BLOCKBUSTERS
The Hollywood movie sets in our backyards
FILM-MAKERS are putting the Gold Coast on the global movie map.
While Momoa, Depp and Hemsworth may have moved on, it’s easy to follow in famous footsteps.
Murray Shoring, an actor, radio presenter and location scout who’ll be running movie location tours on April 13 as part of the Gold Coast Film Festival, said local locations spanned from studios to secret suburban sets.
THE SPIT
That controversial strip of sand may not have spawned a cruise terminal, but it has given birth to an everexpanding list of blockbusters. “Aquaman just took a billion dollars at the box office, so that’s one of the big ones at the moment,” Shoring said. “The tour stops just near the trawlers – that was the fishing village Amnesty Bay where Jason Momoa’s character was born.” Filming for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales became a tourist attraction in its own right. “They built a pirate’s hideaway there and the ghost ship was constructed on the largest barge in Australia,” Shoring said. “As recently as last week they’ve been shooting location scenes (at The Spit) for Reef Break Disney series.”
COOMBABAH
The Coombabah Wetlands were an unexpected hit in Kong: Skull Island (2017), starring Tom Hiddleston and John C. Reilly.
“It’s a good spot to film because of the diversity and look of the forest,” Shoring said. “They loved the area so much the director actually had additional scenes written for it.” The wetlands are also the rumoured location for forthcoming postapocalyptic monster-filled romance Monster Problems.
BROADBEACH WATERS
“255 Monaco St – that was one of the homes in San Andreas,” Shoring said. “Also just near there at 171 Monaco St is where they shot the Bali scenes for the Schapelle TV movie — I was the Channel 9 newsreader in that,” Shoring said.
MERMAID BEACH
While Blake Lively spent most of her time hanging out in a tank at the Village Roadshow studios, beach scenes for The Shallows were also captured on the sands off Millionaires Row.
RAINBOW BAY
The southern Gold Coast was the easily recognisable support act in Swinging Safari (2018), Stephan Elliott’s semiautobiographical satire about 1970s life in beachside Australia that starred Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce and Asher Keddie.
“I tell you what got Queensland the job was Snapper Rocks,” Elliott said at the time. “I had to have a beach with somewhere to hide the whale.” While the three homes in the film are in the same cul-de-sac, the old Coast properties used for filming were in different suburbs, including Southport. Two of the three houses have now disappeared. “The Hall house, they demolished that right before our eyes on the last day of filming and that’s quite frightening because that sums up everything … watching the end of an old world go,” Elliott said.
COOLANGATTA
Filming for the infamous Bait 3D (2012) – where a tsunami traps shoppers inside a flooded supermarket with 12-foot great white sharks – took place at Coolangatta. “Although a lot of it was in the studios, they also did scenes in The Strand Shopping Centre’s car park,” Shoring said.
SURFERS PARADISE/ MAIN BEACH
Surfers Paradise has always been a favourite for filming, from 50 Cavill Avenue’s transformation into police HQ for the short-lived The Strip to Scooby-Doo (2002). “Lifeguard tower 40 was where the Mystery Inc van was parked,” Shoring said.
SOUTHPORT
Where there’s smoke, there’s crime caper Gettin’ Square (2003) shooting at Australia Fair. “That’s the Sam Worthington movie and the van burning scene was at Australia Fair,” Shoring said. “Apparently the Indy was on at the time and there was so much smoke a lot of people were concerned something had gone wrong at the race.” The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) crew sailed into The Southport School, where the dining hall was used in the scene where Edmund tries to enlist in the army. “Vigilante, Margot Robbie’s first film, was also shot in parts of Southport and Mako Mermaids had its cafe on the Broadwater Parklands jetty,” Shoring said.
OXENFORD
Village Roadshow Studios hosts most of the juiciest closed-set action, making it more complicated to stumble on a Hemsworth. “There was a big set for Thor Ragnarok built just opposite to the entrance to the studios,” Shoring said. “They’ve done a lot of studio stuff there for Aquaman and Dora the Explorer, including building all sorts of jungle stuff, even though we’ve got jungle up at Mt Tamborine.”
VARSITY LAKES
Bond University’s Abedian School of Architecture was used in a backdrop in The Rock’s epic action flick San Andreas (2015). However, Elanora’s The Pines Shopping Centre had the honour of being where he crashes his chopper.