Hollywood, Belmont Style: 'The Judge' Filming in Town Thursday

Was that Robert Downey Jr. dining at il Casale?

And did you see Robert Duvall coming out of Ranc's with a cone of Pineapple Orange ice cream?

Well, those incidents have a better chance of happening (but probably still won't) as the two Hollywood stars will be filming a major feature motion picture, "The Judge", on Thursday, July 18, on Belmont Hill.

According to law enforcement and residents, the filming will take place in and around a house midway up Fletcher Road, off Prospect Street which journalist who followed the Mitt Romney campaign last year would have called a typical street in "leafy" Belmont.

The filming will begin around 6 a.m. after a fleet of drivers brings the "talent" (i.e. actors) and crew from the staging area in the parking lot of St. Joseph's Parish Church at Common and School streets where there currently sits a flotilla of trailers, trucks, equipment and caterers.

The film's production team initially came to town this spring with hopes of filming for several days both interior and exterior scenes at the former Belmont Municipal Light Department building on Concord Avenue adjacent from Police Headquarters and across from Town Hall during the 4th of July weekend.

Yet the team could not secure MBTA cooperation to halt commuter rail service at certain times which filming was critical. 

"The Judge" is a co-production of Team Downey – the first film for the company created by Downey and his wife Susan, a well-known film producer ("Gothika" and the "Sherlock Holmes" series) – and the film's director David Dobkin’s Big Kid Pictures.

According to imdb.com, the film's story line concerns a successful lawyer (Downey) who returning to his hometown for his mother's funeral discovers that his estranged father, the town's judge (Duval), is suspected of murder.

The "comedy-drama" also stars Vera Farmiga (George Clooney's love interest in "Up in the Air" as well as Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon’s lover in "The Departed"), Vincent D'Onofrio (of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" fame who'll play Downey's brother) Sarah Lancaster ("Chuck"), Leighton Meester ("Gossip Girl"), Dax Shepard ("Parenthood") and the great Billy Bob Thornton. 

Tomorrow marks the third time a big production movie has filmed in Belmont: Dane Cook vehicle, "My Best Friend's Girl," and Steve McQueen in his prime playing golf at Belmont Country Club in "The Thomas Crown Affair."