So, you’re stretched out on the sofa watching your favorite movie when something pops up on the screen that makes you spit your popcorn out. Is that location real? Does it really exist or is it simply some crafty set design or maybe just skillful CGI? The location seems real enough but at the same time, different. Well…
Mission Impossible
If you’ve always wanted to walk in Tom Cruise’s rather small footsteps then look no further than Prague where a large part of the movie was shot. The Czech National Museum made for an excellent ‘embassy’ while the restaurant that was blown out was a fake set built in Old Town Square. Of course, no producer could resist the allure of Charles Bridge, from where the villain of the piece was flung into the River Vltava.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Among the numerous movies filmed throughout the fairytale towns and castles of Germany, there is one location that is surely the envy of every director — the extraordinarily beautiful and majestic Neuschwanstein Castle (also the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty and Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Florida). The actual castle itself was the location for the classic sixties musical, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a movie that still appeals to children and adults today.
The Sound of Music
Salzburg in Austria is instantly recognizable as soon as Julie Andrews swings into action in this timeless classic Hollywood musical. The picturesque city and its Alpine surroundings will forever be associated with the movie while the eagle-eyed director took full advantage of the jaw-dropping location where the real-life story of the Von-Trapp family took place.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
After sitting through over two hours of action and adventure, Star Wars: The Force Awakens could still find locations to bedazzle moviegoers. Although the 2015 blockbuster was filmed in locations across the globe, the final crucial scene was shot on the remote and spectacular World Heritage island of Skellig Michael, which lies off the coast of Kerry in Ireland.
Grand Hotel Budapest
If there’s something fiendishly alluring about the hotel in the fictional Republic of Zubrowka that makes you want to rush straight out and sample some 1930s decadence for yourself, then it may prove rather difficult to find — it’s not actually in Budapest either. The hotel was a composite using a defunct department store in Gorlitz, Germany for the hotel lobby and the interior shots while the façade was actually a miniature model inspired by the world famous GrandHotel Pupp and the Hotel Imperial in Karlovy Vary, the Czech Republic.
