Captain Phillips
To celebrate the theatrical release of the new Paul Greengrass biographical thriller Captain Phillips, which stars two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks, we thought we’d take a look at some other films that were shot in amazing locations around the world.
To increase the film’s authenticity, Greengrass chose to film 75% of Captain Phillips on the open sea, on a ship that was near-identical to the real Alexander, captained by the real Richard Phillips.
Now, here are six more films that were shot in difficult, beautiful or incredible locations around the world…
- Star Wars IV: A New Hope – Matmata, Tunisia
Contrary to what you might assume, the childhood home of Luke Skywalker – essentially a large pit dug into the ground with artificial caves built into the perimeter – was not constructed by the film crew. In fact, it is the Hotel Sidi Driss in Matmata, a small town in southern Tunisia. Many of the local residents live in these traditional underground ‘troglodyte’ structures.
- After Earth – Costa Rica
Costa Rica was chosen as the location for M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth, as its rainforests perfectly evoked the wilderness and danger of a post-apocalyptic world where dangerous creatures, hostile to humans, hunt by ‘smelling’ fear. Will Smith, who starred in the movie with his son Jaden, has since said that the filming experience has inspired him to pick future projects based on their locations.
- Mamma Mia – the Greek island of Skopelos
The island of Skopelos on the Western Aegean Sea was one of the main Greek islands used in the filming of the feel-good hit musical Mamma Mia! It is home to the adorable little Agios Ioannis chapel on the rocks, where the wedding procession takes place in the film. Kastani Beach on the south west coast was the film’s main location site –a beach bar and a jetty were built along the beach, although both set pieces were removed after production wrapped.
- Prometheus – Iceland
For the alien landscapes in his film Prometheus, director Ridley Scott travelled to the strikingly beautiful Iceland, choosing the base of the active volcano Hekla and Europe’s most powerful waterfall Dettifoss to bring this eerie, atmospheric alien world to life.
But these locations were as dangerous as they were beautiful – their base camp was so close to the volcano that the crew had to have an emergency plan ready in case it erupted during filming. Despite these potential dangers, Iceland is very popular as a filming location; Tom Cruise’s most recent film Oblivion was also filmed there, for example.
- The Lord of the Rings franchise – New Zealand
This epic trilogy was shot entirely in New Zealand, partially because director Peter Jackson lives there, but because (as well he knew) no other country could provide such an incredible variety of locations.
New Zealand provided Jackson with the rolling hills of Hobbiton, Mount Doom, the Elvish Rivendell and Fangorn Forest. The films have encouraged a massive increase in New Zealand tourism – there was a 40% surge between 2001 and 2006 – making the trilogy (inadvertently) New Zealand’s best publicity campaign ever.
- The Abyss – the (abandoned) Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant, South Carolina
Originally, director James Cameron had wanted to film his science-fiction adventure film The Abyss actually in the ocean, but it was decided that this was potentially too dangerous (not to mention costly). Instead he settled on the abandoned Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant, which he used to film the underwater scenes that involved the submerged drilling rig.
The facility was transformed into the largest underwater filming set ever built. As the cost of deconstructing the set was considered too high, the Power Plant became a destination for many urban explorers until it was eventually demolished to make space for a new nuclear facility to be constructed.
See Captain Phillips at cinemas now!
Tagged in Prometheus Lord of the Rings