On Location with Jared Cowan

One day prior to leading multiple tours of the original location of Industrial Light & Magic, in Van Nuys, CA, for over a hundred people, renowned visual effects innovator and nine-time Academy Award winner Dennis Muren met up with us at the location. It was the first time Dennis had stepped foot inside the building in nearly fifty years, making it once-in-a-lifetime 'On Location" episode. We talked about the maddening pressure of creating the groundbreaking visual effects for "Star Wars" (1977) at this nondescript industrial property outside the Van Nuys airport, why he wanted to work for George Lucas and the filmmaker's clear cinematic vision, meeting Steven Spielberg for the first time at ILM, Van Nuys, his genuine love of movies and filming locations, and his feelings on the reemergence of VistaVision. Today, the location is home to Neiman & Company, an established architectural signage firm that's been in business since 1965 and purchased the building in the early 2000's. www.neimanandco.com

Just in time for the holidays, four-time Academy Award-nominated production designer Jeannine Oppewall joins us at Union Station Los Angeles to talk about working on Steven Spielberg's Christmas-adjacent film, "Catch Me If You Can". Jeannine discusses using Union Station in a non-traditional fashion; getting lucky with two vacant, mid-century modern airport terminals; what makes the best sets; how life experience came full-circle to inspire one of the major location choices in "Catch Me If You Can"; why you can't trust IMDb locations lists, and much more. Our 25th episode is a mini-masterclass with one of Hollywood's most esteemed contemporary production designers. Visit the Ticket Concourse at Union Station Los Angeles through Wednesday, December 25, 2024. https://www.unionstationla.com/happenings/experience-the-holidays-at-union-station-2024/ Also, check out our new book, 'World Film Locations: Los Angeles Volume 2', edited by Jared Cowan, Gabriel Solomons and Fabrice Ziolkowski. Available wherever you buy books. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/W/bo238313161.html

In our first episode outside of Los Angeles, we head to Philly to meet up with location manager Andrew Ullman at Ontario St. Comics. Andrew reflects on discovering his love cinema while growing up in the City of Brotherly Love, becoming the first agent to one of today's foremost comedic actors, finding artistic gratification as a location professional, and returning to his hometown where he became a frequent collaborator of M. Night Shyamalan's. Jared shares with Andrew his personal connections to the production of "Unbreakable" as we dig into the film's locations. We're also joined by Bill Fink, the owner of Ontario St. Comics, the long-established North Philadelphia comic book shop used in Shyamalan's contemporary superhero tale. Ontario St. Comics: www.facebook.com/OntarioComics

Location Manager Kelly Stuart joins us at Majers Coin Laundry, the San Fernando, CA laundromat featured as the home and business of the Wang family in the Best Picture-winning film "Everything Everyhwere All at Once." In what is arguably our most candid conversation to-date, Kelly talks about meeting with the film's creators, the challenges of finding the perfect laundromat, the spiritual "cleansing" of one of the film's locations, why location professionals deserve credit for their roles as creative collaborators, and much more. We're also joined by the owner of the location, Kenny Majers. Majers Coin Laundry: Instagram - majers_coin_laundry - www.instagram.com/majers_coin_laundry/ Facebook - San Fernando Majers Coin Laundry

Over a 35 year career, location manager Michael Burmeister worked on some of the most explosive action films in contemporary cinema including "True Lies," "Twister," "Pearl Harbor" and "Transformers." But he broke into the feature film world working locations for two of the most highly celebrated sequels ever made, "Back to the Future Part II" and the trilogy's Western conclusion. On this episode, we meet up with Michael at the South Pasadena home used for Biff's grandmother's house in "Back to the Future Part II." We talk about securing some of the locations from the original film, an unlucky neighborhood location, a cameo appearance in "E.T," and working on "Edward Scissorhands," "Casino," and "National Treasure," on which a fake Liberty Bell made for an awkward 11 o'clock news story.

When Christopher Nolan's feature debut "Memento" hit screens, it shattered all structural conventions of narrative filmmaking. We meet up with the film's location manager, Russ Fega, in Altadena, CA, at the home of the film's muddled and forgetful accountant, Sammy Jankis. Russ lives across the street from the Jankis house and has invited the homeowner, Terry Andrues, to join us. Russ talks in-depth about working with Nolan in the very early part of the filmmaker's career, appearing onscreen in a handful of Nolan's films, and making the transition from a location manager to the owner of a successful location service business. For more information about Russ's locations company, Home Shoot Home, please visit https://homeshoothome.com.

Director and co-writer of "Tales From the Hood," Rusty Cundieff, meets us in Angelino Heights, outside the turn-of-the-century Victorian used as the exterior of the Simms Funeral Home in the 1995 horror film anthology. Rusty talks the inspiration behind the settings in "Tales From the Hood," filming an explosive zombie scene in downtown L.A., his affinity for cemeteries, and the joys of location scouting.

We meet up with veteran location manager, scout and current Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) board member Ken Haber in the neighborhood from George Clooney's 1950s-set crime drama, "Suburbicon" (2017). Ken talks the challenges of finding a period-accurate, '50s housing development in contemporary L.A., becoming Ridley Scott's go-to location manager, and a familial connection going back to Brooklyn, NY. A few of the neighbors of Ash Avenue also join us to talk about the experience of having their street appear in a major motion picture.

Eddie Murphy's 2007 film "Norbit" was a critical disaster but a gargantuan success at the box office. We sit down with the film's assistant location manager, David Lyons, at the Great Wall Chinese restaurant in Reseda, CA, the interior location for the film's Golden Wonton Restaurant and Orphanage. David discusses the ins and outs of shooting an Eddie Murphy picture on location, why "Norbit" is a problematic movie, his genuine love of filming locations, and why "Norbit" remains on his resume. The Great Wall Chinese Restaurant www.thegreatwallreseda.com

We're back for our first episode "On Location" since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. We meet up with "Punch-Drunk Love" location manager Larry Ring at Eckhart Auto Body, the site of Adam Sandler's workplace in the 2002 offbeat romantic comedy by San Fernando Valley native, Paul Thomas Anderson. Also joining us is the owner of Eckhart Auto Body, Mark Cardella Sr. Larry and Mark haven't seen each other since the movie was made, and the stories are priceless. Get tickets to see "Punch-Drunk Love" on July 10, 2021 at Eckhart Auto Body https://tickets.myvalleypass.com/e/movies-on-location-punch-drunk-love Visit Eckhart Auto Body: http://eckhartautobody.net

On this episode of On Location with Jared Cowan, location managers from L.A., New York City, Florida, Michigan, and Athens, Greece, give us the inside stories on filming locations from "True Lies," "Arachnophobia," "Inside Llewyn Davis," "Jason Bourne" and much more.

Continuing our stay-at-home efforts that began in Episode 14, eleven location professionals from Seattle to Italy talk some of their favorite filming locations.

In a temporary departure from our normal format, fourteen location professionals from across North America discuss some of the locations that have left indelible impressions on their careers.

Production designer Patti Podesta and location manager Tony Salome meet up with us at Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park, just outside the former grounds of L.A.'s magnificent Ambassador Hotel, where we dive into the locations of Emilio Estevez's critically acclaimed 2006 film, "Bobby". Salome and Podesta discuss the intricacies of trying to film at the Ambassador Hotel when, after decades of being seen on screen, the property was off-limits to filming. They also reflect on the reverence of filming at the actual location where Bobby Kennedy was fatally shot, doubling the Ambassador Hotel at other L.A. locations, and Estevez as a writer-director.

We head up to Starfleet Command, aka the Getty Center, and dive into the locations from J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" (2009) and "Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013) with Steve Woroniecki and Scott Trimble. They talk about the monumental job of putting together the locations for both films, their genuine love of the series, and working on subsequent "Star Trek" projects. www.getty.edu

For the 20th anniversary of Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 San Fernando Valley mosaic, "Magnolia," we were "up before the dawn" to meet location manager Tim Hillman at one of the film's most recognizable shooting locations. We talk specificity of locations when working for the auteur filmmaker, Hillman's change of career in his early 30s, working on the 1991 comedy "Drop Dead Fred," and much more.

We meet up with Location Manager, John Panazarella, and Key Assistant Location Manager, Leslie Thorson, at the Lovell Health House from Curtis Hanson's 1997 noir masterpiece, and arguably the greatest Los Angeles film ever made, "L.A. Confidential." We're also joined by Ken Topper, whose family owns the world-renowned home, and Josh Gorrell, tour guide at the Lovel Health House and expert on its architect, Richard Neutra. Our new co-producer, Ian Rutherford, joins us for his first episode. Get information for tours at the Lovell Health House here: www.lhhtours.com

Location manager Rob Gibson returns to Vincenzo's Pizza, the setting of Nino's Pizzeria from Nicolas Winding Refn's gritty L.A. fable, "Drive." Gibson breaks down the challenges and successes of assembling locations for a foreign filmmaker with an unfiltered perspective of Los Angeles, whose previous knowledge of the city was acquired through the iconography of L.A. films.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of "The Karate Kid Part III," released on June 30, 1989, we meet up with the film's veteran location manager, Richard Davis Jr., at the former site of Mr. Miyagi's Little Trees. Richard discusses memorable experiences working on the original film, coming back for the third installment in the franchise, collaborating with director John G. Avildsen, and (kind of) revisiting some of the original film's locations. This episode is full of location stories that may surprise even the most die-hard fans of "The Karate Kid."

Our first episode about a brand new film focuses on the locations from Karyn Kusama's L.A. detective drama, DESTROYER. Location Manager Robert Foulkes joins us along the banks of the L.A. River at one of the film's main locales, the Bowtie Project. We discuss depicting L.A. in a way it's never been seen, working with Karyn Kusama, the misconceptions of a location manager's job, watching the mind-blowing stunts of "Terminator 2", and finding locations for little L.A. movie called "La La Land."

Production Designer David L. Snyder revisits Bill & Ted University for the first time since working on "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" (1991). We talk about how the futuristic Tillman Water Reclamation Plant became the setting for a 27th century location, how working on "Blade Runner" turned into a double-edged sword, using Vasquez Rocks as an homage to the original "Star Trek" series, why "Station" was unappealing, and if there's a place for Bill & Ted in the current movie climate. See Bill & Ted University at the Japanese Garden in Woodley Park. Visitor info at www.thejapanesegarden.com.

"It's a beaut, Clark, it's a beaut!" In a very special holiday episode of "On Location", "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" director, Jeremiah Chechik, returns to the Griswolds' house for the first time in almost 30 years. We talk about filming the beloved holiday classic at the Warner Bros. Ranch and what it took to create the look of an authentic Chicago winter while filming during the summer in Burbank, CA. Chechik discusses the fact that the wildly popular film was his first as a feature director, working with the great John Hughes, and why some of his favorite moments in the film are among the least comedic.

In this excellent episode "Wayne's World" director Penelope Spheeris returns to Cassell's Music, the filming location of the Aurora, IL music store where Wayne (Mike Myers) is denied permission to play "Stairway to Heaven" and Garth (Dana Carvey) gets his moment in the spotlight during an epic drum solo. We talk with Penelope about the common themes that run through her films like the celebrated punk/metal documentary trilogy "The Decline of Western Civilization," her 1983 film "Suburbia," "The Little Rascals" and, yes, "Wayne's World." Also, we make a connection between a couple of her films that no one else has made before; she compares Donald Trump to a Rose Queen during his cameo in "The Little Rascals"; Ed, the owner of Cassell's Music, sits in to tell an amazing story about the Fender guitar seen in the film. Party on! www.cassellsmusic.com

Academy Award-winners, Production Designer David Wasco and Set Decorator Sandy Reynolds-Wasco (2016 "La La Land") and Location Manager Billy Fox reunite 25 years later at the "Reservoir Dogs" coffee shop where Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino) explains the meaning of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) philosophizes about tipping waitresses. We learn that Pat & Lorraine's Coffee Shop was where production commenced for "Reservoir Dogs," making it the first-ever location shot for a Quentin Tarantino film. We also discuss the challenges of finding locations on a minuscule feature film budget, turning a mortuary into the film's main location, working with Tarantino on his other L.A. films, and tipping our server.

Writer/Director Savage Steve Holland meets up with us at the North Hollywood location of Pig Burgers, the fast food restaurant where love-stricken high school student Lane Meyer (John Cusack) works in Holland's 1985 fan favorite, "Better Off Dead... ." The super cool filmmaker discusses the excitement of shooting his first feature film entirely on location. We also talk about Henry Winkler, "Jaws", "Porky's", a drunk clown, and Holland gives advice about sunglasses to someone passing by.

Squad members André Gower, Ashley Bank, and Ryan Lambert sit down with us at the historic Warner Bros. town square set where they triumphantly defeated the forces of evil in the 1987 film. We talk about shooting the film on the backlot and all over Los Angeles as well as topics ranging from Pee-wee Herman and Paul Newman to "Gilmore Girls" and Cleveland.