Lights, Camera...Cranford!

A slow-moving wrecker hauled a bus around Cranford early Tuesday afternoon, making it's way up Centennial and South avenues with the help of a police escort. From the outside, it looked like any other bus. But inside, actors and production crew members used local streets as a backdrop for a television commercial.

According to Kathleen Miller Prunty, director of the Cranford , the production company was filming a commercial for Hungry Man dinners. The spot is supposed to air during the Grammy Awards on Feb. 12.

The caravan which consisted of the wrecker pulling a transit bus, a smaller bus filled with production staff and makeup artists and an even smaller black van with what appeared to be technical crews, proceeded slowly throughout the township, with police occassionally stopping traffic at the intersection of South and Centennial avenues so that the procession could keep moving. They stopped a few times as crew members exited the vehicles to meet with one another before continuing. Appropriately, the caravan stopped a couple of times on Hollywood Avenue.

Inside the bus, costumed actors were visible along with production equipment. It appeared that the filming was taking place as the vehicles were in motion.

Cranford is no stranger to production crews. Over the years, a number of movies and TV shows have used the township's quaint streets and buildings as a backdrop.

Several episodes in the third season of the popular 1990's television show, "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" were filmed in Cranford. One episode was shot at Cranford's Orange Avenue Pool and another at Cranford High School and Brookside Place School. Another episode was filmed at Modern Barber Shop. Domino's Pizza, CSX Transport and Allstate Insurance have all shot commercials in the township. In addition, Cranford is the setting of the 2005 film, "Guess Who" starring the late Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher. Portions of the movie "Garden State," "Far From Heaven" and "September 12" were also shot in town.

More recently, local director Ken Castellano used the township to shoot scenes for his films "Close to Midnight" and ".