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Why I love real locations in the movies

Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass filming at Waterloo station for The Bourne Ultimatum
  • Posted at 11:09am
  • 03 April 2009
  • by AndrewCollins-RT
  • 3 comments

It's a cliché to say that when you first arrive in New York it feels like you've been there before, because you've seen it so many times in the movies, from On the Town to Ghost Busters (Sunday 5 April, C4).

On my first visit, I had a particular sense of déjà vu when I passed the otherwise unremarkable Carnegie Deli, setting for the beginning of Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose.

There's something special about an authentic location.

The Interpreter (Saturday 4 April, ITV1) is a political thriller that, to my mind, delivers a lot less than it promises.

But it remains unique in one aspect: it was the first and so far only feature ever to be shot in the United Nations building in midtown Manhattan.

This was handy, as the story is set almost exclusively at . . . the United Nations building in midtown Manhattan, including its General Assembly and Security Council, so familiar from news footage.

The film-makers had intended to build replica interiors, in common with previous UN-based sequences in the likes of North by Northwest, The Peacemaker and Live and Let Die.

But repeated requests to the Secretary General and the New York Mayor's office finally bore fruit, and the late Sydney Pollack was granted unprecedented access to the corridors of power.

His crew would move in on a Friday night and film during weekends.

It was worth it, as the scenes inside the building are impressive – and coolly authentic.

In the Loop, the new movie spun off cult BBC4 comedy The Thick of It (in cinemas 17 April), also moves from its familiar Westminster village setting to a climax at the UN headquarters.

Although director Armando Iannucci shot exteriors in Manhattan, the building itself was played by . . . London's Royal Festival Hall. It's not a bad match, actually.

We're used to being fooled by stand-in locations and immaculately built facsimiles, so when a famous location turns out to be real, it's quite disorientating.

In Love Actually (Saturday 4 April, ITV2), Downing Street may have been a set, but Alan Rickman is seen shopping in the genuine Selfridges on London's Oxford Street.

The shoot lasted from 9.00pm until 5.00am the following morning, by which time, director Richard Curtis revealed, "no-one was smiling any more."

When the location is real, the time is nearly always wrong.

During the filming of The Bourne Ultimatum, the chase on a busy concourse at London's Waterloo Station was achieved using multiple cameras and real Network Rail customers, but it was filmed in the summer and the sequence is set in the winter.

This "illusion" was achieved using coats. It didn't stop me shouting out, "Hey! I've been there!" at the screen. You have too, haven't you?

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Comments

  • Posted on 08 September 2009
  • at 7:07pm
  • by catlady141

It can be a bit weird if you know the place well. One night when I couldn't sleep I put the TV on and saw a local landmark, so I assumed it was the local news, or some kind of regional programme. It turned out to be The Go-Between.

  • Posted on 06 August 2009
  • at 4:56pm
  • by Paul

I also love real locations in the movies. So much so in fact, that I created my own website about them, which I'm using this comment to shamelessly plug. :)

www.ukonscreen.com

  • Posted on 06 April 2009
  • at 2:59pm
  • by Jase

Actually the Bourne Ultimatum Waterloo chase was filmed in winter as they were quite concerned about people wearing poppies and carrying Xmassy carrier bags.

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