Hollywood came to downtown Mobile on Tuesday, as a big swath of Dauphin Street was shut down for filming on “The Life of Chuck,” a Stephen King adaptation with a roster of stars including Mark Hamill and Tom Hiddleston.

However dramatic the resulting footage might end up being on screen, there wasn’t much for nosy bystanders to look at. There was the faintly spooky sight of empty cars sitting east of Cedar Street, as if they’d been abandoned, and the weirder sight of another cluster of cars heading west – the wrong way for Dauphin – near the Washington Avenue intersection.

It was a far quieter than that time the production of a Nic Cage movie blew up a police car at Dauphin and Royal streets back in 2013. In this case, there wasn’t much to indicate the nature of the scenes being filmed.

Keli Shirazi, a coordinator at the Mobile Film Office, said she wasn’t at liberty to go into detail about the one-day shoot. (The production has previously been active in Baldwin County, including extensive shooting at a dormant Bay Minette school campus.)

Shirazi said that shutting down the street required extensive cooperation from the city and the business community, and that illustrated the film-friendly nature of the city.

“One of the great things about Mobile is that we have a lot of really awesome people who get involved and try to make it as easy as possible,” she said. “The community tends to be really supportive and make the experience kind of stress-free in some ways.”

Early in the day, the epicenter of the action seemed to be the intersection of Dauphin and Cedar Streets. As work stopped around lunchtime, pedestrians returned to the empty sidewalks, some stopping at nearby businesses such as Wintzell’s Oyster House. (Some, such as The Insider Collective Eatery, appeared closed. Moe’s Original BBQ, at Dauphin and Washington, had announced via Facebook that it would be closed during lunch hours, saying “That’s showbiz, baby!”)

The lunch crowd at Wintzell’s was light, and outdoor tables were off-limits were the day, as were windowside seats along Dauphin Street. But General Manager Mike Vickers took it in stride, saying he was glad the disruption was on a Tuesday, rather than a Thursday or Friday. “It’s all positive, it’s all good,” he said.

Wintzell’s President Bob Omainsky likewise chose to look at the positive side. He hoped that the production would move on and “maybe we can get a decent dinner tonight.”

And if they eventual release of “The Life of Chuck” features a glimpse of Wintzell’s in the background, so much the better.

“The Life of Chuck” is an adaptation of a King short story that uses three sections to to tell the story of Charles Krantz in reverse, starting with his death from a brain tumor and ending with his childhood in a haunted house. Directed by Mike Flanagan its cast includes Hiddleston in the titular role plus Hamill, Karen Gillan, Matthew Lillard, David Dastmalchian and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

The production has a waiver to proceed despite the ongoing actors’ strike. Flanagan has described it as a “fully independent film in production under our SAG-AFTRA interim agreement.”

Shirazi said that’s a key point. With the strike putting a damper on many planned productions, having one that’s able to proceed is a significant win for the Mobile area.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to have a show right now, especially with, SAG still on strike,” she said. “They were able to get a SAG waiver. So they are able to put crew to work, whether they’re from out of state or they’re local hires. That impact on the industry alone is helping some people be able to pay their bills, which is always great.”