Blood on the walls of The Spectator; a handmaid comes a calling
The city of Hamilton has an important role to play in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
THE DRIED BLOOD and bullet holes in the walls of The Hamilton Spectator said it all, the city’s journalists had been lined up and shot.
And the multi-noose gallows erected in the outfield of Bernie Arbour Stadium signalled more executions were on their way.
OK, reality check.
No actual journalists were harmed in the making of the second season of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” No hangings, that we know of, have ever taken place at the home of the Hamilton Cardinals baseball team.
Both Bernie Arbour Stadium, on the east Mountain, and The Hamilton Spectator building on Frid Street were used as key locations in the first two episodes of the Emmy-winning drama “The Handmaid’s Tale.” The dystopian drama is based on Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s 1985 bestselling novel and won eight Emmys last year, including outstanding drama and outstanding lead actress.
Keep your eyes sharp and you may find a few more Hamilton locations as the series progresses.
The Spectator’s newsroom, loading dock and press room posed as the home of The Boston Globe during two weekends of filming last fall.
Some of the news desks at the Spectator still bare mementoes brought in by set decorators — New England
Keep your eyes sharp and you may find a few more Hamilton locations as the series progresses.
Patriots souvenir mugs, fake family portraits, fake Globe calendars and bogus copies of the Globe, dated Sept. 15, 2014, and bearing the banner headline “In the Aftermath of America’s Bloodiest Day.”
In season two, episode two, rebellious handmaid Offred (Elisabeth Moss) takes shelter in the newspaper’s abandoned building.
She even makes love there, twice ... once in the press room and the second time on the floor of the newsroom just a couple of feet from Spectator sports reporter Scott Radley’s desk (and on the spot where the desk of investigative reporter Steve Buist now sits).
During her time in the building, Offred makes a harrowing discovery in the press room — the bullet holes and the blood on a wall. There are a few used nooses hanging there, too.
When you want to overthrow a democracy, start with the journalists.
Even more disturbing is the show’s opening scene in season two, episode one, when Offred A prop of The Boston Globe used for filming an episode of the TV show “The Handmaid's Tale” at The Hamilton Spectator last October.
and dozens of other handmaids are corralled into Boston’s venerable Fenway Park (somehow tiny little Bernie Arbour plays the part well) and marched onto a gallows. Nooses are tightened around their necks ...
“Hamilton plays quite a big role,” says Anne Richardson, one of the show’s locations managers. “One of our hero locations is in a Hamilton home. It’s one of our commanders’ homes.”
Richardson is referring to an old red-brick house near Aberdeen that plays the home of Commander Waterford to whom
handmaid Offred is expected to bear a child.
It was a major location in season one, along with the remains of the James Street Baptist Church, which, of course, played a bombed-out building.
Expect to see it a lot more in Season two, along with a few other street scenes from the Aberdeen area, McMaster University’s Ivor Wynne Athletic Centre and Chedoke golf course.
A favourite is the magnificent Scottish Rite at Queen and King, home to a Masonic lodge. Last season, its interior plays a council chamber for the Republic of Gilead.
“We shoot at the Scottish Rite quite a bit,” Richardson says. “It’s a wonderful period building. It was in season one for sure and it will definitely be in season two.”
Richardson, who has worked as a Toronto-based location manager and scout for 25 years, is reluctant to talk about exact set locations, especially when they involve peoples’ homes. It’s all about privacy.
“The show has a big fan base and we try not to advertise where we’re going to be so there’s less of an impact on any neighbourhood,” Richardson says, noting that a typical location shoot could involve 80 to 100 crew members.
Online speculation on the location of the commander’s house, for example, has drawn fans to the area. “I know people certainly go by that house and take their picture in front of it,” Richardson says. “The homeowner has expressed that to me, that it has happened on a few occasions.”
Hamilton isn’t the only location for “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Last year, there were also shoots in Cambridge, Oakville and Toronto. This season, locations include St. George and Brant County, Cambridge, Markham, Uxbridge, Brampton and Toronto, home of the production team’s studios.
There’s a good chance the Handmaid’s camera crews will be back in Hamilton next fall. American streaming network Hulu announced Wednesday that the series has been renewed for a third season. The show is produced by venerable Hollywood studio MGM. “The Handmaid’s Tale” is available in Canada Sundays at 9 p.m. on Bravo and on the streaming service CraveTV, updated every Monday.