See Newark go back to the 1940s for ‘The Plot Against America’ HBO series based on the Philip Roth novel

Newark went back in time on Monday to the 1940s, the setting for Philip Roth’s “The Plot Against America.”

Filming is underway in the city for the HBO adaptation of Roth’s 2004 novel, which presents an alternate history of America, one in which Charles Lindbergh, a Nazi sympathizer, wins the 1940 presidential election instead of Franklin Roosevelt. As a wave of anti-Semitism sweeps the country, Roth tells his story through a Jewish family living in Newark.

Classic cars lined Commerce Street as actors in period-appropriate suits, hats, jackets and dresses milled around, waiting for the next scene.

David Simon and Ed Burns (“The Wire”) are helming the six-part series. The cast includes Winona Ryder, who plays Evelyn Finkel; John Turturro, who plays Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf; Anthony Boyle (“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”), who plays Alvin Levin; Morgan Spector (“Homeland”), who plays Herman Levin; and Zoe Kazan (“The Big Sick”), who plays Finkel’s younger sister, Bess Levin.

A small crowd of onlookers stationed at Broad and Commerce streets took out their phones as Kazan, 35, stepped out in a coat, hat, dress and heels as part of a scene that saw several of the classic cars driving down the street. The series is expected to be filming at the same locations in Newark through Wednesday. A member of the crew said the show would continue filming in Newark through September.

“I love it,” said Stephanie Guzman, 28, surveying the vintage scene. “I think a lot of movies should be filmed here. I love the old cars. I actually want to buy a car like that,” she said, pointing out a gold-colored ride further down Commerce Street.

Extras walked in and out of the neoclassical-style National Newark Building, which opened in 1931 and would have been the tallest building in New Jersey at the time of the events in the series. Several store facades were made over to resemble businesses of Newark past, like Hahne’s department store, a company that was defunct by the 1980s, and Howard Savings, which closed in 1992. The Market City Deli remained open, even as a sign was installed over its storefront that said “Aldine’s Luncheonette” in vintage lettering.

A number of high-profile productions have recently filmed in Newark, including “Joker,” directed by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix, for which Market Street was transformed into 1980s Gotham. The movie also filmed in Jersey City on Newark Avenue and at the Brennan courthouse.

Local film and TV officials have praised the return of the state’s film tax credit program for restoring interest in New Jersey as a filming location.

“It is absolutely a product of the film tax credits and also a product of the mayor’s initiative to get more filmmaking in the city," said Kenneth Gifford, director of the Newark Office of Film and Television.

"Hopefully it changes (Newark),” said Anant Surti, 30, who has been working in the nearby Prudential building for eight years and took a break to watch as Kazan and other actors stepped out in their period costumes.

HBO series based on Roth’s ‘Plot Against America’ filmed in Jersey City with Winona Ryder and John Turturro. Next up: Newark.

Showrunner David Simon's father celebrated his bar mitzvah in the very same temple where the series filmed.

From May 6 to 8, the “Sopranos” prequel film “The Many Saints of Newark” will also be filming in Newark.

The characters in Roth’s story live in the Weequahic section of Newark, just like he did.

“I think that’s the biggest thing,” Gifford said. “A Newark author getting his project filmed in town, that’s huge.”

Roth, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for another novel, “American Pastoral," died in 2018, at the age of 85.

On April 10, “The Plot Against America” filmed at Temple Beth-El on Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City.

Simon, the showrunner, shared a photo with John Turturro and Winona Ryder, saying the space held a special meaning for him. He said his own father, Bernard Simon, was bar mitzvahed at the same temple in 1933.

Simon’s grandparents also owned a grocery store on Jackson Avenue in Jersey City, what is now Martin Luther King Drive.

See more photos from the Newark set of “The Plot Against America” below.

Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.

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