I remember when it was filmed. We often had to drive from Studio City (where my grandparents lived) to Hollywood - past the Universal back lot. I remember the big Spartacus sign on the hillside and the Roman temple at the top of the hill. When I watched tonight I noticed that that temple is present in many scenes in the movie.
@shuttersparks My grandparents were a hop-skip-and-jump from Republic studios, home of many a B movie. Their house was designed by a Disney artist. My high school (Van Nuys) was the site for a couple of movies, such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High. We used to have picnics at the Spahn Ranch in its pre-Manson days.
Movies and TV stuff was everywhere in The Valley and everything in LA west of Hollywood. (We used to amuse ourselves by going to the Joe Pine show and yelling "go take a hop" at Pine.)
In LA it was easy to notice that movies were artificial - sets were obviously sets. It was a lot different up at the Lucas Ranch - it was impressive how much detail they put into their Craftsman/Victorian village - even to fireplaces in the offices.
One one play I worked on we had a letter prop - it was so detailed that had a proper stamp canceled in the country where they play was set. The audience could not see that detail.
@karlauerbach Haha, yup, same background here. I grew up thinking it was normal to recognize the streets and settings in most TV shows and movies.
I know what you're talking about very well, plus my family was a Hollywood family. Finding a movie star in the living room chatting with my father was not unusual and I thought nothing of it -- Susan Hayward, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, etc. I thought nothing of it. I went to school with their kids and child stars like Bill Mumy. Growing up in Hollywood is inconceivable to people in the rest of the country.
My high school was the scene for a movie, too. I don't remember the name of it. Something about a mad bomber. My house was the set for Charles Durning's film "Stand Alone". My kids got a big kick out of it. It was the first time they saw how movies are made. An episode of I Dream of Jeannie was also shot there. Our house I grew up in overlooked the 20th Century lot, dominated by the set for My Fair Lady. My friends and I used to dumpster dive behind Desilu and retrieve discarded film from the cutting room floor from the original Trek series. Haha. We had boxes full of it and I wonder what it would be worth today.
It's fun to grow up like that but it's weird as an adult to realize that everyone else has a completely different idea of movies and what they see on TV. It's impossible to relate.
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