The Best Picture nominees for this year’s Oscars range in subject matter, from legal dramas to historical biopics to idealizations of the American Dream. Their settings vary just as widely, and filming locations span the entirety of the United States -- going coast to coast and everywhere in between -- as well as cities overseas. Here’s where all eight Best Picture nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards were filmed.
“Judas and the Black Messiah” is a biographical drama about Black Panther Party (BPP) leader Fred Hampton and FBI informant William O’Neal. Set in 1960s Chicago, the movie’s main filming location was in Cleveland, Ohio. Locations include the Broadway Avenue Historic District, where the Zverina Building stood in as the BPP’s headquarters; Lane Metropolitan Church, where the rally shown in the trailer was filmed; and the now-defunct Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, which was used for the exterior shots of Hampton leaving prison.
“Minari” focuses on a Korean American family that moves from California to Arkansas in the 1980s in hopes of having a successful farm business. While the movie’s main setting is Arkansas, filming actually took place one state over in Oklahoma, in and around Tulsa. Sand Springs’ Meadow Lake Ranch -- a real working farm -- was the stand-in for the farmlands that the Yi family called home for the majority of the movie.
“Promising Young Woman” is a comedy-thriller in which the main character Cassie tries to get justice for her best friend Nina, who was raped. Though portrayed as Ohio suburbia, the entirety of the movie was filmed in studio and on location around Los Angeles. Sets like the coffee shop where Cassie works were built from scratch, while others, like the movie’s opening scene, were filmed in places like Los Globos dance club, Blue Star cafe, Everest diner, Mountain View Mausoleum, and St. Louis Drug Company. Characters’ homes were not strictly in studio either, as several of them were filmed at real-life locations. Cassie’s home, for example, was filmed in two different spots -- exteriors were at the Pacific House while interiors were at a real home elsewhere in LA.
Another historical drama, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” follows the legal proceedings of seven anti-war protestors who were accused of inciting a riot at the 1968 Demcratic National Convention in Chicago. Majority of the movie occurs indoors as the defendants stand trial; the Community Baptist Church of Love in Paterson, New Jersey, was used for interior scenes while City Hall in Newark was used for the courthouse’s exterior. Other New Jersey locations include Hyland Hall at Saint Elizabeth University, Hennessey Hall at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Dino and Harry’s steakhouse. To add an extra layer of authenticity to the movie, some filming did take place in Chicago -- namely the scene that took place in Grant Park, which was one of the most pivotal moments in both the movie and the case.
“The Father” centers on Anthony, an elderly man with dementia, who lives with his daughter Anne and her boyfriend Paul in London. Most of the filming took place at West London Film Studios, though some outdoor scenes with Anne were filmed at Blythe House, originally built for the Post Office Savings Bank and now used as an archive by several museums in the area.
“Mank” tells the real-life story of Herman J. Mankiewicz, a screenwriter tasked with bringing Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” to life. All filming took place in California, with a heavy lean on studio shots. One of the more notable on-location settings shows up toward the beginning of the movie in scenes where Mankiewicz is recovering from an accident and beginning to write the screenplay -- this location is Kemper Campbell Ranch in Victorville. Another is the Huntington Library in San Marino, used for scenes at Hearst Castle.
“Nomadland” follows a woman named Fern as she journeys around the United States after losing her permanent job and her husband’s death. In true nomadic fashion, Fern doesn’t stay in a single place for too long, and takes viewers along for the ride from her hometown in Empire, Nevada, to Arizona, South Dakota, California, and the unknown. The movie filmed scenes in the same states that Fern visits, providing a lens into the American West. More specifically, recognizable landscapes include Black Rock Desert in Nevada, Badlands National Park in South Dakota, and Point Arena and Bernardino National Forest in California.
“Sound of Metal” is about a drummer named Ruben who loses his hearing. Set in Fenton, Missouri, the movie was filmed entirely in Massachusetts, in areas like Boston, Rowley, Cambridge, Framingham, and more. The Agawam Diner in Rowley is one of the more discernible locations used for filming, which appears early on in the movie as the Miss Fenton Diner.
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