In Cole Valley, police officers responding to calls of a masked gunman holding up the Alpha Market on the corner of Cole and Parnassus discovered a much more pedestrian crime in progress. When cops arrived on the scene and overpowered the masked gunman, who was behind the counter pointing his gun at the ceiling, what they discovered was 41-year-old city resident (and struggling actor?) holding a replica weapon.

The actor had been performing the mock stickup while the rest of his Japan-based film crew shot the scene from across the street. The crew apparently had permission from the shop owners to film in the bodega, but neglected to actually pick up a permit (and pay the associated fees) from the San Francisco Film Commission. The replica weapon was confiscated, but the actor was not arrested.

Bonus trivia sidenote: Crepes on Cole, just down the street, was once used as the set in early -00s romantic comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights. No one was shot during that production either.

Update: Apparently the Japanese film crew did, in fact, have all the proper permits and wasn't required to notify the cops because the shoot was held on private property. According to the filmmakers at Duo Creative, the crews were shooting a comedy bit about a stupid crime, "a little segment people can laugh about" the fillmmakers told the Chronicle. The show, which is big in Japan apparently, films in San Francisco in English, before it is dubbed in to Japanese and no doubt becomes something completely whacky and unintelligible to American audiences.

[BCN/Appeal]
[Chron]