Among the regular crowd of afterwork joggers and designer dogs, a few less-than-usual suspects were spotted prancing around the Panhandle earlier this week.
Coyotes on leashes, PAs wielding boom mics, and Last Black Man in San Francisco director Joe Talbot were spotted on Tuesday around 6 p.m. between Central and Lyon Streets, all hard at work on what is likely a new commercial for the City of San Francisco.
Public details about the project are scant at the moment, but these reporters heard rumors that a number of hometown heroes will make cameos in the commercial, including Francis Ford Coppola, Mrs. Doubtfire director Chris Columbus, and rapper Larry June. Coppola and Columbus allegedly shot their scene at what sources close to the project called “Coppola’s cafe,” in all likelihood referring to Cafe Zoetrope in his Zoetrope Building at 916 Kearny St., which the Godfather auteur purchased in 1972 and recently put up for collateral to recoup his self-funded box office flop Megalopolis.
When asked about these rumors on Tuesday, Talbot demurred on the details but said he has “been working with some pretty exciting people” for the project.
The commercial may be part of Mayor Lurie’s secretive city rebrand campaign dubbed “SF Identity,” the direction of which is being decided by some of the most elite players in tech and politics, including billionaire investor Laurene Powell Jobs, former Apple designer and OpenAI collaborator Jony Ive, and Gap Inc. CEO Dick Dickson, the San Francisco Standard reported last month.
The mayor’s office did not respond to Gazetteer SF’s request for comment in time for publication.
While Talbot and the city keep things under wraps, the one thing we can confirm with full certainty is that the coyotes were, if not fully trained, clearly treat-motivated and very polite on set.
