(Photo via Washington Square Park Conservancy’s Twitter.)

Motherless Brooklyn, the Edward Norton-penned adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s 1999 novel, took over Washington Square Park today, transforming the public space into a scene straight out of the 1950s.

Norton, who also directs and acts in the film, plays a lonely private investigator with Tourette’s searching for his only friend and mentor’s killer. Willem Dafoe, Alec Baldwin, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, among others, are set to join the cast. The film, set against the backdrop of 1950s New York, will be released next year.

Hundreds of appropriately attired extras were in front of the arch this afternoon, filming what looked to be a protest scene.

Filming has also taken place in other locations around the city, with a stretch of Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights getting a similar transformation last week, Brownstoner reports. Check out some of their photos here, and keep an eye out for Edward Norton in the meantime.