Cinematography technique · used in 9 films
Shooting a scene in one place and dressing it to pass for another, such as a stadium that stands in for an embassy. You accept the fiction as long as the details look right.
Examples
William Friedkin · 1980
The real Mineshaft club would not allow filming, so the production dressed the Hellfire Club to look like it. Regulars of the scene appeared as extras. The environment feels real because real people are in it.
Where to see it: The club scenes. The Hellfire Club stands in for the Mineshaft and Burns moves through crowds of leather-clad regulars.
John Huston · 1981
The production shot in and around Budapest to stand in for Paris and occupied France. The match was filmed at the old MTK Stadium, chosen partly because it had no floodlights, which were rare in the 1940s. The stadium looks old because it was old.
Where to see it: The match at Colombes Stadium: the crowd, the old stands and the lack of floodlights all come from a real Budapest ground.
John Carpenter · 1981
Much of the film was shot in a decaying American city made to pass for New York. Burned-out blocks, empty lots and dressed streets turn into the walled Manhattan. You accept it because the details fit.
Where to see it: The streets of the prison island: Snake follows the President's tracker through dark, empty streets and a vaudeville theater.
Ridley Scott · 1989
Japan's high costs, red tape and strict gun rules wore down the production, and Scott left the country early. The climactic motorcycle chase was shot in California's Napa Valley. Los Angeles airport stood in for Osaka's airport, and a steel mill in Fontana finished a scene the crew could not complete in Japan. The story still plays as one trip through Japan.
Where to see it: The steel foundry: Nick and Matsumoto follow a hostess to a foundry where Sato meets Sugai. The scene was left unfinished in Japan and completed in California.
William Friedkin · 2000
The Yemen scenes were shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco. The film dresses a Moroccan location to look like the embassy and its crowded streets. You accept the setting as long as the crowd and the buildings look right.
Where to see it: The embassy evacuation. A protest turns violent and the Marines go in to evacuate the ambassador, and Childers orders his men to fire on the crowd.
Ridley Scott · 2008
Dubai refused permission, so Scott shot the Jordan scenes in Morocco. A basketball stadium in Rabat became the US embassy, with a CIA office built inside it. In the United States, the National Geographic offices in Maryland played CIA headquarters in Virginia, and a Washington neighborhood was dressed as wintry Amsterdam.
Where to see it: The Amsterdam bombing: Al-Saleem's network sets off a deadly bomb at a flower market, filmed on a dressed-up street in Washington.
Jacques Audiard · 2018
The story is set in the American West, and Audiard shot it in Spain. Almeria, Tabernas, Navarre and Aragon stand in for the American West. You accept the fiction because the dry hills and dusty towns look the part.
Where to see it: The pursuit. The brothers chase Morris and Warm across the country after the two team up.
Luca Guadagnino · 2024
The production shot at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, and the film dresses it to look like Mexico City in 1950. The studio setting gives the city a dreamlike, artificial feel. Additional scenes for the last act were filmed in Quito, Ecuador.
Where to see it: The Mexico City scenes. Lee's bars and streets in Mexico City were shot at Cinecittà Studios in Rome.
Destin Daniel Cretton · 2026
Glasgow streets were dressed to pass for New York, including Merchant City, George Square and Trongate. You accept the city because the details look right, and the film saves the cost of shutting down Manhattan.
Where to see it: Street-level city scenes: Peter's patrols and chases were filmed in Glasgow, with Pinewood backlot work and London locations filling in other parts of the story.
Questions