Light. Camera. Los Angeles!

“Garota eu vou pra Califórnia. Viver a vida sobre as ondas. Vou ser artista de cinema. O meu destino é ser Star” (Girl I’m going to California. Living life on the waves. I’m going to be a movie star. My destiny is to be a Star – a brazilian song by Lulu Santos)!! Nothing better than this stretch to define Los Angeles!!

And since it’s the World Capital of Cinema, how about checking out some movies that were shot there!! So let’s go there... LIGHTS. CAMERA. ACTION!

A Star is Born

Release: 2018

Plot: Jackson Maine is a singer at the height of his fame. One day, after leaving a performance, he stops at a bar for a drink. That’s When he meets Ally, an insecure singer who earns her living working in a restaurant. Jackson is enchanted by the Woman and her talent, deciding to take her under his wings. At the same time that Ally rises to stardom, Jackson is experiencing a personal and professional crisis due to problems with alcohol.

The beginning of the film takes place in a bar of drag queens, this is The Virgil, located on Santa Monica Boulevard, in East Hollywood. Other locations that served as locations were the Shrine Auditorium (used at the Grammy Awards), Griffith Park, Greek Theater, as well as some hotels (Chateau Marmont, Hollywood Roosevelt, Millennium Biltmore Hotel), among other places.

StarStruck

Release: 2010

Plot: The young Jessica Olsen travels to Los Angeles. She wants to meet her grandparents and her sister dreams of meeting Christopher Wilde, but something unexpected happens and Jessica is the one who meets the boy. They go on an adventure around the city and start to like each other. However, when the girl returns home she sees Christopher saying on national TV that he was never in her company.

Some scenes in the film were shot in Los Angeles and Malibu.

Blade Runner

Release: 1982

Plot: At the begining of the 21st century, a large Corporation develops a robot that is stronger and more agile than the human being and equaling it in intelligence. They are known as replicants and used as slaves in the colonization and exploration of other planets. But When a group of the most evolved robots causes a riot in an off-Earth colony, this incident makes replicants illegal on Earth, under penalty of death. From then on, police from an elite squad, known as Blade Runner, have orders to shoot to kill replicants found on Earth. Such an act is not called execution, but removal. Until in November 2019, in Los Angeles, five replicants arrive on Earth, a former Blade Runner is tasked with hunting them down.

The Bradbury Building served as one of the film’s locations.

Pretty Woman

Release: 1990

Plot: Lost tycoon turns to a prostitute who “works” on Hollywood Boulevard for help and ends up hiring her for a week. During this period, she transforms into an elegant young woman to be able to accompany him on his social commitments, but the two begin to get involved and the boss/employee relationship changes to a relationship between man and woman.

Most of the film was shot in Los Angeles, more specifically in Bervely Hills, such as Rodeo Drive and the Beverly Hills Wilshire hotel.

La La Land

Release: 2016

Plot: Upon arriving in Los Angeles, jazz pianist Sebastian meets budding actress Mia and the two fall madly in love. In Search of opportunities for their careers in the competitive city, young people try to make their love relationship work while chasing fame and sucess.

It features scenes recorded at the Griffith Observatory, on Interstate 105 and Interstate 110, at The Blind Donkey bar (located in Long Beach), Grand Central Market, among others.

Grease

Release: 1978

Plot: In California in the 50s, Danny and Sandy are a couple of students who exchange vows of love. But unfortunately they separate, as she will return to Australia. However, plans change and Sandy happens to enroll in Danny’s school. To be gender-neutral, he childishly snubs her, but the two remain in love, despite their relationship being in crisis.

Los Angeles River was the setting for the movie Grease.

Clueless

Release: 1995

Plot: In Beverly Hills, teenager Cher, the daughter of a very rich lawer, spends her time chatting and shopping with totally alienated friends like her. But the arrival of her father’s stepson, Josh, changes everything, first because he criticizes her for not getting acquainted with the “real world” and secondly beacause she discovers that she is in love with him.

The film features scenes shot on Rodeo Drive and at Occidental College.

No Strings Attached

Release: 2011

Plot: Adam is still reeling from the fact that Vanessa, his girlfriend of eight months, dumped him. To make matters worse, he discovers that she is the new girlfriend of his Father, Alvin, a TV star. Wanting to Forget about her and move on, he gets drunk and then calls every woman he has on his cell phone in order to find company. Emma responds to the call. She is a Young doctor he met a few times, years ago. Adam goes to her house and they end up having sex. As Emma doesn’t want to have a serious relationship, as she fears suffering, she proposes to Adam that they meet with sex as the only objective. He agrees, but over time, new feelings blossom between them.

It features a scene recorded in the work Urban Light at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).