Hollywood Comes to Downtown Haverhill Next Week

“Jennifer Lawrence at 214. Wetten, dass.. ? show in Graz, 8. Nov. 2014 cropped,” by Kurt Kulac. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Hollywood is apparently coming to downtown Haverhill next week.

There are unconfirmed reports downtown Washington Street will be closed to traffic Tuesday as filming commences. Reports suggest director David O. Russell’s presentation of “Joy,” a biographical comedy-drama, will use downtown as a backdrop for certain scenes.

The street closing is being coordinated by the city’s Department of Public Works, sources said. Movie industry sources said filming was to have taken place last month, but was postponed because of snow.

“Joy” stars Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and Édgar Ramírez. Filming began last month in Boston. Crews have been spotted in Wilmington, North Reading, Winchester and Lynn.

Governor Charles D. Baker has proposed elimination of film industry tax credits. In his upcoming budget, he proposes to double the state’s earned income tax credit for poor families, using funds set aside for movie-industry tax credits.

2 thoughts on “Hollywood Comes to Downtown Haverhill Next Week

  1. The tax credits are controversial to many. But, if we give out taxpayer money for the new downtown development, why not for movies that bring in money, jobs and publicity too ? I think the another problem can be the local politicians who seem to get greedy thinking they can squeeze these folks for cold hard cash. You either want the publicity of a movie in your town or you don’t. Make up your mind as to whether or not the welcome sign is out here and across the state!