On Location in Connecticut
Little more than two years after legislation was enacted to attract filmmaking to Connecticut, a total of nine Oscar nominations, ten Golden Globe nominations, and three Sundance submissions usher in Connecticut’s impressive contribution to the 2009 award season. If you are looking for a unique adventure, follow the “star-crossed” trail of cities and towns where celebrities have appeared in such award-winning movie scenes.
Rachel Getting Married
, featuring actress Anne Hathaway has many scenes shot almost entirely in Stamford. The edgy ensemble, which received several awards and an Oscar nomination, depicts the dynamics of relationships with an estranged daughter’s return to the family home for her sister's wedding. Take a drive around town and locate familiar scene landmarks like the Post Grocers Deli on Long Ridge Road.
Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner Revolutionary Road chronicles the progressively maudlin existence of a young couple living the American Dream in a Connecticut suburb. Based on the Richard Yates novel set in the 1950’s, the film beautifully showcases areas of Beacon Falls, Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich, New Canaan, Norwalk, Redding, Rowayton, Shelton, Southport, Stamford, Thomaston and Trumbull. Scenes were also shot at Sasco Beach in Fairfield, and a few scenes were filmed in the historic Thomaston train station.
Scheduled for release this November, “Old Dogs” tells the story of two friends (John Travolta and Robin Williams) whose lives dramatically change after strange circumstances put them in the care of 7-year-old twins. Before it appears on the big screen, visit Putnam Memorial State Park in Redding, where Travolta and Williams wander during a scene. The park is the site of the Continental Army’s 1779 winter encampment and features a museum, encampment remains and a reconstructed log building.
If you are a baseball fan, you will want to visit the setting of the popular ESPN television miniseries “The Bronx is Burning” at Dodd Stadium in Norwich. Designed to look like Yankee Stadium in 1977, the field is home to the Connecticut Defenders. In Bridgeport, the Ballpark at Harbor Yard is the site of Bridgeport Bluefish games, as well as a setting for the TV movie “For One More Day,” starring Ellen Burstyn and Michael Imperioli. The movie follows a former baseball star who crashes his car into a tree while inebriated and wakes up to find his deceased mother alive and well in his childhood home.
Follow in Harrison Ford’s footsteps, and visit Yale University in New Haven or take a ride through the scenic Connecticut River Valley on the Essex Steam Train. Ford shot scenes in both places for the action-packed “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull.” Seasonal rides begin on this historic train on May 2.
Celebrate the 21st anniversary of the popular film “Mystic Pizza” at – where else – the famous Mystic Pizza! Though the 1988 flick was actually filmed in a North Stonington warehouse to accommodate the cast and crew, the restaurant’s mouth-watering slices and large crowds inspired its creation and satisfy many a stomach today.
Further south along the shoreline, Joseph’s Steakhouse in Bridgeport serves as the backdrop for scenes featuring Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Donnie Wahlberg and Trilby Glover in the cop thriller “Righteous Kill,” scheduled to hit theaters later this year. Ask for table #3 or #21, and indulge in the restaurant’s prime dry-aged beef right where the stars sat.
Check out Connecticut's Great Getaway #50 and the Mystic Pizza Movie Trail.
