Actually, it's smaller on the inside than it is on the outside
Does Toronto look like New York? According to Hollywood, it sure does. Movies like The Cinderella Man and Kojak and TV shows like 111 Gramercy Park have all been shot in Toronto, because of the cheaper dollar and generally lower operating costs. Indeed, so many filmmakers go north for their New York scenes that Toronto's local government has actually set up a web site with pictures of various locations for filmmakers to consider. It's certainly true that many of the locations have a sort of generically big-city-urban look, such as the National Trade Center, Osgoode Hall, or the main train nexus, Union Station -- "a poor man's version of Grand Central Terminal", as Dominic Basulto put it over at Corante.
But what really cracked me up was Toronto's officials promoting the campus of Scarborough College -- a distant suburban satellite about 45 minutes' drive away from the main, downtown University of Toronto. When I went to U of T, special pity and horror was reserved for the poor schlubs who had to attend Scarborough College. U of T downtown is replete with gorgeous architecture, a vibrant night life, and dozens of superb international cuisines in local restaurants; Scarborough is a joyless moonscape of food trucks.
And those poured-concrete buildings! My god. You can see an example of 'em in that picture above. They look like postapocalyptic bunkers designed to keep rampaging mutants at bay after some ghastly, accidental thermonuclear holocaust. Seriously, I've been to that location ... it looks like something out of a vintage Dr. Who episode. You keep on waiting for Daleks to appear in the corridors and slaughter everyone. Exterminate! Ex-TER-minate!
(Thanks to Corante New York for this one!)
Posted by Clive Thompson at November 29, 2005 01:04 PM
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That's funny, I didn't realize we had both gone to U of T. 'Course, I only lasted 9 months and left without any credits... ah well.
Anyway, I've always been amused by a huge scandal that broke while I was there. A hollywood film was being shot using Toronto as an NYC set. In order to make the area they were using look more authentic, the set designers brought in truckloads of trash and I think even applied grime to the walls of buildings. Of course, when they broke set, they just left it filthy (I'm sure it wasn't about laziness or deadlines. As Americans they no doubt thought that this was the natural appearance for a city). Needless to say, Canadians were massively up in arms about it. I don't remember how the situation eventually resolved.
Posted by: johntunger at November 29, 2005 4:24 PM
Good call about UT Scarborough. I'm wondering what movies, if any, have actually been shot at the Scarberia locations. That particular picture sure resembles some prisons I've seen, and from talking to the grad students I know who go there, UTSC sure feels like one too.
On the one hand it's great for TO's business to shoot so many films here, but I find it ironic that it's always with the guise of dressing it up as a bigger US city. Recently I've seen some pretend Washington Post boxes up on various streets, which leads me to believe that they are pitching it as a location for Washington as well. And then we wonder why TO has such a hard time attracting tourists. Instead of selling it as a city with its own appealing features, it trys to sell it off as a pretend version of 'better' cities. It's very telling.
Posted by: Steve E. at November 29, 2005 5:12 PM
Does TO have a tough time attracting visitors? I thought Toronto tourism was pretty strong ... or at least it was back when the Canadian dollar was languishing around 63 cents American.
Washington Post boxes!
Posted by: Clive at November 29, 2005 6:07 PM
Wow, Clive, you were shockingly close - a few minutes on IMDB came up with exactly one movie that had a filming location of the Scarborough campus - Harrison Bergeron, the 1995 made-for-TV version (of course, there are likely other movies filmed there that don't have their locations described quite as precisely.)
I remember the sudden appearance of a new, imposing stone gate at the bottom of Front Campus (large grassy oval); closer inspection revealed that it had a plaque on it with a different university's name, and could probably have been pushed over pretty easily. I think it was for PCU; it's hard to see in the picture, but the lovely door behind the yahoos on the poster is from one of the downtown campus buildings (University College, I think).
Posted by: debcha at November 30, 2005 11:02 AM
Yep, PCU was shot at the downtown campus, I believe.
Wow, that version of Harrison Bergeron looks totally wacky!
Posted by: Clive at November 30, 2005 1:05 PM
You want modernist architecture out of hand? Check out York University!
If I am not mistaken, David Cronemberg used it for shooting in some of his early sci-fi movies.
Posted by: Erik Weissengruber at November 30, 2005 9:32 PM
Yes, I think that's true!
I will show you fear in a handful of York.
Posted by: Clive at December 1, 2005 7:01 PM
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That's funny, I didn't realize we had both gone to U of T. 'Course, I only lasted 9 months and left without any credits... ah well.
Anyway, I've always been amused by a huge scandal that broke while I was there. A hollywood film was being shot using Toronto as an NYC set. In order to make the area they were using look more authentic, the set designers brought in truckloads of trash and I think even applied grime to the walls of buildings. Of course, when they broke set, they just left it filthy (I'm sure it wasn't about laziness or deadlines. As Americans they no doubt thought that this was the natural appearance for a city). Needless to say, Canadians were massively up in arms about it. I don't remember how the situation eventually resolved.
Posted by: johntunger![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 29, 2005 4:24 PM
Good call about UT Scarborough. I'm wondering what movies, if any, have actually been shot at the Scarberia locations. That particular picture sure resembles some prisons I've seen, and from talking to the grad students I know who go there, UTSC sure feels like one too.
On the one hand it's great for TO's business to shoot so many films here, but I find it ironic that it's always with the guise of dressing it up as a bigger US city. Recently I've seen some pretend Washington Post boxes up on various streets, which leads me to believe that they are pitching it as a location for Washington as well. And then we wonder why TO has such a hard time attracting tourists. Instead of selling it as a city with its own appealing features, it trys to sell it off as a pretend version of 'better' cities. It's very telling.
Posted by: Steve E.![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 29, 2005 5:12 PM
Does TO have a tough time attracting visitors? I thought Toronto tourism was pretty strong ... or at least it was back when the Canadian dollar was languishing around 63 cents American.
Washington Post boxes!
Posted by: Clive![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 29, 2005 6:07 PM
Wow, Clive, you were shockingly close - a few minutes on IMDB came up with exactly one movie that had a filming location of the Scarborough campus - Harrison Bergeron, the 1995 made-for-TV version (of course, there are likely other movies filmed there that don't have their locations described quite as precisely.)
I remember the sudden appearance of a new, imposing stone gate at the bottom of Front Campus (large grassy oval); closer inspection revealed that it had a plaque on it with a different university's name, and could probably have been pushed over pretty easily. I think it was for PCU; it's hard to see in the picture, but the lovely door behind the yahoos on the poster is from one of the downtown campus buildings (University College, I think).
Posted by: debcha![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 30, 2005 11:02 AM
Yep, PCU was shot at the downtown campus, I believe.
Wow, that version of Harrison Bergeron looks totally wacky!
Posted by: Clive![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 30, 2005 1:05 PM
You want modernist architecture out of hand? Check out York University!
If I am not mistaken, David Cronemberg used it for shooting in some of his early sci-fi movies.
Posted by: Erik Weissengruber![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 30, 2005 9:32 PM
Yes, I think that's true!
I will show you fear in a handful of York.
Posted by: Clive![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.collisiondetection.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 1, 2005 7:01 PM