Seth Rogan and Olivia Wilde rode BART for hours Tuesday afternoon, right in the middle of rush hour. Rolling between Glen Park Station and Daly City, the Hollywood A-listers blended right in with actual passengers on their way home from work.
The stars were shooting a scene for Wilde’s latest directorial feature, “The Invite,” which follows two couples played by Rogan, Wilde, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton, according to Variety. The production will be in town Wednesday, too.
Carrying a commuter bike and rocking a gray helmet, Rogan melted into the crowd. “I’m a regular commuter,” he told The Standard, as he headed down the escalator with Wilde to shoot another take.
For the real commuters at Glen Park Station who realized what was going on, it was a pretty exciting turn of events — not least because they might end up being in the film. BART rider Crystal White was snapping pics of Rogan with excitement: “There he is!” she giggled.
But most commuters had no idea what was happening.
“Is this a movie? It looks like a movie!” said Brandi Silva, who had just gotten off work at a hardware store in the Mission. “So cool.” She catches the train from Glen Park every day, but this was the first time she’d seen a film being shot there.
One passenger on a Daly City-bound train was seen taking out his headphones and looking around perplexed as Wilde, followed by a large film camera on a dolly and a slew of crew members, boarded the car to begin a live shot. Whether he realized it or not, he might end up in the movie.
That goes for anyone who happened across the Glen Park Station Tuesday afternoon, including this reporter, who approached a group of commuters to ask how they felt about the film, only to find out they were extras and the cameras were rolling.
Around 20 paid extras milled about, indistinguishable from everyone else, except for when crew members in yellow vests corralled them all into one area. “Stay behind Seth!” a crew member yelled.
It’s not easy to shoot a movie in public, especially when you have to time your shots around arriving BART trains. (There were no delays on the line during the hour or so we observed the filming.)
But things were running smoothly at the station, according to BART Police officer N. Navarro, who was keeping watch. “This is the most abnormal thing that’s happened at a BART station since I’ve been here,” he said. He added that it was a nice change of pace.
“Let the public out first!” yelled a crew member helping actors and crew onto a southbound train. Passengers streaming out of the train at Glen Park were visibly confused. “What is going on?” asked Ben Ferrer, who had to rush to his northbound Richmond train. After reading the white board alerting the public to the filming (and warning that anyone in the station could appear in the movie), he said he was “intrigued and curious.” He hoped the film would not be a scary one.
In fact, it’s a rom-com. Variety says it follows “a couple [who] invites the neighbors over, igniting an evening full of unexpected twists and turns, revealing deeply repressed emotions and unexplored sexuality.”
“The Invite” is Wilde’s third film as director, following the 2022 sci-fi thriller “Don’t Worry Darling” and the 2019 coming-of-age comedy “Booksmart.” “The Invite” is inspired by the Spanish film “Sentimental” and was adapted by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack.
It’s likely the most star-studded production in San Francisco in years. “The Matrix Resurrections” brought Keanu Reeves to town in 2020. Ali Wong and Randall Park shot scenes from the Netflix flick “Always Be My Maybe” in 2019. And Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” famously wrecked a Muni bus in 2021. But you have to go back to Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” in 2013, starring Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Bobby Canavale, and Peter Saarsgard, to find a cast as packed as that of “The Invite.”
Kate Patterson, a spokesperson for the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, confirmed Tuesday that Invite Productions had pulled permits to shoot an “independent film for the next two days” in the city.
Wilde was too busy to answer any questions from The Standard.
Earlier in the day, she and Rogan were at A.P. Giannini Middle School, shooting a scene in the auditorium, according to Assistant Principal Heidi Smoot, who helped coordinate.
“It was a crazy day. I’m exhausted,” Smoot said. The kids had been extremely excited to have the movie on campus: “Everybody wanted to catch a glimpse and get a selfie.”
Despite the excitement, San Franciscans were admirably chill in the face of the Hollywood stars.
Production will continue across the city Wednesday. Smoot heard they’ll be in the Castro for an outdoor shot and a scene at the Make-Out Room.
Sounds like “The Invite” is shaping up to be a very San Francisco film.