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Comment by smcin | Hacker News Reader

Belated 2022 article, just stumbled over this one.

The forest was in Del Norte County, the northwestern tip of California; also Humboldt County. Many people wrongly think it was filmed in Muir Woods, Marin County (close to ILM), which the filmmakers initially requested, but were rejected mainly due to the pyrotechnics.

The Del Norte forest was clear-cut right after the film shoot was over, except you can visit the grove where the speeder chase scene was shot. Protected in perpetuity within a state park in Humboldt County are the remaining shreds of Endor. The Film Commission highlighted the area in its “Map of the Movies” for a self-guided tour through the two northern counties. [https://hdnfc.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/map-of-the-mov...]

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> pyrotechnics

Exactly why it was chosen; a forest already scheduled to be clear-cut and the loggers didn't think you could do any serious harm to the wood, so why not go wild?

It's just like how some famous destructive bar fight scenes or other building-destroying scenes are just filmed in a building scheduled to be demolished anyway.

Yes, Muir Woods rejected them, they're a National Monument under the NPS, and rarely allow commercial filming anyway, and the article says they freaked out at the request for pyrotechnics.

Whereas the Del Norte forest was land privately owned by Miller-Rellim Redwood Company, and already had a timber harvesting plan/permit.

Like when Kubrick filmed the urban Huế scenes in 'Full Metal Jacket' (1987) at London's Beckton Gas Works, which was scheduled to be demolished. [https://www.latlong.net/location/full-metal-jacket-locations...]

Interesting, but yes, thinking about it, the movie did not contain any jungle scene. Except from a helicopter? But I thought also some other scenes are quite tropical. All staged? Impressive.

Full Metal Jacket was entirely filmed in England. That scene was filmed in Norfolk Broads in eastern England.

I'm always amused by the joke "Of course Kubrick faked the moon landing, but being a perfectionist was only willing to film on location", when in reality he was nothing of the sort. A lot of his filming locations were within an hours travel from home. I suppose it makes sense, even without the 3 month break, FMJ would have been 11 months of filming.

The most immersion breaking part of Dr Strangelove for me is always the outside shot of the ground assault on the "American" base which architecturally is so obviously British it snaps me out of the film each time.

There’s a scene in Smokey and the Bandit filmed in California and it’s entirely recognizable for natives of the area - and horribly immersion breaking.

Well for me also some scenes in FMJ felt weirdly off, not what I expected of vietnam, but since I never been there, I just thought, ok, so they also have that there..

'Full Metal Jacket' was shot in or around London (urban scenes), with countryside scenes in Kent, Essex, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and RAF Swinderby, Lincolnshire. Kubrick was reclusive and refused to fly.

The link I already gave above lists all locations for FMJ, with map pin and picture: https://www.latlong.net/location/full-metal-jacket-locations...

> Full Metal Jacket was filmed in Bassingbourn (for Parrish Island), Beckton Gas Works, Cliffe, Epping Forest, Isle of Dogs, Pinewood Studios, RAF Swinderby and The Broads.

And here's another description of several locations and which scene they're in:

https://giggster.com/guide/movie-location/where-was-full-met...

I doubt they "freaked out". They more than likely looked at the request, consulted with a few other employees in the same branch of government and then denied the request.

"demurred", if you prefer. "objected". "expressed concern". "pushed back". Your choice of verb.

I live just up the road from the former Beckton gas works. Also the original Max Headroom (see username) adventure series British feature was filmed there. It amuses me.

> adventure series

That's an odd way to describe a show premised on a head stuck in a TV. Kinda hard to have any kind adventure when you're tethered to a power-supply.

Sci-fi drama?

Also: man, I really enjoyed that show.

After decades of having to make do with tv/vhs downloads they did finally release a DVD box set :-)

Edison Carter does most of the adventuring ;-)

The destruction of 'Cadillac Heights' in Robocop 3 was a part of downtown Atlanta scheduled to be razed to make way for Centennial Olympic Park. Worked out good for both sides.

That's one way of putting it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/07/29/olympics-i...

COP displaced 30,000 people (though, I suppose it's not as bad as Seoul, where over 700k people lost their homes due to Olympics redevelopment).

Beijing allegedly relocated 1.5M in 2008.

Also the hospital in Chicago that was blown up in The Dark Knight.

That building was the old Brach's Candy factory. I used to pass it on the Metra daily.

“Scheduled…” The car chase scene from “The Blues Brothers” was filmed in the Dixie Square Mall in 1979. It wasn't torn down until 2012.

The new Oldsmobiles are in early this year!

https://youtu.be/IIdGxR-aU6o?si=XUiZyK6CLG5J9GuZ

https://jalopnik.com/the-story-of-the-trashed-mall-from-blue...

Not being from California, those are way further away than I thought from the article. Sounded like, "Muir Wood said no, so we walked down the road a bit."

Google Maps says more like ~270 miles: https://www.google.com/maps/search/Del+Norte+forest/@39.8350...

Distance measurement gets lost on the link, yet Del Norte is almost Oregon, and Muir Woods is San Fran.

Also, while there's definitely clearcutting in the area, such as:

https://www.google.com/maps/search/Del+Norte+forest/@41.5564...

A lot seems like areas where they just didn't/don't even bother replanting. 40 years after 1983, it would probably be a pretty decent size redwood forest again. For maybe ... a $1 a tree? (based on some of those NGOs. Heck, hire an NGO to do it.)

Umm the SFGate article was sloppy about everything, that's specifically why I wrote "Del Norte County, the northwestern tip of California; also Humboldt County." Not Muir Woods, Marin County (close to ILM), the county just north of SF, over the Golden Gate Bridge.

If you know that California is big (1040 miles from north to south), then the northwestern tip of California is going to be a long way north of Marin and SF.

(That maps shows that film location and many others, almost all right off Highway 101:

E.T. (1982), Outbreak (1995), The Tree of Life (2011), The Majestic (2001), After Earth (2013), the canoe chase scene from Last of The Mohicans (1936)...

Outbreak...

I remember seeing that in the theater it was filmed in when I was going to Humboldt State.

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