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This week The Observer plays the role of that guy at the movie theater by pointing out inaccuracies in a film. This time it's a New York location that's off in the new Bourne movie - which was filming here back in February of this year. (Skip the blockquote if you don't want to know any details about the movie.)
However, nothing is as it seems in the third installment of the Bourne saga, and the date, 4/15/71, proves to be code for a crucial rendezvous point: 415 East 71st Street...In an attempt to satiate a slightly unhealthy obsession with the new action flick, we did a little research and discovered that, alas, 415 East 71st Street is not the headquarters for Treadstone, the outfit that trained Bourne to be the ultimate spy/assassin. It is an apartment building over on First Avenue.
The building used for the scene was actually the Family Court building down at 60 Lafayette.
Apparently their first choice for this location was NYU Hospital, but you know - the patients couldn't exactly take time off from being sick. This surely isn't the only time there's been an inaccuracy like this in a movie, so what have you noticed at the theater? We'd have to say the worst so far is when Sam Raimi put Chicago's El train in the middle of Manhattan in Spider-Man 2!
Photo of 60 Lafayette with the number 415 on it during reshoots of The Bourne Ultimatum in May via Merodii's Flickr.
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You really can't beat Jackie Chan's "Rumble in the Bronx", where one can clearly see Vancouver's mountains in the distance.
Weirder than the use of the Family Court building, I think, is that in Ludlum's books the Treadstone headquarters is (if I recall correctly) SUPPOSED to look like a residential building from the outside. I don't know what the building that's actually at that address looks like, but I know the Family Court building looks wrong.
It looked to me like the car chase at the end of the Bourne Ultimatum ended with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background but then he quickly walked to "East 71st".
It's worse than that. Turns out this Jason Bourne guy and Treadstone don't even exist!
Who cares? It's fiction. Does anyone really believe that the Ghostbusters could turn left out of their TriBeCa firehouse and be in Midtown, or turn right and be on the UWS? Or does anyone really believe Will Smith could chase an alien from Grand Central to the Guggenheim in three minutes?
We NYer's get the "inside" jokes of these movies, that's part of the fun of it!
Do NOT spoil the movie in a post without a MORE tag. COME ON, Jen.
I never got the impression that the Ghostbusters HQ was supposed to be near anything in particular. They traveled by car so any cut can easily be explained as a shift in time from when they leave to when they arrive at their destination. It's the chases that make no sense - whether they are on foot or in a car. A few years ago I flipped past an episode of Spencer For Hire and they chased some guy through Boston on foot. One minute they were the North End, the next on the Common, and then on the river in Cambridge.
Not NYC related, but the absolute dumbest part of that movie was the bad guy just standing there while the last page of the top secret document was feeding into the fax machine. Anyone who's ever sent a fax knows that the machine scans everything first and then sends it. All he'd have to do is pull the plug on the thing. And all the director would have had to do is to have him come in when the confirmation page is printing out with the docs in the tray -- Christ, I need a vacation.
The foot chase/car chase scene was driving me crazy. Hey, they're on e. 42nd street. Now they're running UPTOWN to Port Authority (and hey, there's my WAMU). Now he's driving through Columbus circle...and wait, is that Chinatown? Oh, somehow 415 e. 71st street borders the river instead of FDR.
At the beginning of the movie, they show an envelope with an address of Pam Landy's headquarters, and the adress is simply the building number and "40th street". Someone needed to do a little more NYC homework.
While he was walking to the "415 E. 71", I happen to spot him walking under the Doc Watson's canopy. Maybe he stopped to get a drink? The man had to be thirsty.
While he was walking to the "415 E. 71", I happen to spot him walking under the Doc Watson's canopy. Maybe he stopped to get a drink? The man had to be thirsty.
What does Tangeriste have to say about all this?
415 e. 71st street borders the river instead of FDR.
Actually 415 E 71st is on the wrong side of York Ave for Bourne to have jumped into the river. However, had the moved the address over to the 500 block he could have been in one of the buildings of Cornell Weill New York Hospital (or whatever they're calling it this week). Part of the hospital is built over the FDR which would have allowed him to jump straight into the water.
As #5, Drew, says every movie has continuity errors. In the age before CGI, every New York City street seem to be in the Village because they all ended around a bend. That's because it was cheaper to create a street scene like in the lot without having to paint an endless canyon to the horizon.
Splash and Friends have shown some weird fountains and skating rinks that don't exists anywhere and Die Hard 3 had the subway right next to the Federal reserve vault when in reality the vault is way deeper.
However, some errors are just more egregiously funny than others, even as part of an entertaining fantasy. National Treasure was really outrageous with the incredible vault underneath Trinity Church and I agree that Spiderman takes the cake with its depictions of Times Square and the El to nowhere in Midtown.
Damn you for posting spoilers. I should probably remove your feed from my RSS reader.
Die Hard 3 had the subway right next to the Federal reserve vault when in reality the vault is way deeper.
At least the 2/3 tracks actually do pass under William Street next to the Fed although I don't believe any platform actually extends near the Fed.
I don't think the National Treasure Trinity Church vault was nearly absurd as Spiderman and the El. Sure the vault doesn't exist but if it did it would be hidden underground. The Spiderman el train was absurd because they actually filmed other parts of the movie in the city and still invented something that doesn't exist.
Actually 415 E 71st is on the wrong side of York Ave for Bourne to have jumped into the river. However, had the moved the address over to the 500 block he could have been in one of the buildings of Cornell Weill New York Hospital (or whatever they're calling it this week). Part of the hospital is built over the FDR which would have allowed him to jump straight into the water.
Actually, in the river jump scene, you can see pretty plainly the sign for the Hospital for Special Surgery, which spans 70th through 72nd Street. So they were more accurate than they would've been had they jumped off the Greenberg Pavilion (the part of the hospital you mentioned).
(And for whatever it's worth, the name of the hospital campus hasn't changed lately, it's still "New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell". The college has shifted names a few times.)
Ummm...live in Los Angeles for awhile and you will note the same thing. Having worked as a location scout - it happens. Not a big deal.We just follow the script people.
And any of you who freak out when a shoot is in your neighborhood are automatically barred from complaining about this subject. Just sit back and enjoy those Canadian NYC exteriors.
Might want to add *possible spoiler* to your comments if you are talking about anything besides places in the movie.