Can you name a famous American movie that was filmed in Old Montreal, the neighborhood in which our 21e arrondissement condo project is located?
The neighborhood is prominently featured in several big movies, like The Score, featuring Robert De Niro and Edward Norton as thieves who attempt to rob the customs building located on McGill Street. In the movie The Whole Nine Yards, which also takes place in Montreal, a scene was filmed in the famed Notre-Dame Basilica.
Another favorite for producers is filming a movie that is set in Paris in Montreal, as was the case in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, when St-Pierre street took on the appearance of Paris in the 40’s and 50’s. In the movie X-Men: Days of Future Past, Montreal city hall was used as the setting for the hotel where the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973.
Coming soon to the big screen is The Walk, a movie that tells the story of Frenchman Philippe Petit (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who in 1974 illegally walked a tightrope 400 metres above ground connecting the World Trade Center towers. Not that you’d be able to tell, but Saint-Paul Street served as the setting for the film.
Other American productions use the Old Montreal decor to film movies actually set in New York. Consider Lucky Number Slevin, featuring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Josh Hartnett, in which if you pay attention you will recognize the Palais des Congrès made up as an airport. In the movie The Day After Tomorrow, you can see the films hero, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, walking down St-Jacques street.
Have you recognized Old Montreal in any other films?
Note : This image at the top of this post comes from the movie The Walk, to be released in 2015.
