. It is directed by F. Gary Gray, director of the Italian Job among other films. As they filed in, the crowd of city workers feverishly snapped photos and videotaped their arrival. And yes, there were some whistles, mostly directed at Foxx and Butler.
Nutter presented the cast with the city’s official gift – a miniature Liberty Bell (seriously) – and used the occasion to tout Philadelphia as a great place to film movies and teleivision series.
Gerard Butler stepped to the mike and jokingly complained that he was tired of getting second billing in films starring Academy Award winners (like Foxx), and hoisted the bell, proclaiming: “this is my Oscar.”
Foxx, though, stole the show with his dead-on impersonation of Mayor Nutter. It was a challenge to make out what Foxx was saying (amid all the squealing of city workers), but he got the mayor’s sometimes nasally tone down cold.