STEUBENVILLE - Joe DeSantis stood patiently at the corner of Third and Market streets with his camera in hand.
The city's streets and sanitation superintendent had accommodated a request to block off part of South Third Street for a day's filming of the Denzel Washington movie "Unstoppable."
But DeSantis and a reporter were soon asked by a City Police officer to stop taking photos and move away from the corner.
Film crews can be touchy about who is standing near a scene where Washington and other actors playing railroad workers are riding in a work van for a five second scene on the Market Street bridge.
For a few hours Tuesday Hollywood came to downtown Steubenville as the film makers shot multiple versions of a railroad van filled with workers driving west on the Market Street bridge.
The movie stars Washington as a veteran engineer who is able to jump onto a runaway train in order to help the young conductor, played by Chris Pine, try to stop it.
The movie story line has the train loaded with a toxic cargo and headed for a major American city.
"Denzel, hey Denzel," called a woman standing behind the Stern Law Building on North Third Street.
A man who appeared to be Washington sat in the front passenger seat of the van as it was first towed across the bridge by a truck filled with camera and sound personnel and later driven across the span.
"This will be a small scene in the movie if this makes the final cut. There will be editing and it may be determined later that this scene won't make the cut. But I know our director liked this bridge," explained movie publicist Gabriela Gutentag.
"But unless you are from here and know this bridge most people will not know this scene took place here," added Gutentag.
The crew had filmed Monday in Mingo Junction and then moved a small village of 330 people, tents, trailers and equipment to an empty lot of Follansbee.
"Our call time today was 6:18 a.m. This is what making movies is really like. Just a lot of waiting for a few minutes of actual action," noted Gutentag.
"When we shoot the van driving across the bridge we will be using that small helicopter to film the scene from above. And that helicopter pilot will be very tight on the bridge," advised Gutentag.
Approximately an hour after the van was towed several times across the bridge the van then was allowed to move on its own. And as the helicopter, equipped with two cameras zoomed back and forth above the Ohio River, the railroad work van was driven across the bridge three times.
Then it was break time for the small army of actors and assorted film crew members who retired to their temporary village in Follansbee for lunch.
"We started filming several weeks ago in Pennsylvania before moving to Bellaire, Martins Ferry, Mingo Junction and now Steubenville. This is a nice community, and everyone has been very accommodating," Gutentag said.
Steubenville Mayor Domenick Mucci welcomed the visit by the film company when he heard the news last week.
"It is always welcome news whenever the city is looked upon in a favorable light. Hopefully the viewers of the final product will realize Steubenville was used for a scene or two in the movie. This is another opportunity to promote our city," said Mucci.
Police Chief William McCafferty said the movie company hired several off-duty police officers for traffic control.
"This is our one day in Steubenville. After Tuesday we will be moving to our next location but I really can't talk about where we will be," said Gutentag.
By 2 p.m. Tuesday the Market Street bridge and South Third Street were open again and the Hollywood film crew had moved on to their next location.
(Gossett can be contacted at dgossett@heraldstaronline.com.)
