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Rumors circulated over the past week that Jackson Maine’s house from A Star is Born was a rustic but modern charmer located in the upscale community just west of Los Angeles.

Built in 1973, the single-story dwelling in the Monte Nido neighborhood of Calabasas was designed by Malibu architect Douglas Rucker, who, coincidentally enough, also designed a house for Kris Kristofferson, star of the 1976 version of A Star Is Born opposite Barbra Streisand.

The Calabasas home was later renovated by Dan Meis, the Staples Center architect who bought it in 2015 and lived there until last year, when he sold it to an LLC named Eden Wild for a smidge over $2 million.

Like the best film locations, it serves as a thematic outgrowth of the character. It’s also simply beautiful to look at.

A Star Is Born was filmed all over Los Angeles, at such iconic locations as the Shrine Auditorium, the Chateau Marmont, Griffith Park, the Hollywood Roosevelt, the Regent Theater, the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, and The Short Stop bar in Echo Park. The home of Lady Gaga’s Ally, meanwhile, is located in Arlington Heights. ... See MoreSee Less

21 hours ago

Here’s the real-life ‘A Star Is Born’ house

la.curbed.com

The 1970s home sold last year for $2 million.

With the likes of Peaky Blinders and This Is England taking to the streets of Liverpool and Sheffield, just what is it that makes the urban world of Britain’s vanished industries so appealing?

“These are original cobbles,” says Lynn Saunders, indicating the surface of Falkner Street, with its rows of red-brick terraced houses. One street over, she adds: “And these are ITV cobbles – they put them in when they came to film Sherlock Holmes.”

We’re wandering around Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter, along with Kevin Bell, Saunders’ colleague at the Liverpool Film Office, and I’m getting an education. The first of its kind in the UK, their department was set up in 1989 to facilitate film and television productions in Liverpool. Now, they say, their phone is ringing off the hook. Enquiries are coming in from film-makers and TV producers looking for locations and resources. In the last few years, the city has already been featured in Peaky Blinders, Utopia, Foyle’s War and many more. “On average,” Saunders says, “it works out to about three productions a day.”

We visit a replica of 10 Downing Street, built for the new BBC drama Reg. (The presence of actors playing armed police demands the presence of a real police officer, watching to make sure curious passersby don’t get too curious.) By the old tobacco warehouse at Stanley Docks, you can still see the evidence of last night’s shoot for Houdini and Doyle: cherry pickers, used to install lighting.

Britain’s post-industrial cities are enjoying their first major boom in years – on the screen. There’s a major new studio opening to service York and Leeds, Belfast’s film location industry is thriving on the back of Game of Thrones and a new branch of Pinewood studios opened just outside Cardiff earlier this year.

At the heart of this devolved production are the old powerhouses of UK industry – the buildings, the landscapes and the can-do attitude. Britain’s post-industrial cities are attractive places: their industrial character persists, even as they evolve beyond heavy industry and the years of economic depression that followed its demise.

“Post-industrial landscapes become one of the characters in the production,” says Kaye Elliott, head of production services at Creative England, a not-for-profit body set up to grow film and television productions across the regions. Elliott attributes the success of these cities to the popularity of “darker” stories, such as Happy Valley and No Offence. “Look at This Is England, which is shot in Sheffield. It’s showing a gritty side. Obviously the city has much more to offer – but it is such a characterful place to shoot.” ... See MoreSee Less

2 days ago

Why film and TV can't get enough of Britain's classic industrial landscapes

theguardian.com

With the likes of Peaky Blinders and This Is England taking to the streets of Liverpool and Sheffield, just what is it that makes the urban world of B...

When regular people watch movies, they might focus on the plot, the dramatic dialogue, or the eye-popping sets. But when location scouts—the people whose job it is to find perfect filming sites—sit down for a film, all they see are logistics. Where did they shoot that? Who gave them access to that part of town? How did they shut down Times Square for that entirely empty shot in Vanilla Sky (2001)?

A location scout might spend an entire film typing out notes on their phone, only later realizing that the movie ended and they missed most of the actual plot. Mental Floss chatted with a couple of these professionals to learn more about their job—like just how many times they have to watch a film before they can enjoy it. (At least twice.) ... See MoreSee Less

3 days ago

11 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Location Scouts

mentalfloss.com

Even a casual trip to the bar can be "work."

When the fourth season of Outlander premiered on Starz, it introduced its audience to a whole new setting — sort of. Every season has taken the show a little farther from the Scottish Highlands where it started. Jamie and Claire have traversed Paris, Boston, and the Caribbean, but now they'll be settling in North Carolina during the earliest days of the United States.

The filming locations are actually very familiar, even if they're standing in for totally new places. Executive producer Matthew B. Roberts explained to Glamour that they chose not to uproot the entire cast and crew for the upcoming season. Instead they continued filming at their usual Glasgow studio. When Roberts took a tour of North Carolina, in particular the Blue Ridge mountains, he found that it wasn't aesthetically dissimilar from Scotland.

"I've taken a few pictures in North Carolina and I've taken pictures [in Scotland], and I play a little game on Instagram where I'll say, 'Where am I?'" Roberts told Glamour. "Many of our North Carolina fans will say, 'You are absolutely in North Carolina,' and I'll be somewhere in the Trossachs."

Series star Sam Heughan agreed. He made his own visit to North Carolina after it was suggested to him by the books' author Diana Gabaldon. "It was just remarkable how similar it was [to Scotland]," Heughan said. "You just realize that's why the Scots, when they immigrated to America, settled there. Because it really does feel the same."

According to the website North Carolina History, it was one of the most popular places for Highland Scots to settle when they made their way over to the States. Though that might have had more to do with a ten-year tax exemption granted to them by governor Gabriel Johnston, a Scot himself.

In addition to using Scotland as a double for the colonies, showrunner Ronald D. Moore told Entertainment Weekly, "We'll also go to Eastern Europe and shoot some stuff for the mountains and rivers of North Carolina." ... See MoreSee Less

4 days ago

'Outlander' Season 4 Has A Brand New Setting

romper.com

When the fourth season of Outlander premieres on Starz on Nov. 4, it will introduce its audience to a whole new setting — sort of. Every season has ...

It’s been 25 years since “Hocus Pocus,” the lighthearted Disney live-action classic about three ancient witches who are magically transported to modern-day Salem and the kids who must fight them off, first hit theaters.

The film’s 25-year anniversary has caused a notable uptick in “Hocus Pocus” fans visiting Salem, according to Kate Fox, the executive director of Destination Salem, the town’s marketing organization.

While the movie is set in Salem, much of the interior filming actually took place in California. However, some of the most iconic settings of the film are in Salem and nearby Marblehead.

For any “Hocus Pocus” fans hoping to spot those locations while visiting, here are the buildings you should map out.

The majority of “Hocus Pocus” happens in the 1990s, but the opening scenes show how the Sanderson sisters captured Emily Binx in the 1600s and turned her brother Thackery into a black cat. Those exterior shots were filmed in Pioneer Village, a “living history museum” built in 1930 in Forest River Park, according to its website. While you can peek inside the village’s houses, none of them were used for the interior of the witches’ house in the film.

Filmmakers used Salem’s Old Town Hall for the exterior of the film’s town-wide Halloween party — one of the most famous scenes in the film thanks to Midler’s performance of “Put a Spell on You.” The building now plays host to the Salem Museum and performances of “Cry Innocent,” a regular theatrical performance based on the Salem Witch Trials. ... See MoreSee Less

5 days ago

A local’s guide to ‘Hocus Pocus,’ 25 years later

boston.com

All of the must-visit filming locations for "Hocus Pocus" in Salem and Marblehead.