Montclair got a new neighbor in August: a Netflix crew filming yards from town at Brookdale Park. Down the road in Bloomfield, a CBS legal drama took over a banquet hall for the week. Adam Sandler brought half the cast of “Grown Ups” back to the state, along with a director who moved into Montclair for the entire shoot. Four productions rolled through New Jersey last month, and together they explain why movies keep filming here, month after month, with no sign of slowing.
What Filmed in Montclair in August
The only production with confirmed activity within Montclair’s borders this past August was “Enigma Variations,” Netflix’s eight-episode limited series based on André Aciman’s novel.
According to the Montclair Local, Essex County confirmed in late August that Wandering in Rome Productions, the company behind the shoot, filmed at the tennis complex in Brookdale Park, with “Welcome to the Central Park Tennis Center” signs on the court. The series stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Paul, a role first attached to Jeremy Allen White before Taylor-Johnson signed on, with Alicia Vikander joining the cast over the summer. Filming began in Jersey City on July 6 and is scheduled to continue into October, with a break for scenes shot in Italy. See our footage of Taylor-Johnson at Brookdale Park here.
Where Else Cameras Rolled in New Jersey
Montclair wasn’t the only Essex County town with cameras rolling this August.
In Bloomfield, the CBS legal drama “Cupertino” filmed at a banquet hall, with a base camp set up on East Passaic Avenue. The show follows a lawyer, played by Mike Colter, who loses his job in a corporate scandal and teams up with another fired attorney, played by Rachel Keller, to take on what CBS calls the “Goliaths controlling Silicon Valley.” A network spokesperson confirmed the New Jersey filming but declined to share further shoot details.
A few miles away, crews spent about a week this August reworking the H.A.T. Tavern in West Orange for scenes in “Discretion,” Paramount+’s upcoming legal thriller starring Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning and Josh Lucas, as reported by the Downtown West Orange Alliance.
“Grown Ups 3” is the biggest production working in New Jersey this August. Production started August 6 and is scheduled to run through mid-October. Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade and Rob Schneider are all back, joined by Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph and Maria Bello, with Julie Bowen, Deon Cole and Bailee Madison joining the franchise for the first time. Sandler filmed in Woodbridge, Morristown and Keansburg in August, including a water park scene with Hayek at Keansburg Amusement Park.
During the shoot, he is living in Short Hills, but Montclair has still seen him. Sandler has been showing up to shoot hoops near the former Renaissance Middle School, and one local told the Pod her son played pickup games with him roughly eight times this summer. Kids at the courts are reportedly so used to seeing him that they have stopped reacting to him altogether. Meanwhile, director Kyle Newacheck, who also directed “Happy Gilmore 2,” is living in Montclair while he works on “Grown Ups 3,” according to New Jersey Monthly. No filming has been confirmed in town yet.
