Steven Spielberg has been transforming the residential DUMBO neighbourhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn for shooting his new film, a Cold War thriller.

Old signs and businesses with a 1960s look have appeared along the narrow streets in the area located near the Manhattan Bridge to recreate the New York of decades past on the big screen.

Spielberg will began filming in DUMBO, where several square blocks have been occupied for days by production teams, Efe reported citing the Gothamist website.

The film - starring Tom Hanks, Amy Ryan and Eve Hewson - does not yet have an official title, but signs posted in Brooklyn are referring to it as "St. James Place".

The film has a script in which the Coen brothers - responsible for movies such as "Fargo" and "No Country for Old Men" - participated and tells the true story about attorney James Donovan, who negotiated in the name of the US with the Soviet Union and Cuba in several crises during the 1960s.

The acronym DUMBO stands for "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass". It was designated one of Brooklyn's historic districts in 2007.