California Doubling: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"They really should change the name of Toronto to Fake New York For Use In Movies Only."''|'''James "[[Kibo]]" Parry'''}}

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (film)|Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie]]'' was filmed entirely in Australia, though the series at the time was set in California.

* Averted in [[Dark City]]. The only real giveaway that the filming took place primarily in a studio near Sydney is the somewhat out of place Australian accent of a young police officer who talks to Detective Bumstead in one scene. Also, the director happens to be from Australia.

 

 

* The 1988 TV revival of ''[[Mission Impossible]]'' was filmed in Brisbane, and later Melbourne. The Brisbane TV station screening the series ran a competition asking viewers to pick out the local landmarks used. (Averted in three episodes - "The Cattle King" and "The Golden Serpent" parts 1 and 2 - which ''did'' involve Australia!)

* ''[[Farscape]]'' filmed entirely in Australia, including Earth scenes that were supposed to be located on the Florida Space Coast. For all that the beaches are decidedly different, upper middle class tract housing can evidently be pretty similar in both places.

 

 

* New Zealand doubled for Japan in ''[[The Last Samurai]]''; the reason being is that there wasn't any wide spaces for the battles in Japan.

** Particularly jarring for anyone watching the first battle scene in the forest if they have lived in NZ for some time. There were just too many silver ferns around that have been taught since primary school were ''native'' to New Zealand.

 

 

* Neither ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' or ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' were filmed anywhere near Greece. New Zealand made a passable substitute.

** New Zealand also doubled for China and Japan in ''Xena''. Not to be mention present-day America in both series ("Yes, Virginia, There Is A Hercules" and "Deja Vu All Over Again").

 

 

* Too many to mention have been filmed in Griffith Park, especially 1950's jungle movies. Just keep an eye out for Griffith Mountain.

* Similarly, UCLA is a very common college stand-in for two reasons: there are lots of brick buildings, which mesh with the stereotypical university aesthetic, and it's in Los Angeles.

 

 

* ''[[Knight Rider]]'', ''[[The A-Team]]'', ''[[The Incredible Hulk]]'' and dozens of other 70's and 80's action shows never left the general southern California area either. For all the [[Walking the Earth]] the heroes did, they were never able to go anywhere that didn't have scrub grass and Joshua trees.

* Funny how Culver City, California looks a lot like [[Hogan's Heroes|Nazi Germany]] and [[The Andy Griffith Show|Mayberry, North Carolina]] at the same time.

 

 

* California has doubled for '''the moon''': certain rocks there contain the same minerals as the moon, and the astronauts did some training in Death Valley.

* [[Disneyland|Disney's California Adventure]] has many different regions of California ([[San Francisco]], Monterey, Hollywood, The Sierra Madre, Wine Country and the desert) contained within Anaheim.

 

 

* ''[[The Incredible Hulk (film)|The Incredible Hulk]]'' film (starring [[Edward Norton]]) was shot in Toronto, doubling for Harlem, New York.

** The climactic rumble in ''[[The Incredible Hulk (film)|The Incredible Hulk]]'' was shot on a stretch of Yonge Street in Toronto, running from the intersection of Yonge & Dundas to about a block north. The Zanzibar strip club is a dead giveaway, as are the spinning records on the side of Sam the Record Man.

 

 

* Cop procedural ''Night Heat'' filmed in Toronto and took place in a generic American city.

* The short-lived action show ''FX: The Series'' doubled for New York.

* Toronto doubles for Los Angeles in ''[[The L.A. Complex]]'' with a mix of location-shot [[Establishing Shots]] and yellow filters to make the sun look brighter.

 

* The [[Jackie Chan]] movie ''Rumble in the Bronx'' is shot in Vancouver rather than [[New York City]]. This becomes especially apparent during a beach scene when the lofty majestic volcanic Cascade Mountains can be seen in the background...

* In the ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'' movies, Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters in upstate New York is actually in Vancouver (except for the first movie, which was filmed in Toronto).

 

 

* The western Canadian province of British Columbia has profited greatly from the various American and TV film productions shot there, including but not limited to ''[[The X-Files]]'' for most of its run.

* ''[[Sliders]]'' (and ''[[The X-Files]]'') moved from Vancouver to Hollywood in the course of production.

 

 

'''Billy:''' You'd be surprised. }}

 

 

* ''[[Some Like It Hot]]'' had its two musician protagonists run away to Florida to perform with their mutual [[Love Interest]]'s band; the actual beach and hotel they were at was really on Mission Beach in San Diego. In fact, if one were to visit the hotel there, you could find photos of the cast and parts of the movie in the hotel's lobby.

* ''[[The Matrix]]'' itself is supposedly doubling for [[Chicago]], the hometown of the directors.

 

 

* In ''[[The Tomorrow People]]'': "Worlds Away", on arriving for the first time on an alien planet, one character warns the others, "This isn't just some wood in Surrey," which is [[Lampshade Hanging]] by the writers -- the scene was indeed filmed in a wood in the British county of Surrey.

* As the new series of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' is being produced by BBC Wales, Cardiff has [[California Doubling|California doubled]] for London several times. Cardiff quayside is nearly always the setting for any urban filming.

 

 

* An odd web comic exists in ''[[Ansem Retort]]''. For some background, it's a sprite comic based off ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]: Chain of Memories''. For the most part, backgrounds for that game are used for scenery. There are two instances of a background being repeated:

** The Destiny Islands background has been used as both the scenery for Mexico and the scenery for Hawaii.

 

 

* Averted in David Cronenberg's version of ''[[The Fly]]'', which really is set in Toronto, and makes no effort to hide the CN Tower.

** This is the case for most (if not all) of Cronenberg's films. See also ''[[Videodrome]]'' and ''Crash''.

 

 

* Sort of averted in the ''[[Law and Order]]'' franchise, all of which are set in and filmed in New York City (and recently [[Law & Order: LA|Los Angeles]]). Many of the outdoor scenes are actually shot at or near the supposed location shown in the card. Exceptions (supposed criminal hangouts like whorehouses and drug dens) are given fake addresses. At one point the actors for the main ''Law & Order'' actually took a pay cut in order to keep the show filming in New York City.

** In some cases, things were filmed in New Jersey like some scenes at a train station that were actually filmed in Hoboken. After 9-11 some exteriors were filmed in Downtown Brooklyn filling in for the court and government buildings in Lower Manhattan which were inaccessible.