Filmed in Defiance?
I was wondering if anyone knows if this movie was filmed in Defiance, Ohio?
shareNope, it was filmed in Ontario...
President of the IST*cough* Smarty Love *cough*share
MovieChat Forums > The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2007) Discussion > Filmed in Defiance?
They (the studio and producers) looked at filming it in Defiance, but they found that the lack of experienced crews and equipment meant that they would have to bring everyone there, put them up in hotels (which their weren't enough of) and pay them all per-diem for working away from home. So they tried South Carolina, but found that the good crews were all busy working on another show, and so they came up to Toronto and shot it in studios and around town there and several small towns around Southern Ontario including: Richmond Hill (their second house), Oshawa (their first house), Brampton (when she visits the other Jingle Writers), Paris (Defiance), Caledonia & Conestogo (Rural Roads), Stouffville (the Eckardt's Corners gas station), and Grand Valley (the Grocery Store).
shareI am from Defiance and have family living there....no they did not. Defiance does not have alot to offer in the department of Cinematography as well. The site of Fort Defiance is lovely and the Defiance College Campus is nice as well,but that's it. There is only 2 hotles in the area now. Historic Holgate Ave. has some lovely homes. The banks of the Maumee River in the Spring and Fall are beautiful when the leaves are turning. In the summer it is hot and sticky, down right oppressive, it is in part of where the old Black Swamp use to be. Overall, it's your typical blue collar town. I will be curious to see what the film looks like. I don't think the viewers will get a glimps of the real "D-E-F-I-A-N-C-E, Defiance, Defiance,Defiance!"
shareI'm from Bryan, Ohio, so I know they didn't film it in Defiance, Ohio because I am sure I would have heard about it since Difiance is only 15-20 minutes away, and I always go there. So obviously it wasn't filmed there. That would have been cool though.
I'm not sure how closely Ontario resembles Defiance, but I thought the film captured the era quite nicely. It was a pretty enjoyable movie too...
shareI live in Defiance Ohio currently. They don't only have two hotels, there are at least 5-6.. But there isn't really anything else in this town, as someone previously said The Fort Grounds are very interesting, but that's about it.
shareConsidering it was filmed in Ontario I thought it did a decent job of capturing the feel of the town, although you don't get to see much of it and a lot of it was set pre-1960 before I was born. There is one interesting shot of a bridge that is a decent stand-in for the Clinton St. bridge that goes into downtown...the road even goes off at a slight angle with buildings clustered around the street similar to what might have been there in Defiance in the 1950s. And I appreciated that when they drove outside of town in one scene everything was totally flat agricultural fields--the temptation in a movie is always to throw in some hills if not mountains in the background, but they accurately portrayed the countryside as flat.
shareYou mentioned the angle of Clinton Street -- I noticed that too, but the angle goes the wrong way. (This summer I tried to take a picture from the Northside hill that pointed straight downtown. I gave up. Maybe when the leaves fall off....)
shareI was just there this weekend and my how the town has changed! Up past the mall there are like 3 or 4 hotels now. The old Holiday Inn is going to be a Walgreens. How many banks does Defiance really need? Not to trash the town, there was another movie that took place in Defiance- It stared Jamie Lee Curtis and...Crap, I am blanking on the guy...anyway, they looked at Defiance and said no to filming because it's just a plain town. There is a lot of history there, but the town lacks character and it is sad. If my family didn't live there, I wouldn't go back. Now Bryan...that is a quaint little town and the courthouse is beautiful.
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I'm sorry to hear that the movie was not filmed in Defiance. I read the book a few years ago because I have ancestors that were in Defiance back in the 1840's. I've never been there and I was interested to learn more about the town so I picked up the book. I REALLY loved the book. I would love to see pictures pictures of the Clinton St. Bridge. My great great grandfather had a dry goods shop just south of the bridge.
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I agree that it is a shame the movie wasn't filmed in Defiance. I'm originally from Van Wert Co. and still have realtives there. I always get excited when I hear about anything from that part of the country....Ohio, especially the NW corner.
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I am also from Defiance and wish it would have been filmed there. I agree that the town isn't all that 'ritzy', but neither was the Ryan family. I think it would have fit the movie perfectly, considering not much has changed in the downtown area.
share"Defiance" in the movie is actually Paris, Ontario. It is by no means "ritzy"...i live in Paris, and I've lived in Ohio...not a whole lot of difference between the two.
shareI think I'm the only person on here from Defiance who is not going to stick up for the towns character. There were some great things in town, and I do have some good memories. But lets be honest, even as a child I knew I was in a backwards city. I moved away in '89 and my father said then that it looked the same as it did when he was growing up there in the 50's. That in itself offers some charm, but it doesn't make up for the shortcomings. I remember a huge problem with alcoholism running thru town. Along with a good deal of the racist attitudes so prevelant in many small towns.
On the other hand, I remember playing tetherball like it was the olympics at Anthony Wayne. Cashmans had the best ribs around. And of course, the chief. Does anyone know if it still has the Indian head on the sign? Heck, I don't know if its still open.
Anyway, its not a bad town, and my rambling hasnt proven much. But I found myself giggling at the thought of the people giving Defiance its character. The last time I visited, I felt like I was going back in time. Not just to my own childhood, but my fathers. And possibly even further...
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