As if you needed another reason to love The Wire, it has been revealed that Andre Royo, who portrayed an affable dope fiend/police informant named Bubbles, once brought a Limousines-worth of Baltimore strippers to act as cheerleaders at a cast softball game.
Meanwhile, a rowdier scene existed among the younger cast members—untethered, far from home, and often in need of blowing off steam. This social group was centered on the Block, the stretch of downtown East Baltimore Street populated by a cluster of side-by-side strip clubs (and, in semi-peaceful détente across the street, BPD’s downtown headquarters). The cast of The Wire became legendary visitors to the Block, with a core group including [Dominic] West, [Seth] Gilliam, [Domenick] Lombardozzi, [Wendell] Pierce, Andre Royo (Bubbles), J.D. Williams (Bodie), and Sonja Sohn (Kima)—holding her own among the boys in one of many on- and off-screen parallels.
“We finished shooting at like 1 o’clock and, you know, normal places close at 2, so we’d go down to the Block, just to feel the energy,” said Royo. “The owners of the clubs would come out; the girls would come out. It was like we were heroes. The local heroes.” At a cast and crew softball game, Royo hired a limousine and a team of strippers to act as cheerleaders.
This story, as well as many other stories from behind the scenes of TV’s Golden Age, can be found in Brett Martin’s new book Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of A Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos to Mad Men to Breaking Bad.
[UProxx]
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