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Dorchester becomes part of Michigan
By adamg on Tue, 09/13/2016 - 9:41am
It'd be pretty funny if you got pulled over on Gallivan Boulevard by the guy in this 1967 Michigan State Police cruiser, wouldn't it? Dorchester this morning is still standing in for riot-torn Detroit for some movie.
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Comments
Why Dot?
Aren't there plenty of places in Detroit to film riot-torn Detroit movies?
Film Tax Credit
Michigan no longer has a film tax credit, I believe.
Massachusetts Film Tax Credit
The Film Tax Credit is a complete scam, which gives tax credits far in excess of the revenue to the Commonwealth.
http://www.mafilm.org/production-tax-incentives/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-whitcomb/taxpayers-cheated-by-film_...
They Found A House They Wanted Here
They got tax credits to fill here and the minister and his wife at All Saints in Dorchester were willing to give up their house for over a month of filming. They wanted to use Boston crews and the city was willing to help get things done. In addition, the rectory of All Saints (209 Ashmont), a great house, gets a lot of renovations paid for by the production company.
It is being directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break (The first one) and The Hurt Locker). John Boyega (Finn from the new Star Wars movie) and Jack Reynor (the older brother from that great movie; Sing Street) were on Ashmont Street two weeks ago filming scenes. All and all it went great and they were ahead of schedule. This is per my mother, who had a great time watching the crews work.
They are doing the most of the riot scenes reportedly in Brockton with having been in Detroit once and Brockton many, many times. Brockton is a good choice.
New England Motor Court
New England Motor Court in Malden got some scenes a couple of weeks ago with a new façade wall, a pool and a great neon sign that must say "Algiers"). Last week the wall was gone and I assume that the sign will be too, if not already. The pool? Who knows.
The pool was filled back in
The pool was filled back in over the weekend.
I don't think modern Detroit
I don't think modern Detroit is nice enough to pass for riot-torn Detroit.
Odd. Detroit is a gridded
Odd. Detroit is a gridded city. Gonna be hard to suspend disbelief in a movie set in a "Detroit" where there is no such thing as a 90 degree corner.
Filming in Lynn, too
They used both a residential area and part of the downtown for scenes. There's one riot scene where it will start on a street in Brockton, but cut to look the other way and it's Lynn. Moviegoers not familiar with either downtown won't have a clue...it'll all hopefully be convincing as Detroit circa 1967.
There's a lot of places that could fill in nicely
for Detroit, prior to it's current apocalyptic state. Brockton immediately came to mind, even before I read the posts, as did Lynn, Malden, etc. Even east Cambridge or Somerville would work.
Labor Day filming was in Dedham Square...
at the Superior Court. Amazing to see what it takes to put together a film....they were staged everywhere with semis, tents, rolling racks, caterers etc. On Sunday I passed as they were bringing in the cast, all in very retro outfits and hair styles, presumably for a courthouse scene (given location, suits, dresses etc.) BTW presently on MV and they are filming parts of the Ted Kennedy/Chappy movie around island, although NOT on Chappy.
Blast from my past
Grew up in the Mitten and I totally remember the police cars looking like this. Thanks for the flashback.
Detroit is flat with long straight wide streets
Hard to see how Dorchester or anywhere else in or near Boston could plausibly substitute.
Movie magic
They film the actors in the cars close up, so you don't see the roads. Location scouts find the suitable roads for the exteriors, then those are shot wide.
They're not filming just in Dot. That could just be for the house John Costello mentioned. They can shoot all over MA and good locations managers can find everything they need.
No one will notice...
... except folks who live in Detroit...
Downtown Brockton is being
Downtown Brockton is being used for the riot scenes.
The iconic circular police light
Michigan is the only state where highway patrol cars have a circular light on top like that. They still do.