Click through for a look at "Where'd you go Bernadette?," "The Art of Racing in the Rain," and other films set in Washington but shot in British Columbia.
"The Art of Racing in the Rain," released in 2019, filmed in Vancouver. 20th Century Fox
Cate Blanchett stars in "Where'd You Go Bernadette," set in Seattle but filmed only sparingly there.
Annapurna Pictures / Contributed photo
Jaeden Lieberher and Clive Owen, pictured in "The Confirmation." Written and directed by Bob Nelson, the film is set in Kent and is slated to be released March 18, 2016.Lionsgate
"50/50" -- This cancer drama starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen.Chris Helcermanas-Benge
"Another Stakeout": Emilio Estevez, Richard Dreyfuss and Rosie O'Donnell starred in this 1993 buddy comedy. Estevez is pictured above in a better movie.AP
"Battle in Seattle" -- The re-enactment of the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle was filmed in Vancouver and downtown Seattle. It featured Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson and Ray Liotta.Ed Araquel
"Chronicle" -- Michael B. Jordan and Dane DeHaan starred in this teen-oriented action movie.Courtesy of FOX Film Corporation
"Double Jeopardy" -- Tommy Lee Jones, above, played opposite Ashley Judd in this 1999 film. It is the second best movie in which Tommy Lee Jones plays a lawman hunting a wrongly accused fugitive. (Photo by Jeff Golden/WireImage)Jeff Golden/Getty
"Fear" -- Mark Wahlberg creeps on Reese Witherspoon and murders a German shepherd in this 1996 thriller.Archive Photos/Getty Images
"Fifty Shades of Grey" -- This is the first of three of these Seattle-set bondage-ish films based on the E.L. James novels.
"Fifty Shades Darker" -- Yes, there's another one ... anticipated. That's author E. L. James.
"Fifty
Shades Freed" -- Why not make three? The "Fifty Shades" folks are shooting the next two back to back. Apparently there are people with a fetish ... for boring near-pornography.fiftyshadesmovie, Instagram
"Five Easy Pieces" -- Jack Nicholson and Karen Black shined in this 1970 classic.
"Firewall" -- Harrison Ford, banker turned near human torch. It's like "Taken" with computers.
HO
"Love Happens" -- Aaron Eckhart and Jennifer Aniston starred in this generic 2009 rom-com.Universal Studios
"Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" -- Yeah, the Mission: Impossible people appeared to drop by Seattle in the last scene of this 2010 blockbuster.
"Paycheck" -- Ben Affleck starred in this adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story. It was of a piece with his two other 2002 offerings -- "Daredevil" and "Gigli."DOUG CURRAN
"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" -- The first "Twilight" movie was actually shot in Washington. Not this one, though. AP
"Walking Tall" -- It's no "The Rundown," but what's not to like about Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Johnny Knoxville taking on a crooked Kitsap County timber baron?Paul Joseph Brown/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"We Don't Live Here Anymore" -- Laura Dern, left, and Naomi Watts starred in this 2004 drama. HO
Click through for a look at "The Confirmation" and other films set in Washington but shot in British Columbia.
Perhaps not since "Grey's Anatomy" has Seattle gotten this much attention in the culture, with both "Where'd you go Bernadette?" and "The Art of Racing in the Rain" featuring stories set in our humble city.
Not that they filmed here: Principal photography of "Racing" was in Vancouver, with auto-racing scenes filmed in Toronto.
"Bernadette" featured a few scenes shot on location in Seattle, but largely Pittsburgh and Vancouver stood in for the Emerald City (with cast members even recalling stories of a winter Seattle being recreated during summer in Pittsburgh by plucking leaves off trees).
"Bernadette" does make an effort to talk the talk though. Based on a novel of the same name by Maria Semple, the movie is filled with little tidbits to make the movie feel like it really is Seattle — Amazon boxes, rainy drives, characters complaining about zoning laws or rich out-of-towners moving into Seattle.
Seattle ties in "Where'd you go Bernadette?":
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Cate Blanchett stars in "Where'd You Go Bernadette," a movie based on the best-selling book — which is set in and makes plenty of fun of Seattle. And yet, the city doesn't feature too prominently in the movie; after all, most of the filming was done in Pittsburgh, Vancouver, and Greenland. (The latter stands in for a trip to the arctic though; our winters haven't gotten that bad.)
So where does Seattle show up in the movie? Click to see some locations featured.
Annapurna Pictures / Contributed photo
One of the very first shots of the film is an overhead look at Downtown Seattle.GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
Bernadette stops to ponder her choices at Kerry Park (though the scene seems heavily greenscreened).GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM
The Space Needle's revolving restaurant is the background for a fight between Bernadette and her husband.Courtesy Olson Kundig
The sign for one of Seattle's Cherry Street Coffee Houses makes a cameo in the film. Isaac M./Yelp
In the film, Bernadette's husband (played by Billy Crudup, and pictured here) works at Microsoft. Wilson Webb
Bernadette and her family drive near the Monorail during the film — although, in order to authentically capture Seattle, it looks nothing like this picture, and is usually rainy.GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
At a visit to her pharmacy, Bernadette comments on a Chihuly chandelier.
PI FILE
Still, these aren't the first movies to have a stand-in for Seattle's beautiful scenery. Click through the slideshow above to see more examples of movies set in Seattle but shot in Vancouver.
This article was first published on Sept. 3, 2019.
