Much of Lady Bird was filmed in Sacramento, and a ton of landmarks that would be familiar to locals but wouldn’t mean anything to others made appearances in the film.
ETA: I wouldn’t say I know central Australia “well”, but I did visit there like a decade ago. In Priscilla, Queen of the Desert when they’re hiking King’s Canyon I recognize some of the landscape. In fact I’m pretty sure I have a picture of myself climbing through the same rock we see the drag queens climb through in one shot.
Just Friends with Ryan Reynolds was filmed in Regina and Moose Jaw. I go to the shopping mall where a small scene was shot nearly every work day, and drive by the house that had the wrecked Christmas decorations almost as often. Have had a few beers in the pub in Moose Jaw where some of the action took place.
The River Wild was partially filmed on Oregon’s Rogue River, on several sections that I have been down frequently and immediately recognize in the film.
Fire in the Sky was filmed in Oakland, Oregon, a town I know well and I recognize several locations used in the movie. One scene was filmed at the local VA hospital, a place I also know well. Another scene utilizes the Brockway Store (it’s even mentioned by one of the characters, its the where Travis first appears and makes a phone call after his abduction) which is about a half a mile from my son’s high school.
Animal House was filmed in and around Eugene, Oregon, especially on the UofO campus. Some places, like the Delta House, are long gone but a lot of the locations are instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the campus. The parade scene at the end of the movie was filmed in Cottage Grove, about 20 miles south of Eugene, and in one shot there’s a big banner or sign hanging over the street with the town’s name on it that was mistakenly caught in the shot.
The Lake House was filmed in Riverside, Illinois, while I was living there. I saw them filming numerous times (even getting stopped from crossing the street by some PA with a walkie-talkie) and remember spotting the fake outbuildings the production had put up alongside the authentic old Victorians and Craftsmans.
I’ve been to the Lone Pine CA area many times for camping, hiking, photography and just general wandering around. Just west of town on the way to Mt Whitney are the Alabama Hills, where over 400 movies, TV shows and commercials have been filmed since the 1920s. You can get a map of the locations in town at the Museum Of Western Film History.
I stayed in downtown San Francisco where the famous car chase of Steve McQueen in the movie Bullit was filmed in 1968.
The Shawshank Redemption was filmed at the old Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. Have twice participated in self-guided tours of the place.
Harper Valley PTA was filmed in Lebanon, Ohio. Been there many times, and have eaten in the ice cream shop shown in the film.
So many movies have been filmed in San Francisco, it should probably be in the group of “don’t bother, too many movies” cities from the OP.
Duane Hickman and Leslie Gore!
“Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows…”
They filmed Oppenheimer here in town last year, and I look forward to seeing it in the theater.
Tripler
Traffic was a friggin’ nightmare for a few weeks. . .
Aww, both of mine taken in post #2 and #3.
Ahh well, every time I drive into work, I drive home by a plaza where Abraham Zapruder shot a very short documentary in 1963.
I’ve eaten at two locations used in Tarantino films:
The old Del Amo food court from Jackie Brown and the diner that is robbed in Pulp Fiction.
Tacoma, WA, had a brief period where a few films shot there. The Hand that Rocks the Cradle was filmed a few blocks from where a friend of mine was living at the time. Three Fugitives shot the bank robbery at old city hall, and the school in Ten Things I Hate About You was a few blocks away. The ferry dock scene in WarGames was a few miles from where I grew up.
If TV shows count, I’ve been watching old episodes of Banacek. They filmed some scenes In Boston in the early-70s. Lots of landmarks are easy to spot, like the Hancock Building (still under construction at the time) and the Longfellow Bridge. I’ve also found Banacek’s house and Mulholland’s Rare Books and Prints on Beacon Hill.
I think this filming location is the only one I’m familiar with. I’ve been up and down that stretch of the Rogue several times as well.
The bar scene near the beginning of The Social Network was filmed in The Thirsty Scholar, a pub near our old house in Somerville. We often sat at the table they used for the scene.
A bunch of Good Will Hunting was filmed around Harvard Square and MIT, all familiar to anyone who’s lived around there.
When my dad was a kid, in the the 30s, they filmed The Adventures of Robin Hood in the huge city park in his home town (Bidwell Park in Chico, California) for the Sherwood Forest scenes.
There are so many movies set in Los Angeles where you have to wonder how they got from Point A to Point B.
I dunno if this counts or not, since was in LA when I lived there. Burbank, specifically. But my actual house that I lived in for 10 yrs was used as a set for…uh…some probably god awful movie I don’t even to the name of. It took 3 days and it essentially paid our rent for the month.
I now live in southern Alberta, and can contribute a couple from there. Both from Fort Macleod, which is nearby, and which I know well (it’s got a nice golf course that I like to play).
The first involves Let Him Be, a Kevin Costner-Diane Lane thriller that came out a couple of years ago. Scenes were filmed on Main Street, and the town has preserved its historic buildings, making it perfect for a film set in 1963. I had to laugh when Costner’s character walks into a liquor store, which I knew as the local hardware store. But they had done the storefront up nicely as a liquor store.
I was an extra on that film, actually, and was quite surprised at the lengths they went to, to make it look like it was a small Montana town in 1963. A bank played the Bentfork, Montana police station, the theatre (more on that later) had posters advertising a Gary Cooper film, and the producers had contacted a local classic car club, so period-appropriate cars were parked, and driving up and down the street. “Vote for Joe Blow for Governor” signs were in shop windows. One change they didn’t have to make was the local cafe–it looked like it stepped right out of the 1950s, which, not being changed since, it had.
Okay, the theatre in Fort Macleod. Specifically, the Empress Theatre, it is a provincial historic site. It still operates, providing a concert venue, a movie theatre, and a place for live productions–I did a summer theatre production there a few years ago.
Anyway, parts of Ghostbusters: Afterlife were filmed there. Remember when the young Ghostbusters are driving the Ectomobile down a street, and the rays from the proton pack being shot by one of the kids are spraying everywhere, destroying newspaper boxes, and blowing up a theatre marquee? That’s the Empress Theatre, and I’m pleased to report that it was all CGI, as today, the Empress’ marquee is just as it always has been.
The car chase scene in Bullitt (hey!) in San Francisco started on a corner of the old Army Street (now Cesar Chavez Street) and York Street near where I lived. The U-turn was made at that intersection. The YouTube links begin at these sections.
And then the car chase ended in a crash on Guadalupe Canyon Parkway near the old Candlestick Park.
Fool’s Parade, in Moundsville, WV. My buddy got his pic taken as a six-year old on Strother Martin’s lap.
Night of the Living Dead. I grew up just south of the border. SW PA is very recognizable terrain. Also, I taught guitar to a relative of George Romero.
