Explore the filming locations of this year’s Best Picture Oscar nominees

Movies have always allowed us to travel to places and times beyond our own and this year’s Best Picture Oscar nominees are especially good at capturing some fascinating locations around the world. Here’s a look at where and when the 2022 Best Picture Nominees will take you.

Belfast

Considering the film’s title, you’d think that Belfast was primarily filmed in Northern Ireland’s capital, much of the movie was actually shot in England.

While there are scenes that depict recognizable landmarks that were shot in Belfast, many of the settings were actually locations in London or on sets built at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire.

Shot primarily in black and white, Kenneth Brannagh exquisitely captures the Belfast of his childhood during ‘The Troubles,” but the colour scenes of the Belfast of today remind us what a beautiful and vibrant city it has become.

CODA

Set in the Massachusetts community of Gloucester, many of the filming locations for this crowd-pleasing film about a child of deaf adults were in the seaside community itself. Other settings in the state, including Rockport and Boston, also feature prominently in CODA and show viewers just how pretty this region of New England is.

Don’t Look Up

The black comedy Don’t Look Up about American scientists trying to warn the world about an imminent asteroid impact has been predictably divisive since its release.  Meant to satirize the country’s political divide, how you enjoy the film seems to depend on which side of the divide you sit.

Featuring a star-studded ensemble cast, the movie was filmed entirely in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. with many of those locations standing in for other American locales such as Michigan, New York, and even Hawaii.

Drive My Car

This movie was originally going to be set in Busan, South Korea, but the setting was changed to Hiroshima, due to the ongoing pandemic. Much of it takes place on the roads of Hiroshima, with some scenes in busy Tokyo and rural Hokkaido and a few points in between.

Based on a short story of the same name by the incredible Japanese author Haruki Murakami, the director said he was also inspired by Scheherazade and Kino, two other stories from the author’s 2014 short story collection Men Without Women.

Dune

You will probably not be surprised to learn that Dune was not actually shot on the distant planet of Arrakis, but the desert scenes were instead filmed right here on Earth, specifically in the beautiful and haunting landscapes of Jordan and Abu Dhabi in the Middle East. For the few scenes set on the ocean world of Caladan, Stadlandet, Norway was used.

King Richard

Will Smith has been chasing the Best Actor Oscar for several years now, but his performance in King Richard may finally land him the golden statuette he so clearly covets.

The film is a sports drama about Richard Williams, the father of tennis phenoms Serena and Venus Williams, and is filmed extensively in the Los Angeles County area in California where the family lived during their rise to fame.

Licorice Pizza

Licorice Pizza is as much a movie about its setting as it is about a time period. Set in California’s San Fernando Valley in 1973, the movie follows a love affair between a 25-year-old woman and an entrepreneurial 15-year-old boy, although it’s not as creepy as it sounds.

Filled with colourful characters, wacky escapades and memorable settings, the film is a fun coming-of-age film that is like a blend of American Graffiti and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

As for the term Licorice Pizza, it’s slang for a vinyl record which is black, like licorice, and round, like a pizza.

Nightmare Alley

Partially set in Buffalo, New York, Nightmare Alley is a story about a grifter transforming himself from a shady carny into a heralded psychic medium and was actually filmed there, although director Guillermo del Toro also shot some scenes in Toronto.

The Power of the Dog

Even though this movie was set in 1920s Montana, it was actually shot on location in New Zealand, the homeland of director Jane Campion. All the interior scenes were filmed on sound stages in Auckland.

The ranch and other buildings depicted in the film were purpose-built sets in New Zealand that were designed to look like their American counterparts. Finding period-correct furniture was difficult in New Zealand so much of it had to be imported from Los Angeles prop houses which was quite a tall order during the height of the pandemic when the movie was filmed.

West Side Story

The original 1961 version of the West Side Story musical depicted the gentrification of Manhattan’s West Side. Those locations have long since been redeveloped, so director Steven Spielberg needed to shoot his film in other New York City areas to try to recapture the way the West Side once looked, including spots in Harlem, Brooklyn, and Newark and Paterson in New Jersey.

So what’s your pick for this year’s winner?

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