On the surface, blonde Beverly Hills-Elle Woods proves she can get away with blue blood in law school after being abandoned by her arrogant boyfriend. Want to spend a day seeing Boston through a cinematic lens? Check out this tour of TV and film sites led by local actors. The 2001 hit comedy “LEGAL BLONDE” stars Reese Witherspoon as “Elle,” a fashion-conscious young blonde who goes to Harvard Law School to impress the boyfriend who teased her. Elle Woods has it all and wants nothing more than to marry the love of her life Warner – but there`s one thing stopping her from bending the knee: “Because I am too. blonde? Since she did not consider her serious enough to bear her last name, she set herself a task and followed him to Harvard Law to win him back. But while she`s there, she discovers that she has much more than appearance and finds herself instead. Travel around: MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) From star-studded classics to more recent releases, many films have used Boston as a backdrop. Here are some of our most popular movie spots in the city. The courthouse/museum is open to the public – if something is not filmed there. It can be assumed that the film was shot mainly in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at Harvard. (Here`s a street view of the Santa Ana courthouse.) Dinner at: Il Cielo, 9018 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 (tel: 310.276.9990) The romantic restaurant where Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis) lets Elle know it`s over is Il Cielo, 9018 Burton Way, which is really in Beverly Hills.
It opened in 1986 and claims to be the most romantic restaurant in Los Angeles, and certainly looks good. However, the fairytale exterior seen in the film was recreated on the campus of UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) on the Westside of Los Angeles. Otherwise, the scenes set at Harvard were largely filmed in and around Los Angeles, California. Rose City High School in Pasadena was used for hallway and classroom scenes, and the rectory of All Saints Church in the same city depicted Gothic Harvard Square. Other scenes around the Harvard campus were filmed at UCLA and USC (via Los Angeles Magazine). The graduation ceremony was added after the end left the test audience dissatisfied. By then, Reese Witherspoon had already gone to London to shoot The Importance of Being Earnest, so the catchy finale was filmed at Dulwich College, College Road, Dulwich Village, London SE21. The Departed, or The Dep-ah-ted to give it the correct pronunciation of Boston, features the golden dome of the Massachusetts State House. In Martin Scorsese`s detective novel, the ambition of Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is symbolized by his choice of an apartment overlooking The State House and Beacon Hill.
This film also popularized Dropkick Murphys` “I`m Shipping Up to Boston.” The filming locations for Legally Blonde are not, as you may have assumed, near Cambridge, Massachusetts. Although much of the film is set at Harvard University, except for a few set shots, when Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) arrives in Harvard Square, the film was shot almost entirely in Los Angeles. We may be thousands of miles away from Hollywood, but Boston certainly has its fair share of cinematic magic. The salon where Elle befriends nervous beautician Paulette was filmed at Neptune`s Beauty Nook in Monrovia, California, where they perform the iconic “Bend and Snap” and offer each other help. Starring Kolten Bell, Pasqualino Beltempo, Andee Buccheri, J Ryan Caroll, Sy Chounchaisit, Nora Elkind, Megan Hoxie, Kayla Jenerson, Brian Cedric Jones, Nicole Jones, Jacob Melssen, Graham Mortier, Kwasi Perry, Tiffany O`Connor, Dorian Quinn, Amy Romero, Jet Thomas, Eduardo Uribe and Chelsea Lorraine Wargo. The audience loved it and burst into spontaneous applause after many scenes. further east of Pasadena is `Neptune`s Beauty Nook` 625 South Myrtle Avenue, Monrovia. The exterior of the courthouse is the Orange County Law Firm (the interior is a set originally built in Sylmar, north of Los Angeles, for Clint Eastwood`s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil). Good Will Hunting is perhaps one of the most Boston-centric films of all time, and a well-known scene was filmed in the Boston Public Garden. You can sit on the very bench that the late Robin Williams and Matt Damon did at 13 Arlington St. and remember Sean Maguire`s famous monologue.
In the film, the party took place at 45 Dunston Street. But in real life, they filmed these party scenes in an unusual location: the Heritage Square Museum, a collection of Victorian homes and outstanding Victorian buildings that were saved from demolition and moved from their original locations to this location south of the Pasadena Expressway: 3800 Homer Street in Los Angeles. Adam McKay`s 2021 Netflix film Don`t Look Up features a gathering scene with Jason Orlean (Jonah Hill) and President Orlean (Meryl Streep) on the steps of the MFA. The black comedy and political satire were filmed in several locations around the city. Scenes from the films “Bullwinkle” and “Evolution” were filmed in the same courthouse. Lovers of local journalism, also known as our kind of people, will appreciate this. This South End café was featured in the 2016 film Spotlight, when Boston Globe reporter Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams) meets a survivor of Catholic Church scandals. They put together a whole bunch of different places to create the fake Harvard campus we see on screen. The 2016 film Patriots Day deals with the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and the hunt for culprits. One scene was filmed in Back Bay at the actual destination, while scenes of the marathon attacks were filmed at Naval Air Station South Weymouth. Originally, the University of Southern California was supposed to be Elle`s bachelor`s school, but they refused to use their name but allowed some filming on their campus. Stanford University, the university she attends in Amanda Brown`s book, rejected both her name and filming.
The University of California, Los Angeles also declined to use his name, but allowed filming on campus. UCLA and the CalTech campus were used for the filming of Elle`s fictional university, CULA. Since Elle was only at CULA at the beginning of the film, campuses were not needed for most of the filming. Even the exterior shot of the restaurant where Warner takes Elle was recreated on the UCLA campus, the restaurant itself being Il Cielo in Beverly Hills. Delta Nu, Elle`s sisterhood, was filmed at a private girls` school in Alverno High School, California. Based on Amanda Brown`s bestselling novel and subsequent blockbuster starring Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon, Legally Blonde The Musical follows the transformation of sorority president Elle Woods. Determined to show that she is more than rosy and sparkling, Woods has made it her mission to win back the love of her life while tackling the stereotype of the aerial head that has been instilled in her. Gothic Harvard Square is the rector`s home of All Saints Church, 132 North Euclid Avenue, Pasadena (which you may also have seen in Cruel Intentions and The Other Sister). In Pasadena, the college`s hallways and classrooms are located at Rose City High School, 325 South Oak Knoll Avenue, which was also used for school scenes in Catch Me If You Can and Pleasantville.
It`s no wonder that the house of the green monster has featured in so many movies like The Town, Ted + Moneyball. We`re big fans of Fever Pitch, the 2005 romantic comedy starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore about a Sox fan with obsessive loyalty to the team. Aside from Harvard University, the main setting of Legally Blonde, who holds most of the narrative, is the courthouse where a murder trial takes place, in which Elle is to participate as an intern. While the courthouse exterior and footage were taken from the Orange County law office, the interior was a Sylmar built set. The iconic court scene where She manages to win the case was actually filmed on set! The prison where She visits Brooke for an alibis was filmed at the Sybil Brand Institute for Women, California. The final graduation scene, supposedly taking place at Harvard University (or what we can assume is their version of school in the classroom at Rose City High School), was actually filmed at Dulwich College London.
