It is located on the Northwest Side of Chicago. I attended a high school near there in the 80's. Back then it was still mainly working class,but beginning to gentrify. The primarily ethnic groups back then were Puerto Ricans, German, English, Black, Polish, and Ukrainian. Singer Liz Phair hails from the area. However, I have never seen the film.
shareYou should see the film, and then read my "Plot Summary" post below to help you understand it.
It's filmed in Montreal though, so I don't think you'll recognize the actual "park" where they meet. You might recognize some establishing shots of the area, but none of the actual filming was done in Chicago.
INCORRECT
Much of the movie is shot in Chicago/Wicker park. Many of the actual scenes of him around town are CLEARLY Chicago.
Around the 9:20 mark is a perfect example with the El overhead and he's following her through the street.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324554/locations/
You're probably right, MY BAD!
I saw the DVD commentary version and Josh only mentioned filming in Montreal, and how cold it was. So I assumed that Chicago was only used for "establishing shots", but sounds like it was more than that.
I definitely remember seeing the El, but I'll have to watch again to verify that Josh is in the same frame. I have no problem watching Diane Kruger again for two hours! I Yes I know that IMDB does list both Chicago & Montreal, but I just assumed Chicago was only "establishing shots".
Bruce Almighty lists Buffalo, NY as a Filming Location but Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston never stepped foot in Buffalo once. (So they do quantify the location as "(establishing shots, aerial shots and visual effects plates)".
You're right though, doesn't seem like they would name a movie "Wicker Park" if they didn't film in the actual park. That's why I asked the question. Is that really Wicker Park where they meet?
So sounds like they did minimal shooting in Chicago to keep it legit, and the rest in (cheaper) Montreal. It's a pain though to shoot in a foreign country where you have to worry about covering French signs and different license plates. (Montreal is very bi-lingual).
There's a handful of scenes in the movie where Hartnett is clearly in Chicago. I'm going to guess they picked Montreal because of the snow and older looking streets that could be confused for Chicago if people aren't paying attention. The park they went to in the movie doesn't look like the actual Wicker Park in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago to my eyes, but maybe they moved some stuff around and shot it at a particular angle.
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