Coffee’s for closers!
Alec Baldwin — the actor who uttered perhaps the most iconic movie line ever about java, and also once publicly railed against a Starbucks worker as an “Uptight Queen barrista [sic]” with an “attitude problem” — is now a contributing producer on a film backing the coffee chain’s workers.
Baldwin appeared last week at a fundraiser and screening for “Baristas vs Billionaires” at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center.
The movie by Mark Mori about Starbucks Workers United says it follows a “generational uprising of working-class Millennials and Gen Z as they battle Starbucks Coffee for their right to unionize.”
The Starbucks union’s current strike has expanded to over 30 locations nationwide, The Post reported, and the latest work stoppage hit a store in Albany, NY, after NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani called for a boycott of the chain.
Mori told us that Baldwin got involved by doing voiceovers for sample reels of the doc, and giving feedback on early cuts of the film.
Ironically back in September 2011, Baldwin had an apparent run-in with a barista at the coffee chain in Manhattan, leading to some snippy tweets at the time!
“Starbucks on 93 and B’way. Uptight Queen barrista [sic] named JAY has an attitude problem,” the volatile star posted over a decade ago, The Post reported at the time.
Baldwin, 67, followed up the 2011 Twitter tirade by complementing an employee at another NYC establishment.
“Clyde, on the other hand, outside DINOSAUR BARBECUE @ W 125 n H River is MY MAN,” he tweeted. “Keeping the hickory ovens going, he is 2dayz Coolest NYer.” (No documentary on Dinosaur just yet!)
At the time, another barista told The Post of Baldwin’s Starbucks incident: “I was here when it happened — it was really just [Baldwin] being an [expletive]… He was very rude and disrespectful and arrogant. He’s probably the rudest guy I’ve ever met.”
It also turned out that Baldwin seemingly got the allegedly offending Starbucks employee’s name, “Jay,” wrong at the time — as there was no one with that handle at the shop. (A colleague said back then that there was a staffer named “Giovan” who probably was the target of Alec’s ire.)
“And he didn’t do anything wrong; it was all that dude just being psycho,” the second brew-slinger reportedly said in 2011. “I saw a thing on [cable channel E!] a little while ago, and it was talking about how crazy he was. They were right.”
Baldwin’s spokesman said at the time in response, “Starbucks is a great company… Unfortunately, not all of their employees can live up to their high standards.”
The Post also reported that Baldwin had contacted the company’s corporate offices and spoke to a regional manager.
A rep for Baldwin did not return a request for comment about the new film, or the past incident.
Either way, the “30 Rock” star is now standing with the Frappuccino servers!
Mori told us: “I’ve known Alec for about 35 years, and we collaborated on two TV projects (“Raw Footage” and “51 Classic Documentaries”) over the years. When we were in the initial stages for ‘Baristas vs Billionaires’ in early 2023, I mentioned the project to Alec and he immediately got involved.”
Mori — a 1991 Oscar nominee and 2001 Emmy winner — added of Baldwin, “He also attended our world premiere at Buffalo International Film Festival in October, and he participated in multiple audience Q&As, often citing his father’s work in a teachers union. Alec supports the baristas and their work highlighted in the film.”
The movie’s playing Buffalo and Santa Fe, NM, before moving to Madison, Wis., and other markets.
Baldwin, of course, made the famed “coffee’s for closers” speech in David Mamet’s classic, “Glengarry Glen Ross” — in a scene that the playwright added for the big screen adaptation.
