Toronto is perched atop a deep seam of film lore. As you probably know, it’s a city that stands in for other cities. The historic streets coupled with bright, piercing skyscrapers provide a versatile backdrop for all sorts of productions — period and modern alike. Talking with my fellow HOTS Blog team member Royce the other day helped me come up with the idea for this blog post. So, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. Wait. One sec. Let me try that again. Let’s explore Toronto’s history of film production, taking a tour of the spots that are now famous for their inclusion in film and TV. Starting with Serendipity. I have warm, fuzzy memories and the softest of spots for this 2001 rom-com starring Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack (who coincidentally has a distinctly mullet-like hairdo in this movie). When it premiered, 9/11 had just happened, so it was one of the films that ended up using CGI to remove the Twin Towers after its initial release. The film’s commercial success was affected as well, as people avoided crowded, public places in the aftermath of the attack. It developed a following in the years after, though. Now, it seems to regularly make the cable rounds on weekend evenings, enticing viewers with the promise of well-intentioned twee. And, I mean, Eugene Levy is in it. According to Good Housekeeping, the elevator scene where the pair test whether they are fated to be a couple was actually filmed at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel downtown, not the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Toronto is always pretending to be New York. The latter is like an older cousin who lets you borrow their ID to get into a bar. The reviews for this movie are not great, with a 58% on the Tomatometer. Sometimes you wonder if critics are affected by their moods when they review a film. I understand this kind of thing is not for everyone, but even Ebert wasn’t won over by the combined charisma of two Hollywood stalwarts. I don’t get it. It’s an incredibly light story about two people that have a compulsion toward self-sabotage. (Don’t worry about fate. Ever. Especially when it comes to romance. Life decisions should never be made by an amorphous, hypothetical concept. They should be made by people. Okay, I’m off my soap box now.) To be honest, the most winning element of this movie might be the way it romanticizes New York — an almost otherworldly metropolis with a sheen of fictionality to it. They did film in Toronto, but there’s plenty of shots of the city that never sleeps.
One of my favourite VHS tapes growing up was Three Men and a Baby. I would watch it over and over again, salt-and-pepper static fuzz creeping up from the bottom of the screen. It’s a classic set-up: three bachelors are shocked to discover a baby on their front doorstep. They must work together and fight against every instinct in themselves to take care of her. Apparently, this is a remake of a French film called Trois hommes et un couffin (Three Men and a Cradle). The five actors at the centre of the English-language remake are at the height of their craft: Ted Danson, Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and of course the twin babies, Lisa and Michelle Blair. It is the actors that capture your attention, absorb you in the plot, make you care so much about not only the sweetest little baby, but the grown men who grow to love her, maturing and becoming less selfish in the process. I’ll always remember Tom Selleck reading an adult fiction book that is definitely not written for children to little Mary. Someone remarks on the book choice, and Selleck says something to the effect of, ‘it doesn’t matter what you read, it’s how you read it.’ By the end of the picture, you believe they are a family. Steve Guttenberg plays an artist, and I can still see the murals he paints across their apartment walls. According to IMDb, the construction site that Selleck works in as an architect is actually Scotia Plaza here on King Street near Yonge. The theatre where Ted Danson is metafictionally rehearsing for a play is the Royal Alexandra just down the road. Again, Toronto is used as a supplementary backdrop, filling out the genuine patches of New York. If you haven’t seen this movie, seriously, watch it. I’m telling you. My final bit of trivia is that Spock directed it. One of Leonard Nimoy’s only forays into directing feature films. There are a few others, but nothing with this kind of impact. Watch it! I beg.
Lightning Round
The iconic Greek travel agency from the hit rom-com, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, is a storefront on the Danforth. And the over-the-top family home modeled after the Parthenon? It’s somebody’s actual home in East York, with some accoutrements for the movie of course. The church where Toula Portokalos marries her beau is Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church downtown. Toronto makes up the texture of the film in so many ways, but it’s Chicago that gets the credit for some reason. This is another classic. I doubt you’ve never heard of it before, but it’s certainly worth a rewatch in my opinion.
The original X-Men movie. The one that started it all. Back in the day, the interiors of Xavier’s Institute were filmed in one of Toronto’s most well-known landmarks: Casa Loma. Nowadays, filming interiors on a Marvel movie would largely be using constructed sets, so it’s refreshing that they made use of the historical castle built by all around Ritchie Rich, businessman and soldier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt. At one point, his company — Toronto Electric Light — had the contract to outfit the whole city with street lights. I don’t remember much about this movie, to be honest, but I’m intrigued to watch it again and try to spot TO in the background. According to IMDb, Roy Thomson Hall is in it too, with the Distillery District doubling as a World War Two concentration camp. The Distillery was also where they shot exteriors for the prison in the movie musical of Chicago. Pop, six, squish, uh uh, Cicero, Lipschitz, by the way.
Last but certainly not least, there’s Gilmore Girls. There’s always Gilmore Girls, though, isn’t there? I feel like I’m always bringing it up on here and in life. The pilot was shot in Unionville, although none of the other episodes were. That’s why the town of Stars Hollow looks markedly different from one episode to the next. After the pilot, Stars Hollow was built at Warner Bros studio, so the first episode feels very different. More of the texture of reality, the reality of Unionville, I suppose. Small-town Canada stands in for small-town America. The merits of this show have long been extolled, and this is the lightning round, so I will just say, there is a deep sense of comfort at the heart of this show. Few mother-daughter relationships in TV feel as nuanced and fully-formed. Of course, the plot is pretty frustrating, and the characters even more so. It’s also definitely a creature of its time, but worth watching if you haven’t. The cadence and velocity of Lorelai and Rory’s fast talking is something to behold. When you can keep up, it feels like you’ve literally earned the laugh.
Although Toronto rarely gets to just be itself on screen (The F Word and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World being notable exceptions), I’m still proud of my city. It’s a beautiful place to live and equally as beautiful on film. Check out one of these movies or binge watch Gilmore Girls on a rainy day. With the exception of perhaps X-Men, this is heartwarming, comforting media that wraps you in a tight hug upon viewing. Until next month, take it sleazy everyone. I like the sound of that. That might have to be my send-off from now on. Anyways, take care.