Canberrans wandering through the city during their lunch break on Friday could have been forgiven for thinking they had spotted Hollywood superstar Liam Neeson.
The nation's capital has been pretending to be another capital city this week, filling in for the streets of Washington DC in the upcoming action film Blacklight.
And much like the city, Canberra has been graced by a fake Liam Neeson, complete with a prosthetic mask imitating the Northern Irish actor.
Filming for Blacklight closed down Binara Street on Friday - the road connecting Bunda and Allara Streets outside Casino Canberra and the Crowne Plaza.
The scene was a continuation of the high octane car chase which began filming on Thursday. A garbage truck was hotly pursued by "Liam Neeson" - AKA a mask-wearing stunt driver - in a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.
The mask was created by a team of makeup artists who spent considerable time moulding the latex to create the illusion Mr Neeson was driving. The driving sequences will be spliced with footage filmed of the real Liam Neeson driving the car with blue screen.
Once the garbage truck rounded the corner at speed it left bags of rubbish strewn across the street in an attempt to slow the Dodge, which drifted through the bend with screeching wheels in a haze of tyre smoke.
Once the vehicles had passed, dozens of crew members converged on the scene and picked up the rubbish and meticulously placed it back into the truck, ready to do it all again.
Canberrans who had patiently waited while the scene took place hurried back and forth from their offices, shops and cafes in between takes.
While the streetscape will be transformed into Washington DC in post-production, one of the film's location managers, John Greene, said CGI still couldn't replicate capturing real images.
"It's the realism, nothing beats a high quality camera capturing real footage," Mr Greene said.
"CGI is fantastic but extremely costly. Animation takes away from and stunts the rawness of a dramatic scene."
In addition to being a novelty for many Canberrans, the film is also expected to inject $1.8 million to $2 million into the local economy.
This was immediately apparent on Friday with dozens of vehicles rented from local companies being driven around the set. Hundreds of meals from local catering companies were carted around to the crew and they also frequented cafes near the filming site.
About $20,000 is being spent each day on accommodation alone and the crew has then been going out for dinner and drinks at local businesses.
"The crew have been very impressed with the quality of the establishments in the area," Mr Greene said.
The film has also provided invaluable experience to young Canberrans with an interest in film and television who have secured roles as production assistants.
