Australia Filming Locations #4 – Muriel’s Wedding (1994)

Posted on April 16, 2012 by tokyofox

One of the places I was most interested in seeing in Sydney was not the Opera House, nor the Harbour Bridge. Instead I really wanted to see the church where Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette) got married in ‘Muriels Wedding‘ (1994) which admittedly is a bit sa-a-a-a-a-a-d but that is what I do. Following google’s directions on my iPad, I walked there in about an hour from my base in Randwick on the final day of my three weeks in Australia.

 

Luckily it was nice weather although the glaring sunshine did ruin my shot of the church a bit.

             

Its located on 53 Darling Point Road and is known as the not-so-snappy St. Mark’s Anglican Church Darling Point.

Click here to read ‘Australia Filming Locations #1 -Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

Click here to read ‘Australia Filming Locations #2 – The Matrix (1999)

Click here to read ‘Australia Filming Locations #3 – Melbourne Special 

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Australia Filming Locations #3: Melbourne Special

Posted on April 13, 2012 by tokyofox

It may not have been featured as much in international movies as much as its rival Sydney but Melbourne has had its moments on the big screen albeit in lesser known productions.

It was way back in 1959 that ‘On The Beach‘ was filmed in parts of Frankston including the beach seen below. Needless to say that the place looks very different but I guess I have just said that! Its first screen appearance is on 16 mins.

     

A much more famous landmark used was Melbourne’s iconic central railway station, Flinders Street Station (below) which serves over 100,000 commuters every day. It also appears to be very busy when its seen after 57 mins.

 

Russell Crowe is a famous actor now but when he filmed ‘Romper Stomper‘ in 1992 around Footscray Station (below) he was just starting out in the acting world. This film is quite a hard watch due to its strong violent and racial content. You have been warned! Following the movies opening title credits we see the station appear with skateboarders going along its platform.  However, I have since read that it was actually Richmond station filling in for Footscray but given that its 20 years on now and the screenshots are very dark I really can’t tell if theres any validity in that statement.

     

Singer Alliyah was tragically killed in a plane crash in 2002 shortly after filming ‘Queen of the Damned’. It was released six months later and just as tragic is how awful the film is! Small things like that don’t deter me from hunting down some of its locations but I sure wasn’t gonna bust a gut to do so. Below is RMIT University on Swanston Street which doubled up as a Warner Brothers Records HQ in London.

The bar below is on 95 Flinders Lane and it became the vampire nightclub.

Just round the corner from that is Duckboard Place (below) where Jesse can be seen walking around the streets of “London”.

 

‘Mad Max‘ is one of Australia’s most famous exports and this 1979 film which brought Mel Gibson to fame was filmed around Melbourne and Victoria. My primary goal was to locate the car park within Melbourne University but I left empty handed on that one due to the sheer size of the place and possibly the fact that it was a Sunday when I was on site and a lot of it was closed. However, on the way home I did get off at South Yarra station where I walked round the corner to Claremont Street which was the car park setting (below) where Goose burns rubber on his exit. Thanks to this Mad Max site for the info.

      

My favourite Bollywood film has to be 2005’s ‘Salaam Namaste‘. Oh Ok its the only one I’ve ever seen but I found it enjoyable enough, even the parts where they break into typical Indian song and dance. As well as Bourke Street Mall there were three other such scenes taking place at the following:

* Yarra Bridge (below) – The screenshot on 66 mins with Nick in it features Flinders Street Station in the background whereas my shot was taken from the other side of the river.

 

* Federation Square – I couldn’t find a clip from the film featuring this place but I did come across the behind-the-scenes shot below.

  

* St Kilda Beach – I didn’t actually go to St Kilda on this trip (apart from the F1 Grand Prix) but I used to live there and returned five years ago to take a trip down memory lane. The beach you see in the ‘Salaam Namaste‘ theme title song after 28 mins is St Kilda (below) though it looks far more impressive on screen than in reality. I can only presume it was filmed over the other side of the pier but I’m really not sure.

      

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Australia 2012 Pt VI: Neighbours Filming Locations

Posted on April 10, 2012 by tokyofox

For a lot of British people their images of suburban Australia life are based solely on how the residents of Ramsay Street spend their lives in ‘Neighbours‘. This soap opera has been on the air since 1986 and I saw almost all of the episodes from the first nine years before taking a five year hiatus. I haven’t seen a moment of the show since 2005 but it will always have a place in my heart.

For those wanting to know what my first ever filming locations were then Ramsay Street in fictional Erinsbrough is the answer not that my obsession with locations started till many years later. In reality the street is known as Pin Oak Court in Vermont South (Melbourne) and I first went there in March 2001 with Chris and Dave who I was travelling with at the time. I then returned to the street with Richard Richard in January 2002 as he wanted to go with someone and may have even offered to pay for my train ticket in return for accompanying him. Mind you, he did only buy me a children’s train ticket!

Just days after my nephew Eifion was born my sister Ruth and I went with him to the street for my third visit. I wasn’t really planning to go there this time but when we didn’t bother to go to the ‘Meet the Neighbours’ night as we had planned I thought I should get my ‘Neighbours’ fix by going to the street yet again.

There are only six houses in the street which are used for filming outside from time to time even though in the show the house numbers are known as 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 and 32. These are real houses and people do live there and have to put up with people like me taking pictures and hanging around the street all the time. I lived in a similar style cul-de-sac when I was younger which was great as we could play in the street without trouble but that probably wouldn’t be possible or certainly not advisable here with all the visitors to the street. The pictures of the houses below are in the order you find them on the street going from left to right. The interiors you see on screen are not the same as in these houses and are of course all set in the Global Television studios.

         

The photos below show how the street looks from the bottom and the top.

     

Bonus: Three of the above photos were taken back in 2001 and 2002. The above one is the ‘Neighbours‘ kitchen from 26 Ramsay Street which is in the Melbourne Museum. The two pictures below were shot at the ‘Meet the Neighbours Night’ in St Kilda in January 2002 featuring actresses Dee Bliss (Madeleine West) and Steph Scully (Carla Bonner).

 

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Australia 2012 Pt V: Kings Canyon

Posted on April 7, 2012 by tokyofox

“I have always wanted to travel to the center of Australia, climb Kings Canyon as a queen, in a full-length Gaultier sequin, heels and a tiara.”

No, they’re not my words but the ones uttered in the 1994 comedy ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert‘ which brought this canyon to my attention many many years after its release. I had to get up super-early to be ready for a 4 am departure so that we would be at the canyon early morning to do the walk. There were two walk options which were basically down below (canyon creek walk) or up top (rim walk) of which I chose the latter.

I did have my reservations though as foot blisters were making it quite painful to walk in my sandals and apart from one other woman in our group I was the only one wearing such footwear. On top of that I was also the only one carrying my 1.5l water bottle and my backpack was also bigger and almost definitely heavier than everyone else’s. Anyway, you can’t go all that way and not do it so I went for it and I’m glad I did as it was fairly easy starting with 500 steps up of which I led the way.

                 

The walk took about three hours and was done by a guide who was a nice chap with a clear accent and who kept to the point in an informative and interesting way unlike the previous days drivers/guides who felt the need to talk the whole time even if it was about nothing much. We were told that due to recent rainfall in the area it was as green as it had ever been which I guess none of us tourists were expecting to see.

We walked down to the Garden of Eden and marvelled at the shear north and south walls (according to their pamphlet!) which was a nice break in the shade from the heat on top which in itself was cooler than normal. As a survivor of Tokyo’s hot and humid Summer conditions it was fairly easy for me to deal with.

      

After 88 mins of ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert‘ the three drag queens begin their ascend of Kings Canyon starting off on the same steps and going on through some fairly nondescript parts before they reach the area below where there is a gap between the two rocks.

 

We then see the strange dome shaped rocks below for a brief second or two.

  

After that we see some helicopter shots looking down at the three characters from above so I wasn’t quite able to replicate that so you’ll have to settle for the one above!

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Australia 2012 Pt IV: Ayers Rock (Uluru) & Kata Tjuta (Olgas)

Posted on April 4, 2012 by tokyofox

“It’s just a f***ing rock” are the words I have been quoted as saying in the past regarding this amazing specimen in Australia’s red centre. Of course that was when I was young, stupid and immature but now I’m slightly older and wiser (but still stupid and immature!) I have seen the error of my ways and thought I should visit one of the worlds wonders in the heart of Australia.

My bus departed Alice at 6am and the first stop was for a quick photo opportunity of Mount Conner which from afar could easily be mistaken (as it is indeed by many) as Uluru itself. Kata Tjuta (below) was on the agenda after that and this really was an amazing sight, one which at the time felt more impressive than my pre-conceived impressions of its much more famous red brother. Everyone has seen pictures of Uluru but far less know about Kata Tjuta (or the Olgas as they’re more commonly known as) and its large domed rock formations which I considered to be really impressive.

     

As Ayers Rock came into view more and more it soon became apparent that my words from 11 years ago were perhaps said in vain. From afar that view could be understandable but as you get nearer and see the rock up close it soon becomes apparent that it is far more than just a rock what with all its holes, markings and erm, bird poop!

Wind conditions on the day meant I didn’t have to make a difficult decision on whether to climb or not though I’m sure I still would have climbed it. Luckily I didn’t have my heart set on climbing it as I wasn’t even aware that you still could but it seems like they can’t just stop people climbing it without having some alternative activity to replace it. We took one of the walks around the base which was very interesting and where the phrase “you have to see it to believe it” became more true than usual as there are parts of the rock which you’re prohibited from photographing as the aborigines strongly believe that you should only see it with your own eyes and not in photographic form.

              

Sunset was great as the tour company cooked up a fantastic BBQ dinner with white wine whilst we watched the changing colours of the rock amongst the many other tours companies who all congregate in the same area. Some of the photos below do actually look a bit fake but I can assure you they are all real and that I was there. For the record I put on my Leicester shirt just for the photo below. Within five minutes of sunset happening we were on our way but thankfully I was staying at a nearby resort ready for the following days trip to Kings Canyon whereas the rest of the bus had a five hour plus drive back to Alice Springs.

             

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Australia 2012 Pt III: Alice Springs

Posted on April 2, 2012 by tokyofox

Back in 2001-02 I spent a year travelling around Australia with the emphasis very much placed on the word ‘around’ meaning that I never bothered to go to the centre. With the exchange rate half that of eleven years ago it gives one even more reason to not visit Alice Springs as its so expensive to leave the coast, get to the middle, do some tours and then get back to the coastal cities. However, as it was the only major area I hadn’t covered I decided to cough up the money as there would be no greater time to go given the time-off which I’d been granted by my work.

Arriving in Australia’s centre just before midday I took a bus from the airport before ending up at ‘Annies Place’ backpackers and then I was out fairly promptly to book the following days tour. After that I walked up to Anzac Hill which may have been a very small hill but it was one which offered some great views across the small town of Alice.

      

The Royal Flying Doctor Service followed after that which was very interesting and brought back memories of the late 1980s when the BBC had on a show called ‘The Flying Doctors‘ which I vaguely remember watching. Amazing to hear about how this unique non profit organisation provides routine medical services to the isolated areas of the outback.

Across the road from there was the Reptile Centre. I popped my head round the door more out of curiosity than anything else almost hoping that I’d missed the last session of the day so that I didn’t have to spend $12 on the entrance. However, the lady said I was just in time. Only a day or two later did I realise how lucky I’d been to experience it as there are only three demonstrations a day. We got to hold three reptiles; a blue tongued lizard, a snake and a gecko…..I think! Anyway, it was an entertaining afternoon and really good fun as we were able to hold on (if we wished!) to them for more than the usual five second photo opportunity which often exists for such an activity.

          

Despite my feet suffering from a few blisters caused by my sandals I took a fairly long walk early evening to Lasseters Hotel Casino but not to gamble. No, I went there purely and solely because it featured briefly in ‘The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert‘ in 1994 and was the place where the trio of drag queens put on a performance at.

 

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Australia 2012 Pt II: F1 Australian Grand Prix

Posted on March 31, 2012 by tokyofox

The 2012 Formula One season got under way at Albert Park in Melbourne a couple of weekends ago and I just happened to be in town to see my first live race. I’ve often had slight regrets that I didn’t attend the 2001 Grand Prix whilst I was so close to its location in St Kilda.

From booking my trip to Australia I always had in mind the idea to go to the race on the Sunday but I’d never given a thought to attending the qualifying session the day before that too! However, my brother-in-law Carl thought it would be nice to take my nephew Eifion to the day of events and so my sister Ruth and I joined them for a family day out whilst my mum and dad got to spend a day with Anesta.

 

The great thing about the Australian Grand Prix is that you can Continue reading →

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Australia 2012 Pt I: Family Affairs

Posted on March 28, 2012 by tokyofox

The idea of returning to Australia for a holiday was far from my mind until six months ago when my parents told me that they would be visiting my sister and her family in Melbourne this month. That got me thinking that it would be a nice idea to meet up with everyone for a bit of a family reunion. After that everything fell into place and I managed to get the time off work and on March 16 I met up with them all.

The main reason my parents go to Australia every year is to see their grandchildren and having seen sister Lorna’s son George over Christmas I was eager to get acquainted with elder sister Ruth’s kids for the first time. Of course I had seen my nephew Eifion just after he was born in 2007 and again at Lorna’s wedding one year later but that was before he could talk or walk so didn’t really count so much in the scheme of things. My niece Anesta had only been seen previously on Skype and I hadn’t spoken to her in any way. Its fair to say that that didn’t change too much during my time in Melbourne as she was very wary of me and my dad too albeit to a lesser extent with him. That’s not to say that it was bad but it took her a while to warm to us though she was curious about me from the start and did often ask of my whereabouts after that. By the end of my time at their house she had just about got used to me.

         

A fair bit of the time I was in Melbourne was spent playing with the kids in the house with their many toys as well as some of the ones I bought for them with the whoopee cushion (and its fart sounds) being the inevitable favourite. On top of these juvenile things we also did a few things as a family which included:

* Taking a walk in the woods somewhere down on the Mornington Peninsula – I never bothered to visit this area during any of my previous visits to Melbourne not that we really saw too much of it on this first family trip of the holidays.

    

* Watching ‘The Wiggles‘ live in Frankston – This is a very popular group of ageing children’s entertainers who wear coloured jumpers and dance and sing. Their show was a slick production which kept the many children and the grown-ups entertained for its 75 minute duration. We went to a nearby park after and then onto lunch by the beach with some of their songs sticking in my head way beyond this one day!

     

* Riding on Puffing Billy Railway in the Dandenongs – This is in the very northern part of Melbourne and was a good place to take the kids due to the amount of ‘Thomas the Tank Engine‘ related stuff on show. We took a short ride amid on-off showers on what is one of the worlds most popular steam heritage railways. Thankfully the weather improved afterwards for our picnic in the park.

                  

* Having a farewell dinner at a very child-friendly Italian restaurant.

   

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Review: Films Set In Japan – The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

Posted on March 25, 2012 by tokyofox

As someone who can’t drive and has no interest in cars I had no interest in this franchise for many many years and just assumed it was dumbed-down, brain-dead, lad-popularist titilation designed for people…..well people like me who have a short attention span and just wanna see some mindless action and car chases on screen for an hour and a half. That probably still stands true but despite my scepticism and desperate urge to hate these films I have somehow ended up enjoying them. I have seen four of the five films thus far in a real random order starting with the third installment thanks to the obvious Japan connection.

   

Last years ‘Fast Five‘ was the guilty pleasure of the year and surprised not only me but many others too given its rating on sites likes Imdb and Rotten Tomatoes. Since then I have gone on to see the first two ‘Fast and Furious‘ films and so now seems like a good time to take a closer look at the ‘Tokyo Drift‘ one which is supposedly set after the fifth one on its timeline.

Needless to say, the script and story are hideous. The acting is on a par with that of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker which is to say that it is equally awful but I never got bored during the film and probably by the end of it just about got more than I bargained for from it.

Like all international films which come to Tokyo it seems that Shibuya Crossing has to feature and whilst the real one is seen for a scene or two its quite clearly not the real thing when we see one of the most absurd car chase scenes supposedly disperse the masses of people who cross in all directions every three minutes.

This time the action follows Sean (Lucas Black) who plays an American tearaway who comes to Tokyo to live with his military father in order to avoid a jail term (why? who knows!) and inevitably he gets caught up in the underground world of drift racing in a low-rent area of the Japanese capital. To his credit, Sean is a white guy who makes more of an effort to fit in with the Japanese culture than usually happens in these ‘fish out of water’ movies where they usually make fun of or perhaps begrudgingly accept things.

Main protagonist DK is easy to dislike and the other main Asian-American character is Han who helps Sean adapt to Japanese society but I’ve always thought of him as someone who brings very little to the franchise other than ticking the box for having an Asian-looking person in the film. Probably not his fault but down to the producers not giving him anything too exciting to do.

Overall this third instalment is just about above the satisfactory mark, despite its cheesy dialogue, but just be sure to park your brains outside before you watch this flick!

Tokyo Fox Rating 6/10

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London Filming Locations: Basic Instinct 2 (2006)

Posted on March 21, 2012 by tokyofox

What’s going on here then?! Basic Instinct filming locations!! In fact these aren’t even from the 1992 thriller but the hilarious sequel which actually is funny but not in the conventional way as its the ludicrous plot which is seemingly treated so seriously by all those taking part.

It’s so daft that even ex-Leicester City striker is in it at the start. OK, he only played a few games for the Foxes and is far more for famous for plying his trade with other teams as well as his off-the-field problems but with a site called Tokyo Fox I have to jump on to these tenuous links to my club! His character is off his head on drugs as crime novelist Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) drives them through the Limehouse Link Tunnel in her car at high speed before inevitably crashing at Heron Quays into the water below. What’s more ridiculous is that despite no ramp the car flies off the bridge at a height way greater than it is!

Freemasons’ Hall (below) on Great Queen Street in Covent Garden is on screen after 11 mins and is the court where Tramell is found to be suffering from risk addiction. With a  quite interesting design this hall has been used in many other films including the ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, ‘Agent Cody Banks 2’, ‘Johnny English‘ and the interior was used by director Paul Greengrass in ‘Green Zone‘ as the Republican Palace.

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I have to say that I didn’t go out of my way to find any of these locations but did so when they were nearer far more interesting ones and before I knew it I had unwittingly accumulated a number of places featured in this not-so-anticipated follow-up. First up is the phallic shaped gherkin officially known as Swiss Re Tower (below) which is the office of Police Psychologist Dr Michael Glass (David Morrissey) where Tramell is waiting for him on 21 mins in anticipation of him becoming her therapist. The London landmark can be seen in glittering style again on 25, 44 and 55 minutes.

      

After a wild sex session with his date fuelled by the image of Tramell’s face on her book besides their bed, Dr Glass gets a phone call from his ex-wife who is in a distressed state. He takes a taxi to 4 Princelet Street (below) on 40 minutes where her journalist partner Hugh Darcy has been found strangled to death. Furthermore, Darcy had been writing a negative story about Glass which leads him to think Tramell is trying to frame him for murder.

 

Tramell is followed by Dr Glass to Diamond Jack’s (below) at 5 Walkers Court on the hour mark where he catches her in an orgy although she does see him peering through the glass roof. It appears again after 85 minutes.

   

65 minutes in is when Hakkasan (below) at 8 Place is the bar where Glass has an altercation with his ex-wife shortly before she is found murdered. This place also appeared in the 2002 film ‘About a Boy‘.

The Magpie at 12 New Street (below) close to Liverpool Street Station is not a gay bar although it did seem like it in the film where it was full of male-only police officers. It can be seen after 78 mins where Glass goes to talk to Detective Washburn and hand in some possible evidence found in Tramells fridge.

Dr Glass lives at Stone Buildings (below) which is seen on 83 mins and is where Washburn catches up with Glass to fill him in on the forensic report.

For other London filming locations click on the links below:

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace    Trainspotting    Mission: Impossible    Lara Croft Tomb Raider    The Bourne Ultimatum   Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone   James Bond    About A Boy    Quadrophenia    Bridget Jones’s Diary    Goodnight Sweetheart    Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels    Batman Begins/The Dark Knight    The Italian Job    Snatch    Rom-Com Special    Skyfall    Notting Hill    The World Is Not Enough

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