Why Cardiff stood in for LA on show
THE producer of hit US TV comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm has revealedwhy Cardiff stood in for Los Angeles on an episode – and quipped that the Welsh capital was more “special” than the Californian city.
As revealed in Wednesday’s Echo, Welsh viewers of the Sky Atlantic series had a surprise when part of The Hayes doubled for LA.
The episode saw Larry David, the Seinfeld creator who plays himself in the series, visiting his therapist, played by Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston. The pair go chair shopping and a stock shot of The Hayes was used to set up the shopping scene.
It meant viewers actually saw the former Moss Bros shop on a very sunny day in the Welsh capital rather than LA.
The show’s producer, Jeff Schaffer, explained why Cardiff was used. He jokingly told BBC Radio Wales’ Good Evening Wales: “Larry and Bryan are great actors and you just say ‘you know this scene needs a special stock shot.’ They show you the LA stock shots and you say ‘no.’ They show you the London ones and you say ‘no,’ they show you the Edinburgh ones and you say ‘no,’ the Manchester – ‘no,’ Swansea – ‘no.’
“You finally say ‘bring me the Cardiff stock shots.’ And then you know – because only the Cardiff stock shots will start a scene that’s as special as the final scene of a show.”
But Mr Schaffer said he didn’t really know that Cardiff would be shown until the programme aired.
Fans took to Twitter to share their bemusement of The Hayes standing in for the swanky shopping districts of California and the producer said he understands why people would find it funny even though he has never been to Wales.
He said: “I’m from Ohio which I think is the Wales of the United States so I completely understand. I’ll tell you what really happened. We shoot our show entirely on location – meaning if we’re at a furniture store we go to a furniture store and that day we were starting at a furniture store and moving to three other locations so we had to be in and out very quickly.
“All of our trucks are in front of the store so we can’t shoot the front of the furniture store because all of our camera trucks are there.”
When the team were editing the shots they needed something that looked like sunny LA that also had a furniture store in it. After looking at a few options they decided that Cardiff was “by far the best”.
“You guys should be very proud,” Mr Schaffer added. “You beat out every Los Angeles stock shot. I don’t think we would have ever guessed Wales – it looks beautiful. If this is the first of what can be an international stock swap I am happy to start it.”