Kevin Hart filming a scene right next to a lime green vintage Porsche Carrera RS outside the vacant two-story Doremus building on Broad Street. The building was renamed New Roc Yoga for the movie. SUNAYANA PRABHU
By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – Actors Kevin Hart and Henry Cavill have been filming a Netflix spy comedy all over the Two River area. This week, the camera, crane and crew landed on Broadwalk.
On Monday and Tuesday, the vacant Doremus building at 21-23 Broad St. became the “New Roc Yoga” studio, and Dor L’Dor boutique next door was temporarily replaced with “Beyond the Bump: Maternity in Style.”
Onlookers walked their dogs, young moms stopped with their strollers, and the faces of some Red Bank Catholic School students went apple red at a glimpse of Cavill as eateries continued to serve patrons outdoors – lunch with a side of stars.
Broadwalk, the borough’s outdoor seasonal plaza, had entered its Hollywood phase.
The movie is tentatively titled “Spy Duo,” according to online sources. Director McG’s recent work, also for Netflix, includes “The Babysitter,” “Rim of the World,” and “Family Switch.”
Hart and Cavill play the leads alongside co-stars Aja Naomi King, who played Harriet Sloane in Apple TV+’s 2023 show “Lessons in Chemistry,” and Justine Lupe, who played Willa Ferreyra in HBO’s hit series “Succession.”
According to the film’s logline on IMDB (the Internet Movie Database), the film is about “rival spies who cross paths in a Lamaze class when their wives become friends, forcing them to reluctantly become partners as their double lives collide in hilarious and dangerous ways.”
Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps and Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort are attached to produce along with Hart. The script is based on a short story written by Sean Lewis and adapted for the screen by Adam and Aaron Nee, most recently credited as writers of “Masters of the Universe,” Jonathan Tropper, who wrote “The Adam Project,” and Lizzie and Wendy Molyneux, executive producers of “Bob’s Burgers,” both the TV show and film.
According to the independent blog “What’s On Netflix,” cameras officially started rolling on the project in late August. Filming will run through the fall, wrapping up right before Thanksgiving. Shooting will take place in New Jersey and France.
Before filming on Broadwalk, the team was busy staging comedic moments between crates of apples and shelves of baked goods at Delicious Orchards, the Colts Neck farm market.
The store was closed from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3, but kept the reason under wraps. Later, McG posted a photo on his Instagram Sept.1, showing him standing next to a Delicious Orchards cart inside the store’s produce aisle.
In a social media post, Michael MacDonald, Delicious Orchards vice president, removed a yellow sign with the word “SET” from one of the market’s doors, hinting that filming had wrapped there and the store was back to business as usual.
The Netflix production joins a growing list of high-profile shoots choosing New Jersey as a backdrop. Apple TV+’s “Severance” has been filming its third season at Bell Works in Holmdel, and, after wrapping “Happy Gilm- ore,” Adam Sandler was back to film “Grown Ups 3” in Keansburg.
The increasing frequency of filming in Monmouth County has given residents a front-row seat to the state’s production boom even before Netflix opens for business on the former Fort Monmouth.
Although opinions are divided on social media about welcoming Hollywood to the area, residents witnessing the filming in Red Bank this week were excited.
Caroline Lopriore, a borough resident, said the production felt less like a disruption and more like part of the town’s personality. “I think it’s great because it brings livelihood, action to the neighborhood. Gives us some- thing to do,” Lopriore said, watching the crew reset for another take.
Another resident, Jenna Alban, who lives just down the street from Broadwalk, pushed a stroller past the set. She admitted she had walked into the middle of a Hollywood production without realizing it.
“I was just taking the baby on a walk; I didn’t know what was going on,” Alban said. Once she learned that Hart and Cavill were on site, her mood shifted. “I love this,” she said.
For Alban, the most exciting part isn’t the star power but what those cameras might mean for local businesses.
“I think it’s bringing a lot of people here, getting a lot of attention,” she said. “Hopefully, it’ll bring a lot of business to the area. I love Red Bank; the more business, the better.”
For many in town, that might be the best kind of Hollywood ending.
This article originally appeared in the September 17-23, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
