Doing the Worcester 'Hustle'

Telegram reports about the Worcester Art Museum scene in the American Hustle trailer:

All right, David O. Russell, Worcester is ready for its close-up.

One of the most anticipated movies of the year, "American Hustle," which deals with the FBI's Abscam sting operation in the late '70s and early '80s, is already garnishing serious Oscar buzz, mainly because of its director, David O. Russell, whose last two movies ("Silver Linings Playbook" and "The Fighter") earned three Academy Awards for actors (Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence and Melissa Leo).

Although the film will not be released until Dec. 13 in select cities (with a general release on Christmas day), the "American Hustle" trailer made a big splash on the Internet last week and, in addition to Academy Award winners Bale and Lawrence and Academy Award-nominated actors Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, there is one presence that is as prominent as the aforementioned A-listers, and that's the City of Worcester.

The minute-and-50-second-long trailer opens with an ascot-wearing Bale and Cooper (with a comb-over and a perm, respectively, and both sporting beards) admiring a Rembrandt on an art gallery's wall. And this all unfolds in the Renaissance Wing of the Worcester Art Museum.

"How cool is that that the trailer starts and there you are in the Worcester Art Museum?" Allison Berkeley, manager of marketing and public relations at the Worcester Art Museum, asked. "From what I understand from the director, this is a pivotal scene in the movie."

The Worcester Art Museum scene continues with Bale telling Cooper that the Rembrandt is a fake and then asking the rhetorical question, "So who's the master? The painter or the forger?"

Despite Bale's art critique in the trailer, Ms. Berkeley insists the Rembrandt is indeed real. However, it is in storage until the newly renovated galleries are reopened on Sept. 23, she said.

"It's actually Saint Bartholomew that is depicted in that Rembrandt, and Saint Bartholomew is considered to be the seer. He could see the truth in anyone who he looked at," Ms. Berkeley explained. "I think once people see the movie and where the plot unfolds, you'll see why it was kind of serendipitous, not only that they were at the Worcester Art Museum but Mr. Russell chose our Rembrandt."