Robert Redford and Jane Fonda are filming in Colorado Springs

It's been all over the news here, and some of my friends have been posting pictures to social media of their close encounters with a couple of very famous Oscar winners who are in town right now, filming on the west side: Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. Yesterday my mom and I decided to go and check it out. We found the location easily enough (Pikes Peak Avenue and 12th Street), and sure enough there was quite a lot of activity: crew members coming and going, bodyguards on patrol, police officers keeping an eye on things and blocking traffic as necessary, and a handful of curious onlookers congregated across the street from the house where filming was taking place. My mom and I joined them and were quickly informed that Robert Redford had just been driven away in a white sedan, and Jane Fonda was either somewhere inside the house or had slipped out the back. We decided to wait and watch anyway. I had read that a couple of houses within a block or so of each other are being used for the film, and that the homeowners have all temporarily moved out during production. The houses have been spruced with with new landscaping. It was quite a beehive of activity there -- so much manpower is needed to create a film! It's really something to see!

After a while, the fabled white sedan drove up and parked across the street, and Mr. Redford himself emerged from the back seat. I managed to get a few shots of him walking onto the set. My mom and I both thought it was kinda cool seeing not just a bona fide movie star in real life (something that doesn't happen much this far from Hollywood), but also a big time production in progress. When you watch a movie, you're completely unaware that there are 50 people standing just outside the frame, each of them responsible for some part of the creation. Pretty amazing!

On a side note, there was an incident that marred this otherwise fun and exciting experience for the small group of fans that I was standing with, especially my mom (and I apologize in advance, because I'm about to use an expletive, so cover your ears): as we were standing on the sidewalk, a young woman who was wearing dark colored Lycra workout pants and a pink shirt, and walking a pit bull, decided to barge through instead of going around us, saying loudly "'SCUSE ME 'SCUSE ME" as she plowed through the middle of the group without even slowing down, roughly shoving people aside. She shoved my 80 year old mother, who is not too steady on her feet these days (though she left her cane in my car for this brief adventure). I grabbed my mom and, as the woman shoved her way past me I yelled,, "HEY! HEY! Watch out, she's disabled!" but she ignored me. I don't even know how much of it she heard, since she had ear buds in her ears. Okay, so maybe this person lives in the neighborhood and feels a little irritated that this production is bringing a few lookie-loos to stand on the sidewalk all day and get in the way when she wants to walk her dog (where else were we supposed to stand? the other two options were people's yards or the street). But I don't care if you're irritated, I don't care if you had a bad day or your mother didn't love you or you got fired from your job or your boyfriend is a loser. YOU SHOVED MY 80 YEAR OLD MOM AND THAT MAKES YOU AN ASSHOLE. And if I ever see you again I'm going to karate kick you in the face until you cry, okay? And readers, if you happen to know this person, by all means tell her that she shoved a sweet little old lady and let her know what everyone there who witnessed this exceptional bit of assholery thought of her (hint: the consensus was that SHE'S AN ASSHOLE).

Whew. Thanks for listening, dear readers. I really had to get that off my chest! Now on to some pictures of all the excitement, including three of Mr. Redford! He's still quite handsome!

Bodyguards were roaming around. Big ones.

Here are some of the curious onlookers. Many of them appeared to be retirees. Some even brought lawn chairs!

Robert Redford arrived after we'd been there about 20 minutes.

I didn't bring any of my pro camera gear but I wish I had. A better lens would have nice to have.

Ta da! There he goes, all business. It was pretty cool to see him! Maybe I'll go back tomorrow (armed with better gear) to see if I can find Jane Fonda :^)