Coming Of Age Film Has Roots In Fort Greene

At the heart of the feature film, 'The Art of Getting By,' is a subject that's near and dear to its creators, including Fort Greene-based producer Kara Baker. 

Namely, the unique experience of growing up in New York City.

Nearly all of the film's principal behind-the-scenes players, like Baker and first-time director Gavin Wiesen, hail from the five boroughs. 

"All of the people involved went to school in the city, and when you embark on your first film you take from what you know," Baker said Friday morning, just before the 2011 Sundance Film Festival official selection was released in 610 theaters across the U.S.

The story revolves around George, a senior in high school played by former child star Freddie Highmore, who struggles to forge his own future as an budding artist. Along the way George meets Sally, a popular teen played by Emma Roberts, who recognizes George as a kindred spirit. 

As a native Upper West Sider-turned-member of Fort Greene's growing creative class, Baker saw many parallels between George's struggle and her own as an artist working in film since she was 18.

"Freddie discovers that there are other things that are accessible and that you don't have to wake up one day and discover you're doing something you don't really want to do," she said. "And I personally love that message in the film."

Scenes for the movie were shot at a brownstone at Clermont and Lafayette avenues, which doubled for the — gasp! — Upper East Side. 

Baker said that moviegoers who know Highmore only as the pint-sized star of such films as Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will be suprised by the British-born actor's turn as George in 'Getting By.'

"No one thinks of him as a man, just a child actor," she said. 

'The Art of Getting By,' released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, is showing at AMC's Lowes Village 7 and Kips Bay 15, both in Manhattan, starting Friday. For showtimes, click here.