Exclusive: on the set of Letters to Juliet, week two

Qui e qui le versioni in italiano.

Here you’ll find “Part 1” of our exclusive spy-reportage from the set of Letters to Juliet, Verona.

I’m writing this on saturday, July 4th, and I just got back from my last investigation on the set of Letters to Juliet. This morning I received a phone call: my father told me they were shooting in Piazza Erbe, a very ancient square and one of the most beautiful spots in Verona. I immediately went there to see it for myself, since I knew that they don’t usually shoot anything in the weekend. I found out, in fact, that there was just a couple of guys taking a long shot of the square. And this, essentially, wraps the second week of shooting for Letters to Juliet.

MONDAY

A week full of great stuff, indeed. It all started on monday: I already knew that they were shooting on one of the largest streets in the center of Verona, Via Cappello, home of the famous “House of Juliet”, where you can visit the “balcony” depicted in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Yeah, no shit. Anyway, I decided to go and take a look. And what I found was nothing exciting: you can see it for yourself in the pictures below.

Yeah, lots of people staring, lots of extras, but the real action was quite far from my sight. So I tried to enter the set from the hall of a building, situated on the other end of the street. I managed to get a closer look, and I even saw Amanda Seyfried entering the vault of Juliet’s Courtyard, where the balcony is situated (second picture below). The camera followed her while she hesitantly headed inside. And that was it. I couldn’t take pictures, because it was too dark near the vault and everything happened too fast. After that, the crew packed everything up and moved inside the Courtyard, for the afternoon session.

I went back at 7 p.m., and to my surprise I found out that, yes, they were shooting in the Courtyard, but they were also letting us see the damn thing! So I found myself a nice front raw spot, and I started taking pictures and videos. Below, you can see Amanda filming her scene: she sits on this bench, reading the titular “letters to Juliet”. Then a girl walks past her, towards us. She notices her, and decides to follow her. Cut.

When she finished shooting, Amanda walked towards us, to exit the Courtyard, and I took some good pictures, and one I am ashamed of. But the camera was still loading when Amanda passed by, only two meters away from me! In the second picture, she’s with director Gary Winick.

Ahem…

TUESDAY

The next morning I went back: they were shooting on the same location, but there was a courtain covering the entire vault. I was about to get away, but then I talked to one on the guys guarding the vault, asking where they were going to shot the next day. And he, instead, let me speak with unit publicist Andy Lipshultz. Lipschultz was very kind, but there wasn’t much to say: shooting is going great, the city helped a lot. Vanessa Redgrave was shooting her scenes in that moment, while Franco Nero is going to join the cast only in Siena, in a few weeks.

WEDNESDAY

The set was moved on Wednesday on another location, Piazzetta Pescheria, a little square non too distant from Via Cappello. They built the façade of a so called “Letters to Juliet Restaurant”, complete with cafè-like tables. They were shooting a scene with Seyfried and Redgrave I suppose. Then Chris Egan comes in, and he and Amanda argue about something. You can see them “arguing” in the video below, shot by a fellow citizen. I took a lot of pictures, but none of them during the actual shooting, because they forced us to leave the set. Take a look.

Can anyone recognize the woman in this picture? Is she Vanessa Redgrave? I personally think the other one is. You know, the one turning her back on us. What do you think?

TUESDAY and FRIDAY

Shooting went on Tuesday and Friday night, on the same location. They were shooting this scene in which Vanessa Redgrave, Amanda, Seyfried, and italian guest stars Milena Vukotic and Luisa Ranieri were having dinner together. Quite boring, since I could see very little, and I obviously couldn’t take pictures, because it was too dark. I managed to take some pics anyway, and I posted the best ones here and in our gallery. Only interesting thing that happened: at about midnight a van stopped behind me, and Chris Egan came out. He then reached the set, so I guess he is part of the “dinner scene” too, in some way. And that is all, my friends. Hope to find something interesting to tell you, as we enter the third week of shooting here, in the beautiful Verona. Stay tuned!