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Will Smith's Massive Movie Trailer Gets the Boot from SoHo

By DNAinfo Staff on May 11, 2011 4:11pm  | Updated on May 12, 2011 6:55am

By Olivia Scheck and Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

SOHO — Will Smith’s monster trailer has gotten the boot.

The mayor's office ordered the Hollywood megastar to relocate his massive movie trailer and portable gym away from the SoHo set of "Men in Black 3" after neighbors complained to the New York Post about crews taking over the intersection of Broome and Greene streets.

"New York City is currently experiencing record levels of film and television production. To balance the interests of the production and the neighborhood, we have instructed 'Men in Black 3' to relocate the trailer to a private lot," said Julianne Cho, of the Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting.

Will Smith's trailer was relocated to a Meatpacking District parking lot following reports of neighborhood complaints.
Will Smith's trailer was relocated to a Meatpacking District parking lot following reports of neighborhood complaints.
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DNAinfo/Olivia Scheck

The office said that although the production had the proper permits, they were asked to move because of the complaints that were received.

Cho referred calls with additional questions to the movie's production company.

The hasty relocation started around 3 p.m., after Smith's final on-set lunch inside, as crews broke down the top floor of Smith's expandable trailer, shrinking it back down to the height of a typical movie trailer.

They also locked the doors on the gym trailer and flipped up the ramp, unplugging cables and moving the orange parking cones away from the wheels in preparation for moving.

"We're leaving so we don't take up any more of their precious air space," one crew member griped to a passerby as he packed up Smith's personal trailer.

After hooking the trailers up to a pair of massive trucks, they took off at 4 p.m.

Smith's trailer was driven to a Central Parking System outdoor parking lot at Dominick Street between Hudson and Varick streets in SoHo.

The driver took a brief harrowing adventure right out of one of Smith's action flicks when he went took a right turn off of Spring and went the wrong way down a one-way block stretch of Hudson Street.

Smith's 30-ton double-decker trailer reportedly features marble floors, granite bathrooms and a 100-foot television screen, and rents for $9,000 a week.

A source told DNAinfo that Smith will be chauffeured back and forth from his trailer to the set less than a mile away.

Staffers defended Smith and said the public firestorm against him was uncalled for.

"Nobody's complained. This is the first we've heard about it," said Darrell Foster, owner of Omega Bodies Inc., which runs the on-set trailer gym. "This shouldn't be a story about Will, it's not his (gym) trailer," saying it was shared among all of the crew and stuntmen and women on the movie set.

Will Smith's personal trailer sits in a parking lot on Dominick Street, near Hudson Street in SoHo after it was booted from its original location.
Will Smith's personal trailer sits in a parking lot on Dominick Street, near Hudson Street in SoHo after it was booted from its original location.
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Olivia Scheck/DNAinfo

Some neighbors said they were happy to see the monstrosities go.

"Broome Street is already a busy place, but this is really too much," said Doug, 63, a neighbor who was out walking his Spaniel named Sophie, "The only reason we're walking this way is to get away from the chaos, we normally walk in the other direction."

But others didn't mind.

"This has been happening for 30 years," said long-time resident Eileen Carson, of filming movies in the nabe.  "At this point I'm used to it."

And one Austrian tourist was blown away by the gargantuan trailer, which he recognized as Smith's from a VH1 show.

"I said it looks like Will Smith's trailer," said Harald Reigler, 26. "This is absolutely insane in a cool way."