Hollywood North: Movies made in Canada, from Amelia to The Twilight Saga: New Moon
St. Lawrence Market in Toronto. Photo by Sue Frause.
Hollywood North has been the phrase used to describe the film industry in Canada since the ’80s. Although business has slowed down in the past few years, Vancouver and Toronto are still destinations for folks in the film industry.
The recently released movie Amelia starring Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart was shot in Nova Scotia and Ontario. Here are some upcoming releases that were filmed north of the 49th parallel:
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (also known as New Moon)
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Location: A dozen locales in British Columbia
Genre: Romantic-fantasy film
Synopsis: The Twilight Saga: New Moon is the sequel to Twilight and continues the story of Bella Swan and her teen vampire Romeo, Edward Cullen.
Release date: November 20, 2009
Hot Tub Time Machine
Starring: Lizzy Caplan, John Cusack, Chevy Chase
Genre: Comedy
Location: Fernie, British Columbia and the Vancouver Film Studios
Synopsis: After a night of drinking Red Bull and vodkas, a group of guys travels back in time to when they were younger cads.
Release date: February 2010
Casino Jack
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Kelly Preston
Location: Hamilton and Welland, Ontario and the Toronto Film Studios
Genre: Thriller
Synopsis: A hot-shot Washington, DC lobbyist and his protégé go down hard as their schemes to peddle influence lead to corruption and murder.
Release date: In production
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Starring: Michael Cera (Juno)
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Genre: Action/adventure comedy
Synopsis: Scott Pilgrim must defeat his new girlfriend’s seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to win her heart.
Release date: 2010
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Having grown up in Toronto, I usually recognize it within seconds when I see it in a film in “Chicago” or “New York.” It makes for a fun guessing game. One recent film, putatively set in an American city, had a guy walking out of a church I know well, with a very well-known store (since closed) in the background of the shot. Ooops. Even within seconds, if you know that popular block of Toronto, you know it was shot there…
My favorite moviemaking anecdote was someone shooting in Toronto, dirtying up that street with litter to make it look like some other city — returning from a lunch break to find that city workers had cleaned it up again.