CONSPIRACY THEORY
Roosevelt Island, NYC

Everyone loves seeing a movie being filmed.

So, when the production of Conspiracy Theory came to my hometown of Roosevelt Island, New York City, in 1996, I did what any teenager in a high school photography class would do … grabbed my film camera and a roll of black and white film and started documenting.

 

A local man watches the filming of Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island in New York City
A local man watches the filming of Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island in New York City

 

Behind the scenes filming Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island
Behind the scenes filming Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island

Cutting Class to Watch the Filming

I was actually supposed to be in a drama class at Roosevelt Island’s Main Street Theatre & Dance Alliance the night of the filming. However, my friends and I decided that skipping it for the chance to see Patrick Stewart, Julia Roberts or Mel Gibson was worth the risk (Sorry Nancy!).

Unfortunately, none of them were on-site that evening, but we still were treated to scenes of police cars zooming by and a helicopter taking off.

 

Roosevelt Island nurses residence
The old nurses residences were lit up for the first time in years

 

Behind the scenes filming Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island
This was about as close as I could get to the filming

Turning Our Ruins into an Active Hospital

Perhaps the most interesting part of the evening was seeing how the crew had transformed the facade of an abandoned old nurse’s residence into what would appear to be, on film, a fully-operating hospital.

Today, I look back at these photos with a special sense of nostalgia, as that building has long-since been torn down to make way for a community of condos on Roosevelt Island.

 

Roosevelt Island nurses residence
This building is now long-gone

 

Filming of Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island
Everything in this photo was brought in for the filming of Conspiracy Theory

 

Germaine O Nicols Mental Hospital only existed during the filming of Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island, New York City
Germaine O Nicols Mental Hospital only existed during the filming of Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island, New York City

Germaine O Nicols Mental Hospital

The crew had replaced rows of windows shattered by years of youthful rock-throwers and errant foul baseballs from the nearby field with fresh glass.

Neon signs were placed near the entrance advertising the fictitious Germaine O Nicols Mental Hospital and giant flood lights lit up the grounds from above.

For that one evening, Hollywood had come to Roosevelt Island.

 

All the Roosevelt Island residents came out to watch them film Conspiracy Theory
All the Roosevelt Island residents came out to watch them film

 

Helicopters were used while filming Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island
Helicopters were used while filming Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island

Shattering Glass and a Man Falling Out a Window

Perhaps my favorite memory of the filming actually came the day after I took these photos. While walking passed the nurses residence in full Halloween costume en-route to the Subway I was momentarily stopped as a stuntman took a fall, back first, out of a second story window and onto a blow-up mat.

Sadly, it was the pre-digital era and I wasn’t about to bring my SLR with me to Halloween, so I have no images of this scene. But I do have more from that evening.

 

An ambulance on Roosevelt Island
I wonder if the ambulance was there for filming or in case of emergency

 

The old nurse's residence on Roosevelt Island
I still remember how bright the lights were

So What’s Conspiracy Theory About?

According to IMDB and Chris Makrozahopoulos,

Mel Gibson is a New York taxi driver, who has a strange habit. He makes complicated scenarios of conspiracies and publishes them in a newsletter sent out to five recipients. He keeps doing that, until something unbelievable happens: One of his “conspiracy theories” turns out to be real, and so he finds himself chased by the man hiding behind the whole thing.

 

 

A tree on Roosevelt Island, New York City
I probably didn’t mean for this photo to be blurry, but I love it now!

 

Helicopters on Roosevelt Island - Conspiracy Theory
When I scanned this photo, parts of the film edge made it in

Photographed With Film

These photographs were originally taken with a 35mm Pentax SLR film camera in October, 1996.

I printed them by hand in the darkroom at The Calhoun School and put them in a binder … where they collected dust for nearly 20 years.

 

The old baseball soccer field on Roosevelt Island
They were filming on the old soccer/baseball field

 

Filming of Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island
It’s amazing to see how many vehicles were needed to simply get some background shots

Scanning the Photos at Dickerman Prints

I finally blew the dust off the negatives and scanned them at Dickerman Prints Photo Lab in San Francisco, where I have the pleasure of working. They were scanned using a Durst Sigma Plus, and I only did minor contrast edits in Photoshop to make them look like my original prints.

 

Filming of Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island
Lights, Camera, ACTION!

 

Filming of Conspiracy Theory on Roosevelt Island
I like the unconventional framing in this photo, though I have no idea if it was intentional

CUT!