Filming of HBO series 'surreal' at Yonkers City Hall

YONKERS – Nay Wasicsko knew the scene playing out in the Yonkers City Council Chambers well — her future husband flirting with a blonde while Wasicsko, a young City Hall staffer, stood in the background asking a friend who the man was.

Only this time she was a spectator. Wasicsko watched herself through actress Carla Quevedo, an Argentine star who is the latest addition to the cast of HBO's upcoming miniseries about the Yonkers housing desegregation case.

"It's surreal," Wasicsko said. "I see her come on set. She does her work, she's no-nonsense. No ego from what I could tell. She gets her work done and she's beautiful to boot, so how could I ask for more?"

But the miniseries, titled "Show Me A Hero," has also been an emotional roller coaster for Wasicsko, the widow of former Yonkers Mayor Nick Wasicsko. A central figure in the HBO story, Nick Wasicsko, who is being portrayed by "Inside Llewyn Davis" star Oscar Isaac, took his own life in 1993.

"It's emotionally challenging for me," Nay Wasicsko said. "When I first went on the set, my first experience was when I saw Oscar and he was campaigning. 'Hi, I'm Nick Wasicsko. Nice to meet you, vote for me,' or something to that effect. And I lost it. I really did lose it, because he looked just like him."

The series is the latest venture for David Simon and Bill Zorzi, the writing and production team behind the award-winning HBO series "The Wire." Based on a 1999 book by former New York Times reporter Lisa Belkin, the series is being directed by Paul Haggis and co-produced by Nina Kostroff Noble, whose credits include other Simon hits, including "Treme," "Generation Kill" and "The Corner."

The crew has been filming at several locations throughout Yonkers, and has been entrenched at Yonkers City Hall on and off for several weeks. It has created a bizarre scene at the historic building, as residents and city staffers go about their business just feet away from actors like Jim Belushi, Alfred Molina and Winona Ryder.

City workers show off photos with stars. HBO crew members and staffers take smoke breaks outside, including Ryder, who assured others that she is only an occasional smoker before heading off to lunch.

For 26-year-old Quevedo, the series presents an opportunity to establish herself in the U.S. after earning fame in her native South America, where her 2009 debut, "The Secret In Her Eyes," won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. She said her portrayal of Nay Wasicsko, who has become a friend, is both rewarding and challenging.

"When I first read the script I was attracted to the story automatically," she told The Journal News. "The character, Nay, she was the type of person that I was really looking forward to playing. A very strong yet sensitive and emotional person with an amazing story to tell."

"You want to make them happy," she said of the real-life Nay Wasicsko. "You want to paint a pretty and truthful picture of who they are and what they did, what they accomplished. And I feel like this is a real important story. I feel like people should know about it. I feel like I need to live up to that."

Zorzi, the co-producer and writer, said Quevedo is a perfect fit to play the young Nay Wasicsko.

"She has a certain girl-like innocence about her that really captures what I imagine the 20-year-old Nay might have been like, before being forced to grow up so quickly amid the bare-knuckle politics of Yonkers," he said. "Yet, as Carla continues on her character's journey, we'll see that she, like Nay, has a tough core that carries her through some extraordinarily difficult times."

Nay Wasicsko was a young city staffer when she met Nick Wasicsko, a former Westchester County police officer who was then newly elected to the Yonkers City Council. Just 26, he found himself hurled into the desegregation case.

In 1987, he was elected mayor on a promise to defy a 1985 federal housing desegregation order that called for low-income housing in Yonkers' predominantly white east side. Just weeks before he was to take office, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the order, convincing Wasicsko that the city had to comply — making him the target of angry residents and a divided council that refused to comply with the order.

Nay Wasicsko said the HBO series "is really fitting for Nick."

"I think that Nick would be happy with this process and I think it's something that is long overdue for Nick," she said. "He never was properly acknowledged, I think."

The series is expected to air sometime next year.

Twitter: @jfitzgibbon