When Filming in New York, the City Is Always the Star | Hacker News Reader

When Filming in New York, the City Is Always the Star

nytimes.com

31 pointstintinnabula13 comments

Funny thing NYC has several stunt doubles like Montreal and Toronto.

Even studios in LA, like Paramount, have fake NYC streets.

And even across the pond in Manchester: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gatx2RLVyj0

This made me rewatch Vancouver Never Plays Itself[1] from Every Frame a Painting. It didn’t have as many examples of Vancouver playing New York as I remembered, but it’s still an interesting demonstration of how a city is made to appear not to be itself on screen.

1: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ojm74VGsZBU

I think Cleveland plays NYC a big for the Marvel movies.

For a similar contemplation on Los Angeles, see the 2003 film "LA Plays Itself."

Funny thing is that the stand in NYPD cars are immaculate, shiny, and unworn by use. Very much unlike the real cars.

Yup, 'clean' nyc always seemed off. The grit is what sells it.

This is one reason Mr Robot is so appealing to me - it feels so real as a New Yorker

It's true and it can be distracting. It's actually the main issue I had with The Adjustment Bureau which ended up feeling like a two hour marketing piece for the city. I'm really curious as to whether promotion of NYC is a prerequisite for receiving film subsidies.

When I visited New York City for the first time in my life two things struck me as odd:

On thing was the number of camera teams in the streets. I mean not movie production teams necessarily but press primarily. This was after 9/11 and before that I always wondered how it could be that there where multiple cameras pointed at the twin towers in exactly the right moment. After I spent some time in NYC this wasn't weird at all anymore.

The other thing was that strange feeling of familiarity of many streets and places. I blame watching too much Kojak as a kid...

> When I visited New York City for the first time in my life [some] things struck me as odd: On thing was the number of camera teams in the street. I mean not movie production teams necessarily but press primarily.

I grew up in NYC and I can say that filming (professional or not) has increased dramatically. When I was younger, I would routinely see camera crews down the street and get excited about who was there or what they were filming. Now, it happens with such regularity that you just grumble and try to find a way down the side-walk to avoid it.

I <heart> NYC.

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