Which futuristic film starring Robert Pattinson about money-making city slickers was filmed in New York's neon streets?
David Cronenberg’s dystopian drama might have been set in his own version of New York City, but the street scenes were most definitely shot in present-day downtown NYC. See it for yourself: Rent your own white stretch limo from manhattanviplimo.com for $60 an hour and gorge on your own capitalist consumer heaven with a trip to Saks Fifth Ave and the Wall Street Stock Exchange before surveying the city from the gleaming towers of the Waldorf Astoria hotel with kuoni.co.uk’s seven-night trip, From £1,136 per person.
The Tar Heel State is no stranger to the silver screen and scenes from Dirty Dancing and The Last of the Mohicans have been shot here, but can you name the film directed by Gary Ross that was shot in these scenic forests?
it was North Carolina's towering Blue Ridge Mountains and impossibly green DuPont State Forest that convinced director Gary Ross to film his 2012 adaptation of The Hunger Games here. Try it for yourself! The closest you’re likely get to an Arena style physical contest is white water rafting in Charlotte and hang gliding in Kitty Hawke on an Exploring North Carolina holiday with bon-voyage.co.uk. This 11-day self-drive holiday starts from £1,695 per person including flights, accommodation and car hire.
Which sci-fi blockbuster filmed in the rugged wilderness and epic waterfalls of Iceland's Vatnajokull National parkland?
If you thought all of the landscapes in sci-fi blockbuster Prometheus were CGI then think again. The colossal waterfall in the opening scenes is actually the Dettifoss falls in Vatnajokull National Park. See it for yourself! Extremeiceland.is operates an adventurous eight-day self-drive Magical Highland’s tour looping around the Park’s spectacular rocky scenery, thermal hot springs and glacial lakes. Tour includes 4WD vehicle hire, accommodation and breakfast, price on application.
The director of this book-to-movie adaptation was seduced by Sydney's gorgeous harbour views and the astonishing scenery of the blue mountains. Can you guess the film?
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s modernist masterpiece was set on New York’s Long Island, but Australian director Baz Luhrmann has given his upcoming film adaptation more of an antipodean feel and filmed it in Sydney and surrounding New South Wales. The lights from Gatsby’s extravagant mansion now twinkle across Manly Harbour and its grounds sprawl across Centennial Park in Sydney. See it for yourself! Go icon-spotting along Sydney’s famous harbour and travel into the Blue Mountains with travelbag.co.uk on a four-night Essential Sydney holiday from £399 per person, including accommodation and transport, excluding flights.
A wild west story set in an even wilder landscape. Can you guess the action-packed spaghetti western that was filmed in this luna landscape?
Django was filmed across remote plains and ranches in the wilds of California and Wyoming and down into the deep south of Louisiana. See it for yourself! Saddle up and head into the Wild West with hiddentrails.com for a seven-day horseback trek through the Trinity Alps to Coffee Creak Ranch, taking in the lush beauty of the surrounding National Forest. Horse treks from $1,500 per person including horse hire, equipment, meals and cabin accommodation. Alternatively, drift down the Mississippi to New Orleans with bon-voyage.co.uk on their 10-day Heartbeat of the South tour, soak up the sights and sounds of the Jazz Quarter and step back in time at the Grand Plantation Houses along the Great River Road. From £1,495 per person including flights and accommodation.
Pondicherry's fusion of Indian tradition with French colonial history was the perfect setting for this nostalgic fantasy film.
With leafy boulevards filled with crumbling 18th century mansions and clusters of bougainvillea in this French-flavoured Indian city. See it for yourself! Visit the Botanical Gardens that were transformed into Pi’s family zoo for the film and wander along Paradise Beach and Pondicherry Pier where Pi said farewell to his young love Anandi. Enchanting-india.com runs a Highlights of Southern India 14-night tour from £1,170 per person travelling from Chennai to Trivandrum, taking in the colonial delights of Pondicherry on the way.
Brutal Siberian winters and more historical architecture than you can shake a stick at, Kizhi proved the perfect setting for scenes from this adaptation.
Ok, so most of Joe Wright’s lavish adaptation of a literary classic starring Keira Knightley was filmed in a renovated theatre in Shepperton, but some of the epic snowscapes could only have been filmed in Tolstoy’s homeland. In a corner of northwestern Russian, by Lake Onega lies the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Kizhi in Karelia, an open-air museum filled with 18th century wooden churches, onion-domed buildings and bell towers. See it for yourself! Intouristuk.com run a two-day snowmobile snow safari from Petrozavodsk, an overnight train journey from Moscow, to Kizhi with meals and guides included.
Which British blockbuster set its explosive closing scenes in the leaden-skied mountains of Glencoe in Scotland?
Remember James Bond’s gloomy, windswept childhood home set in deepest, darkest Scotland…the one he blew up at the end of Skyfall? Well, luckily, Buachaille Etive Beag and Buachaille Etive Mor, mountains wedged onto the edge of Rannoch Moor in the Highlands of Glencoe where this was filmed, still exist. See it for yourself! Tramp through the craggy, heather-covered wilds of Glencoe and explore its lochs, glens and castles on a seven-night guided tour of the Highlands with hfholidays.co.uk from £749 per person including transport and fully catered accommodation.
The patchwork carpet of emerald hills and fields in Matamata proved the ideal setting for a fictional village in the latest instalment of these films. Can you name the it?
Fans of Peter Jackson’s films have been flocking to New Zealand for years to dress up as elves and re-live Tolkein’s fantasy world of Middle Earth. It’s no surprise that Jackson chose to re-visit the soaring peaks and rolling hills of New Zealand’s North Island to shoot scenes for The Hobbit film trilogy. See it yourself: Now you too can follow in Bilbo’s footsteps and head to Matamata, better known as Hobbiton, with tailor-made.co.uk on their 16-day Footsteps of Film tour, which goes from Auckland to the meadows of Paradise in Queenstown stopping at filming locations en route.