I live in Toronto, a city where a lot of movie filming takes place (recently, our Yonge Street has been standing in for New York’s Harlem in the upcoming Incredible Hulk movie). There’s always a movie shoot going on — you can tell by the pylons with the location company’s logo and the row of white trailers, we have a number of lots that store New York City police cars and cabs, and a number of downtown used furniture stores specialize in renting furniture for movie sets.
The library scene is a staple of movies, often used to inform the audience that a certain character is well-educated, or in the case of a private library, whether in a home or a gentleman’s club, it’s used to establish that a character is rich. Ever wondered where they get the books for these scenes from? One source is New York’s famous bookstore, The Strand (whose slogan is “18 miles of books”), which offers a service called Books by the Foot.
There’s more on the service (recently used for Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull) in a New Yorker piece titled Books in Bulk.