New York, New York, it's a helluva town! Jennifer Lopez is up and Leo DiCaprio's down.... Not quite the ditty you remember? Just try dodging the movie crews crowding the Big Apple lately. From The Bronx to Brooklyn to Central Park, nearly three times the usual number of productions have been filming in recent months, bringing big stars, big trailers and—best of all—big bucks to a city still hurting from the economic repercussions of Sept. 11. "It was important we come back here," says Mary McLagen, executive producer of Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock's Two Weeks Notice, the first major-studio movie to shoot in New York City after the terrorist attacks. "When we were down on Wall Street, after every single take the crowd erupted in applause." Out-of-towners like Steven Spielberg soon joined the action, as did natives Woody Allen and Robert De Niro ("the unofficial Mayor of New York," says his Analyze That director Harold Ramis). Of course, the city's streets have long lured filmmakers. "Wherever you point a camera, it feels like you're making something cool and cinematic," says Hugh Grant. And the locals? "Most of them," says Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, producer of Lopez's Chambermaid, "are too busy to care."
HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS
Kate Hudson, who costars in the romantic comedy, kept shady in lower Manhattan June 30. "We ail want to pretend to be jaded New Yorkers," said Village resident Mark DeMaio as he watched a scene from his apartment's fire escape. "But to see movie stars at work is still a charge."
ANALYZE THAT
Long Island-raised Billy Crystal (in Brooklyn June 17) and New York City native Robert De Niro ganged up again for the sequel to '99's Mob hit Analyze This—and drew out the unabashed fans in New Yorkers. Says director Harold Ramis: "I went to a basketball game with Billy, and 23,000 people had to say hello to him personally."
TWO WEEKS NOTICE
Sandra Bullock (in midtown Manhattan April 11) "insisted" on shooting on location, says executive producer Mary McLagen, who calls the romantic comedy "a valentine to New York." Costar Hugh Grant appreciated the crew. "They're real people," he says, "which is not always the case in California."
ANYTHING ELSE
Brooklyn-born Woody Allen's latest comedy costars Christina Ricci and Jason Biggs (with Allen near Times Square June 7). The director can be picky: On a recent film his location manager requested "five different locations every day," says Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting commissioner Patricia Reed Scott. "I said, 'Look, the West Side is ready to stone me already!' "
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
Steven Spielberg's crime caper, starring Leonardo DiCaprio (on Park Avenue April 1), brought 1960s cars and fashions to city streets. "This is so cool," said passerby Kim Martin, 37. "When they say 'roll,' New York from 40 years ago comes alive."
CHAMBERMAID
"She's so pretty!" gasped Gabrielle Hernandez, 12, who joined a crowd clamoring for autographs from Bronx native Jennifer Lopez (in midtown Manhattan June 25). She plays a hotel maid wooed by a wealthy political candidate (Ralph Fiennes) in the Cinderella romance.
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