Location of the Week

Chicago, IL

Stuck halfway between the cinematic hubs of New York and Los Angeles, Chicago, Illinois has come to represent the unique atmosphere of the urban midwest. Though, ironically, most of the Oscar-winning musical Chicago was shot in Toronto, Canada, the Windy City has played host to no small number of cinematic hits.  Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables depicts an Al Capone-era Chicago within the city’s actual streets, capturing such famous landmarks as The Grand Army of the Republic Rotunda and the Chicago Theater movie house. Likewise, John Hughes’ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is as much an ode to the Second City as it is to youthful spontaneity. While Ferris and his friends play hooky, they visit Wrigley Field, the Art Institute of Chicago and Sears Tower.Several upcoming films have also included Chicago in their roster of locations, including Marc Forster’s Stranger Than Fiction, Gabriel Range’s Death of a President and Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers.

Other famous flicks with Chicago as their backdrop include:

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
The Blues Brothers
A League of Their Own
Road to Perdition
North by Northwest

October 16th, 2006 | Category: Location of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

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The Château de Versailles

Credit: copyright Sony Pictures Entertainment

In the 320-odd years of its existence, it might seem surprising that a scant five feature films have been shot at the sumptuous Château de Versailles in France. Constructed as the residence of King Louis XIV, the chateau became the epicenter of French politics as well as the most extreme example of the decadence that characterized aristocratic life during the King’s reign.From its famed Hall of Mirrors to the expansive gardens, Versailles is perhaps the most luxurious backdrop imaginable, and has been replicated in countless films. But Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, opening October 13th, is one of the few productions that has had the privilege of filming on the actual grounds. The film, which follows the life of the infamous French queen (played by Kirsten Dunst), makes the most of the chateau’s lush surroundings, in particular the “Petit hameau” where the real-life Marie Antoinette played at being a shepardess in the decade before her death. Coppola’s film has a decidedly modern edge, with a young, hip cast and a rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack; nevertheless, the use of the queen’s actual home adds an authenticity to a film which otherwise shies away from the historical events surrounding her life.

Aside from Marie Antoinette, French films Angélique et le roy (dir. Bernard Borderie), La Fayette (dir. Jean Dréville) and Liberté, égalité, choucroute (dir. Jean Yanne) have filmed at Versailles, as well as a 1938 version of Marie Antoinette (dir. W.S. Van Dyke II), starring Norma Shearer in the title role and John Barrymore as her husband, Louis XVI.

October 9th, 2006 | Category: Location of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

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Austin, Texas

Douglas McGrath’s Infamous was one of many movies shot in Texas’ capital city of Austin.

“Austin is just simply not like the rest of Texas,” boasts the Website for Austin’s visitor’s bureau. As the capital of the second largest state in the nation, Austin is proud of its artistic reputation—and so it has inevitably played a role in many of the best films to come out of Texas in the last 50 years. Both Robert Rodriguez and Richard Linklater have based numerous projects here, including From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City, SubUrbia and A Scanner Darkly. Linklater even serves as the artistic director of the Austin Film Society and both moviemakers are involved with the organization’s offshoot, Austin Studios. Several upcoming movies will feature Austin and its surrounding areas, including the new Truman Capote film Infamous, Linklater’s Fast Food Nation and Mike Judge’s Idiocracy.Other films that pay homage to “The Live Music Capital of the World:”

Blood Simple
Capote
Home Fries
Kill Bill, Vol. 1
Office Space
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Waking Life

October 2nd, 2006 | Category: Location of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

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New York City’s Central Park

When Harry Met Sally is one of many films that features New York’s Central Park.

Although it might not be as idyllic as the movies would have you believe, Manhattan’s Central Park has always served as the cinematic symbol of an oasis in the middle of a chaotic city.  Whether it’s Max Bialystock taking Leo Bloom for an afternoon stroll in the original The Producers or Woody Allen and Diane Keaton people-watching in Annie Hall, Central Park’s greenery has served as the backdrop for some of New York City’s most iconic movie moments.  Allen, the quintessential New Yorker, has featured the Park in most of his New-York based films including Crimes and Misdemeanors and, of course, Manhattan.The 843-acre stretch of land (that’s six percent of the city’s total acreage) has also shown up in modern classics such as Arthur, Ghostbusters, Hair and Marathon Man.  With a reservoir, hiking trails, bike paths and the luxurious Tavern on the Green restaurant, the Park offers a variety of settings for the New York-based moviemaker (though be careful to adhere to the guidelines set for filming here). Since 1908, more than 200 feature films have shot in Central Park, including:

The 25th Hour
Barefoot in the Park
Top Hat
The Manchurian Candidate (1960 and 2004)
When Harry Met Sally

For guidelines on making movies in New York’s Central Park, visit www.centralparknyc.org/media/file/FilmingGuidelines.pdf.

September 25th, 2006 | Category: Location of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

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Echo Park

L.A.’s Echo Park neighborhood was featured in the Sundance hit Quinceañera

Los Angeles, CaliforniaNestled in the Hollywood Hills, Echo Park’s relationship with the moviemaking world stretches back to the first incarnation of the now iconic LA film industry. Featured in Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia, Echo Park was home to some of the first studios, including that of slapstick director-producer Mack Sennett. Over the years, the neighborhood has served as the backdrop for such famous flicks as Chinatown and L.A. Confidential, capturing the gritty side of the City of Angels that is easily forgotten amid all the glamour. Echo Park has been home to every ethnic group from Filipinos to Ukrainians, and the now primarily Latino neighborhood is celebrated in the Sundance smash hit, Quinceañera, by local moviemakers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland.

Echo Park also makes an appearance in:
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Training Day (2001)
I Am Sam (2001)
Dead Again (1991)

September 15th, 2006 | Category: Location of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

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