TOP 10 FILM DESTINATIONS

For many, Casablanca is one of the best known American films. Although major part of the film is studio bound, there are still a few locations where Casablanca was shot and that you can visit. Most of the locations and props can be found in Warner Bros VIP Studio. However, if you want to see the original plane from the film, go to Disney´s Hollywood studios in Orlando, Florida. The plane is on display in the so called Casablanca Tableau.

The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Al Pacino and Marlon Brando, belongs among the most famous gangster films ever made. Main scenes were shot in New York. Most of the studio filming was made at New York´s Filmways Studios, 246 East 127th Street, East Harlem in Second Avenue. The wedding scene for example was shot on the Staten Island, the outdoor festivities in the garden of 120 Longfellow Road. The bar, where Sollozo meets Lucia Brasi is in the Edison Hotel, 228 West 47th Street. There are, of course, many other locations connected with the film in New York. Some of the scenes were also filmed on locations in Los Angeles, Nevada and Italy.

Shining is one of the most famous films directed by Stanley Kubrick. His famous Overlook Hotel can be found in Timberline Lodge in Mount Hood in Oregon.  However, the remaining scenes were almost entirely filmed in Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire in England.  If you are a Kubrick fan, the right place to go are the mountains in Oregon. Maybe you will see something strange there.

Amadeus by Milos Forman was almost entirely filmed in Prague (Czech Republic) and Vienna (Austria). The location of many scenes is the Old Town in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. The Lesser Town and the Charles Bridge can be seen in many scenes as well. Some scenes were also shot in the Estates Theatre that has not changed much since the Mozart´s times. Other cities were used for filming, too. For instance, Salieri first meets Mozart in the Kromeriz Palace in the city of Kromeriz that is situated in the eastern part of Moravia, still in the Czech Republic.

Quentin Tarantino´s Pulp Fiction was filmed in and around Los Angeles. Pumpkin and Honey-Bunny eat their dinner in Hawthorne Grill, 13763 Hawthorne Boulevard at 137th Street, Hawthorne, south of Los Angeles. The motel, hiding place of Butch is the River Glen Motel located in 2934 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles. The match itself takes place in Raymond Theatre, 129 North Raymond Avenue in Pasadena. As a real Pulp Fiction fan, you should not miss these places.

Forest Gump belongs among the most touching films of the 1990´s. The film was shot in South Carolina around Beaufort. The bench on which Forest collars everyone who would listen was located in Chippewa Square, Savannah, Georgia. The original bench is now part of the exhibition at the Savannah History Museum, 303 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Savannah. University scenes were filmed in California. The football stadium is the Weingart Stadium of East Los Angeles College, 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez. The hospital is the Ebell of Los Angeles, 4400 West Eighth Street, Los Angeles. Last but not least, Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC is definitely the most famous location of the film.

Braveheart, the famous historical film about William Wallace, was filmed almost entirely in Scotland. Highlands around Loch Leven and Glen Coe are one of the main settings.  The village where William Wallace was born was constructed in Glen Nevis Valley, at the foot of Ben Nevis. The interior scenes of Mornay´s castle were filmed in Edinburgh Council Chamber in Edinburgh.  Some parts of the film were also shot in Ireland, around Dublin.

Another film that was filmed in the UK is Shakespeare in Love. Viola's home is the Broughton Castle in Banbury, Oxfordshire. A balcony was added to the window for the film. The command performance of Two Gentlemen of Verona takes place in the Great Hall of Middle Temple in London. The Greenwich firework party, where Viola meets the queen, was filmed in Hatfield House in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Hatfield is located north of London. St. Bartholomew church in London is the church where Shakespeare begs for forgiveness after hearing about the murder of Kit Marlowe. Other scenes were filmed for example in Eton College. If you are in love with Shakespeare, the UK is the right place to go.

The Lord of the Rings, based on the novels written by J.R.R. Tolkien, made New Zealand famous.  Peter Jackson chose New Zealand as the Middle Earth of the film. Some of the locations are almost inaccessible. Tongariro National Park and its three volcanoes Mount Ruapehu, Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe provided ideal setting for Mordor.  The South Island and its Southern Alps became the Misty Mountains of the film. Alexander Farm, near Matamata, North Island is the home of Bilbo and Froddo. However, New Zealand is a paradise to go to for anybody, not only for The Lord of the Rings fans.

Harry Potter is another film that was set in the UK.  For the film, the Kings Cross, Pancras & Euston Road, London or Australia House or Regent’s Park Zoo in London were chosen as settings. The entrance to the Leaky Cauldron is the Bull’s Head Passage in Leaden hall Market in London. Also, places out of London were chosen as film locations, for example the most famous is the Durham cathedral in Durham.

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