Coney Island candy store worker featured in Oscar-nominated film "Anora"
NEW YORK — Oscar nominations have been announced, and one film that's up for the top award features a Coney Island candy store and one of its real-life employees.
"Anora" follows a sex worker from Brooklyn who marries the son of a Russian oligarch. It received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and a Best Actress nod for Mikey Madison.
Lifelong Brooklynite asked to appear in "Anora"
Part of the film was shot inside William's Candy on Surf Avenue. Billy O'Brien, an 84-year-old lifelong Brooklynite, has been helping out at the store since he was a teenager, and he was asked to be in the movie the day it was shot back in 2023.
"What were you doing when they asked you to be in the movie?" CBS News New York's Kristie Keleshian asked.
"I wasn't doing anything. I just came out to hang out, that's all," O'Brien said.
He was also asked to be in another movie being shot in New Jersey, but he declined.
"Because of the traveling. I don't wanna travel. I don't like traveling," O'Brien said.
"It's too far for you?" Keleshian asked.
"Yeah, I'm not going to New Jersey," O'Brien said.
Coney Island candy store a hot spot for movie fans
Since the movie's release in October, there's been some demand for O'Brien's autograph. Friday, a group of tourists visiting from Germany stopped by the shop because of their love for the movie and asked for a photo with him.
"In the movie, like, all the glass is smashed, and the scene is actually so stressful because they're screaming and they're panicking," tourist Joanna Schmidt said. "But being here, it's just chill."
"We were still finding glass even months afterwards. It went everywhere," William's Candy cashier and manager Nili Cacales said.
The movie's leading lady has even visited William's herself.
"I just want to make sure that everybody in the store, the store gets publicity or business wise. That's all," O'Brien said.
He says he hasn't even seen the movie and is in no rush to.
