Keep it up, Superintendent: Jon Voight in supportive tete-a-tete with Iline Tracey near the temporary “Ray Donovan” set at Union Station.
“That’s Jon Voight!”
With that call, New Haven Schools Superintendent Iline Tracey and top aides came face to face with a movie star Wednesday morning.
Paul Bass Photo
The school administrators work across the street from Union Station. They noticed the parking lots on either side filling up with trucks and production crews hauling equipment.
“We were just nosy,” Tracey recalled Wednesday. “We saw from our office windows the big set-up. So we were curious about what was happening.”
Here’s what was happening: A Showtime crew has set up at Union Station this week to shoot scenes from a film version of the show Ray Donovan. So the transit hub is crawling with not just commuters but camera operators, equipment crews, food vendors catering to equipment crews … and actors.
Like Jon Voight.
“Let’s go over and see what’s going on,” Tracey, Assistant Supt. Ivelise Velazquez, and human resources chief Lisa Mack decided.
They didn’t see much at first.
“The security guard was pushing us out,” Tracey said. Then “he allowed us to peek through the doors” at the production taking place behind the main terminal building.
As they prepared to leave, Velazquez caught a glimpse of Voight. The schools trio walked toward him.
Again, the security guard blocked their path.
“We’re with our superintendent,” Velazquez told the guard.
“Sorry,” he responded, “you’ve got to go.”
“No,” came a voice behind him. “Let me speak to the superintendent.”
That voice belonged to Voight.
Out went the security script. The film star and the school leaders had a chat, largely, Tracey said, about the work going on in New Haven schools and the challenges facing public education.
“He was very down to earth,” she said of Voight. “He had no problem having a conversation with us.”
The group posed for a photo. Then the 82-year-old Academy Award nominee returned to the script in his day job portraying Liev Schreiber (aka Ray Donovan’s) conniving father Mickey Donovan for cable viewers worldwide.
Before leaving, according to Tracey, he told her, “Congratulations on being superintendent in difficult times.”
Contributed photo
Assistant Superintendent Ivelise Velazquez, Superintendent Dr. Iline Tracey, Jon Voight, and Director of Human Resources Lisa Mack.
Well, at least you can't accuse the Board of Ed. of participating in cancel culture. This joker would be first on my list.