I know that building

[AndyC]

Just saw the trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil movie, and now I really want to see it. Not because I'm interested in the movie so much, but because of an unusual highrise building that seems to figure prominently - two curved towers wrapped around a saucer-shaped structure. Very futuristic looking indeed, except that it was built around 30 years ago, give or take.

 It's Toronto city hall.



This is not the first time this distinctive building has shown up in entertainment. In the ST:TNG episode with the Iconians, their transportation device opens portals to locations throughout the galaxy, apparently including Toronto.

Checking into this movie's official site, it appears City Hall is passing for a bioweapons laboratory. It actually works pretty well. Just funny to think that the sinister happenings under that dome (the council chamber) are, in reality, pretty boring, and the only monsters there are politicians and bureaucrats.

Anybody else see this happen to a building they know? That would be other than a really famous building, of course.



Post Edited (07-19-04 10:01)

[trekgeezer]

There seems to be a lot of interesting architecture in Canada.  I am always pointing out landmarks in Vancouver filmed tv shows. That interesting mine building that is sort of incorporated into the mountain is where the guys in cahoots with the aliens on the X -Files had all those file cabinets with abductee files. That has shown up in several shows.

I also recognize a lot of streams and such that get used over and over again.

Dallas used to be used for a lot  productions,  particularly reunion tower and the city hall. The end of Logan's Run was shot at a fountain in Dallas.

[Vermin Boy]

My grandparents used to live in Wilmington, NC, where a lot of movies are shot, so I occasionally see streets I recognize. It's kind of unnerving to see that the place where I visited my grandparents when I was little is Lumberville in Blue Velvet...

[AndyC]

trek_geezer wrote:
> There seems to be a lot of interesting architecture in Canada.

Still, it's kind of a rare treat for me to see a building I've actually visited. One of the better examples was the use of Calgary as Metropolis in Superman III, with the Petro Canada Tower serving as Robert Vaughn's headquarters. It was also a surprise to finally see Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter and recognize several Ottawa locations I'd visited not long before.

Then there is the occasional careless appearance of the CN Tower. I believe it briefly moved to Los Angeles toward the end of Police Academy 3. I also recall seeing it show up, big as life, in a movie set in the southern states.

[Pus]

I live near the Pittsburgh area and the wife and I have been to the Monroeville Mall numerous times. I'm sure most of you know that this is the mall used in the original "Dawn of the Dead". She goes shopping, I poke around. Found the hallway where they had the hidden entrance and also had her take a pic of me sitting in front of J.C. Penneys. There's been alot of changes since 1974, but it's still creepy as hell.  I've also been to the Evans City Cemetary where the first scene of "Night of the Living Dead" '68 was shot. I couldn't find any of the tombstones from the movie, but did see the old cinderblock buiding you can see in the graveyard sceen. It's my understanding the farmhouse was torn down years ago. Damn.

[AndyC]

That is so cool. If I'm ever down that way, I'm going to have to find that mall.

[raj]

They filmed part of a movie at my college, mostly just for interior shots (my dorm used to be a fairly nice old mansion).  There was a wrap picture for the movie that was in Life magazine, it included part of my window -- it would have been the whole window, but I had a Grateful Dead Steal Your Face sticker in the window, for some reason that got cropped out.

I've got no idea anymore about the movie, it may have come out in 1986-88.  Is there any way to search for movies based upon shooting location?

[BoyScoutKevin]

Yes, raj. If you go to the power search forum at www.imdb.com, you can then do a search based upon shooting location.

[Neon Noodle]

as far as reused locations:

I have seen the same spot with a tunnel to the left of the screen with a gate in front of it, and a station of some sort right next to it in 3 movies.

I first saw this in "V" - it was the headquarters of the resistance.

Next was in "The Running Man" - when Ben Richards got on a truck and left his 2 friends behind, the truck headed into the tunnel.

The most recent was "The Replacement Killers" - when Chow-Yun Fat and Mira Sorvino found Loc and took his guns & truck from him, the truck was inside the tunnel.

Why do I know this? I have no idea. But now you'll see it too.



Post Edited (07-25-04 07:08)

[peter johnson]

Good old Bronson Canyon, California.
Monument Valley, Utah.
Between these 2, we're talking maybe over 400 films -- don't forget that B Westerns used to be churned out 10-30 per month from the 1930's through the '50's , and you can see ample examples of both locations throughout.
Bronson Canyon figures more prominently as "other planet" locations in films like "Robot Monster", etc.
peter johnson/denny crane

[trekgeezer]

Bronson Canyon was used a lot in the old Star Trek series too (as well as every tv western of the day).  

I never figured out how they got away with using Monument Valley as west Texas. It has surely been used in a lot of movies.

[JohnL]

Two buildings that I've seen many times on film;

A long, ranch-like building with a porch stretching all the way across the front and stairs leading up to it in the middle. The first movie that comes to mind is The Shadowmen with Dean Stockwell. It was also in an episode of Buffy.

The other is a semi-futuristic glass building with a sort of entrance tunnel. I believe it was used as the laboratory in Dead Heat, it appeared at the end of the short film 12:01 PM, it's played laboratories, headquarters and even a police station.