Tuesday, July 19, 2005

An Affinity for the Windy City

I watched "I, Robot" this weekend, thanks to my recent Blockbuster online membership mentioned in an earlier blog. It was an excellent movie and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys action, sci-fi, and a mystery thrown in for good measure. I noticed in this movie a pattern I've seen in a lot of movies - Chicago as the movie's location. It wasn't as evident in this movie, since it was set in 2035. The "Lake Michigan Landfill" sorta gave that away.

When I think about some of my all-time favorite movies, I realized a boat load of them are set in Chicago - My Best Friend's Wedding, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, While You Were Sleeping, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Then, add to the list TV shows - ER, St. Elsewhere, and Chicago Hope - all three medical shows set in Chicago. Although Chicago is a great city, why in the world is it such a popular setting for movies and tv shows?

New York and Los Angeles are both cities I'd expect to be settings for movies, but Chicago? What about Atlanta? Or Dallas? Or St Louis? Aren't any of these choices as high quality as Chicago? My best guess is that it's a centrally-located city in the US that has a diverse population and a beautiful skyline. Outside of that I don't know the intrigue of Chicago to movie makers. Maybe one day I'll be lamenting the use of Detroit as a movie setting and long for a movie set in Chicago....

5 comments:

A.J. said...

I'd personally like to see more movies set in Louisville, KY. I mean, it's centrally located, it's an easy city to get around (minus the bad drivers), and there's so much history. And if a movie coming out this fall is going to be set in Elizabethtown, KY, I see no reason why Louisville shouldn't have more than the 2 or 3 it's already had.

RosieBoo said...

Precisely! Of course, being a native, I'm a bit prejudice. :)

Dana said...

LOL Spiderman 2 was partially filmed here. My husband was on his way home from work and had to detour around some streets that were closed for filming. One street he got close enough to see they were filming Spidey's swinging sequences. A camera was suspended on a crane and would swing and film Spidey's travels through the city. It was cool.

Chicago has a rich history of filmaking. Check out this website for lists of movies made in Chicago...http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalEntityHomeAction.do?entityName=Film+Office&entityNameEnumValue=15

It includes (from 1991-present):
Home Alone 1, 2 and 3, Sleepless in Seattle, Groundhog Day, Meet the Parents, A League of Their Own, The Fugitive, Natural Born Killers, My Best Friend's Wedding, Ocean's 11, Cheaper By the Dozen, Batman Begins, and Ocean's 12, to name a few.

As to why Chicago is such a hot place to film, I have no idea and couldn't find anything on the web to answer the question. But it is very diverse and very Hollywood-friendly. LOL

Rachel said...

Ferris Bueller is awesome. Have you seen Life as a House? It was very very good. For t.v., I love 30 Days and the Shield. I love making time in my day to sit down and relax and watch a show I really enjoyo.

RosieBoo said...

Dana,

I forgot about Spidey 2..another great flick. Thanks for researching the question. :)

Rachel,

I haven't seen Life as a House, but I'll have to check it out. Good TV is like a substitute for comfort food. :)