Sometimes it’s fun to scout out a location used in a movie, we all watch far too much television anyway, so these things are never too far away in our minds. Plus it always looks good to have a picture of yourself standing in front of some difficult-to-find film location on your Facebook page. So here as our weekend feature is the Travel Snitch movie goer’s guide to some to the best known places that have appeared in the pictures.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
If director Guy Ritchie is to be believed, most of London still looks like something from the 19th century with old cobbled streets and little narrow alleyways. Granted some of it still is, but not as much as you might think.
Most of the scenes from his best film to date were shot in one of two principle locations, Borough Market and Farringdon. The house our heroes live in is 15 Park Street, Borough, SE1, opposite the market. And JD’s bar is actually a bar called Vic Naylor, 40 St John Street, Smithfield, EC1.
"Hello mate, do you do airports?"
Star Wars
The numerous locations used for different scenes are dotted around the sands of the northern edge of the Sahara, some close together, others a few hours drive apart. But one of the most impressive is a place called Shubiel Gorge, or more commonly referred to as Star Wars Canyon.
This particular site was used many times from different angles: this was where R2D2 was kidnapped by Jawas, where we were first introduced to Obi Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) as he rescues the unconscious Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and even where we first set eyes upon the spectacle of Mos Eisley spaceport from the rocky peak. The entrance to the canyon is also where Luke and Obi Wan stumble upon the slaughtered Jawas and their shot-up sandcrawler, providing the imperial troops with the final link that ultimately leads them to the Lars family homestead.
George Lucas was such a fan of Shubiel Gorge that he filmed there again four years after Star Wars in Raiders of the Lost Ark, which he co-wrote and co-produced. The scene where Indiana Jones threatens to blow up the ark with a rocket launcher while it’s being carried to the chosen site to be opened was filmed here.
"If there's a bright centre to the universe, you're on the planet that's farthest from it."
The Matrix
The entire first Matrix movie was filmed on location in Sydney, famous landmarks are visible throughout. However, one of the most well known is a short but iconic scene where Neo (Keanu Reeves) is on a training programme, but actually believes himself to be inside the Matrix. Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) is explaining how agents can be all around and that he must stay vigilant at all times. At this moment Neo is distracted by a woman in a red dress.
This was filmed next to Martin Place Fountain, on Pitt Street, in the heart of Sydney’s financial district.
"Were you listening to me, Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?"
