For some movies there’s nothing more authentic than shooting on location. Film fans have long made pilgrimages to the sites where movie stars and crews once made their mark, from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art where Rocky ran, to the gazebo in Salzburg, Austria where The Sound of Music’s Liesl was “sixteen going on seventeen.” It can be quite a trek to the nearest movie destination, so a Tumblr called Filmap is trying to help. It is an online compilation of real-world filming locations, as located on Google Maps.
Filmap’s comparisons show screenshots from a movie alongside a Google Street View version of it in real life, unedited. Where relevant, Filmap even provides an exact street addresses. Unlike a static view, Google Maps offers viewers the opportunity to click around the area to see what lies just outside the frame, blurring the lines between art and life. There’s also a certain sense of time travel, especially with older films. The way they were then is often surprisingly similar to how they look now, viewed from hundreds of miles away, thanks to the Internet.
Filmap features locations from a range of movies, from classic to contemporary, with a generous sprinkling of foreign films. There’s something for everyone, so click away.
Before Sunset, 2004 // Le Pure Café, Paris, France:
Google Maps
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, 1991 // Northumberland, United Kingdom:
Google Maps
Bonnie and Clyde, 1967 // Mineola Bank, Red Oak, Texas:
Google Maps
For more cool examples, check out Filmap here.