Filming for "Premium Rush,” an action thriller about a fast-wheeling bike courier in New York who becomes the unwitting target of a rogue cop, has been causing a lot of havoc in the city, with street closures and bike crashes at the top of the list.

The film, a Columbia Pictures project, is being directed by screenwriter David Koepp, perhaps best known as one of Hollywood’s highest paid scribes.  Koepp’s list of script credits includes Toy Soldiers, Jurassic Park, Spider Man, and Carlito’s Way.  The star’s main character, the courier, is played by Inception star Joseph Gordon-Levitt.



According to an online synopsis of the film, “Rush” follows the courier through the streets of the Upper West Side as he tries to escape the wrath of a bad copy who is apparently after one of his envelopes. But the chase scenes and others have apparently disrupted lives and caused a few residents to complain.  In September, the New York Daily News reported that filming resulted in keeping an 87-year-old woman from being able to sit on her bus stop after church because of street blockages.  The paper also reported in December that the film crew jammed up city traffic and clogged the streets all weekend on Broadway, from 102nd St. to 106th St., prompting this comment from Jennifer Martin who lives on 102nd St.: “They don't give a crap about the neighborhood.”

During early filming, Gordon-Levitt , 29, is reported to have crashed his bike into the back window of a taxi which left him with 31 stitches in his right arm and the taxi with a shattered back window.  During another day on the set an angry resident who
claims to have been blocked by film crews as he was trying to make his way into a convenience store reportedly head-butted one of the director’s production assistants.

But there’s some ‘good’ stuff to come out of the making of this film that has nothing to do with how much the stars are making or traffic jams.  According to the blog Bike Blog NYC, courier Austin Horse, known for some pretty death-defying street tricks on the job, landed a role in the film doing what he does best.  According to BBNYC, Horse took a break from filming last fall, however, to race in the Cycle Messenger World Championships in Panajachel, Guatemala, where he took second place.  Last spring Horse has had his bike stolen while he was upstairs inside an office building for what should have been only a minute.  But a mistake with the pickup required him to stay inside the building longer and the bike was taken.  Thanks to Twitter, the bike was recovered.  The story was picked up by the New York Times complete with a photo of Horse on his famous orange bike, which helped land him the role in Rush.  

Couriers, courier companies who manage them, and even courier software companies have never been quite so front in center of pop culture as they are today.  In downtown Los Angeles, couriers are managed by a highly sophisticated courier software system and their tracking supervisors, and they play a vital role in getting packages and letters delivered and picked up.
After a short break over the holidays, filming for “Rush” is set to resume in NYC.  However, the weather across the city hasn’t been quite as cooperative as it could be, and there are rumors of delays until the snow melts and trash bags are loaded off the streets and hauled away.  Stay tuned.