The UK city which looks just like New York – and is always used for filming blockbusters
A CITY in the UK has frequently been used in American films because of its resemblance to locations in the United States.
Hollywood is known for its cinematic trickery, but not many people know that when they’re watching a film set in the US, they’re very often actually looking at the UK.
One place that regularly doubles up as an American city on the silver screen is Liverpool, which has featured in some huge blockbusters.
When it comes to American films, few are more American than Captain America, but a scene where actor Chris Evans chases down a hydra in the Marvel movie was actually filmed at Stanley Docks.
More than 500 cast and crew members made the trip to Liverpool to transform the docks into New York City in the 1940s.
Captain America isn’t the only superhero to have saved the day on Merseyside either, with Robert Pattinson’s Batman paying a visit as well.
The Liver Building and St George’s Hall feature in 2022’s The Batman, with Liverpool this time doubling up for the fictitious metropolis of Gotham City.
Hugh Grant and Meryl Streep have also both pretended to be in America when they were in fact in Liverpool.
The pair acted together in the film Florence Foster Jenkins and the northern city was used to represent New York throughout.
In fact, according to Liverpool Museums, almost all of the scenes supposedly outside in New York were filmed right in the heart of the city.
Water Street was one of the main filming locations, which has been used to depict the Big Apple on several occasions.
It did so very recently in Channel 4 show It’s A Sin, with Callum Scott Howells’ character Colin wandering down the famous Liverpool street when he was meant to be in NYC.
Jude Law’s remake of the Michael Caine classic Alfie saw Liverpool once again masquerading as the Big Apple, as it did in Daliland – Ben Kingsley’s biopic of artist Salvador Dali.
It did the same in 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, with St George’s Hall once again used extensively, alongside the Cunard Building.
The Queensway Tunnel doubled as New York’s Wall Street underpass in an adaptation of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan from 2012.
It’s not just New York – Liverpool has also been used to replicate Chicago, including in 2001 British drama Al’s Lads, featuring Ralf Little, Rocky Tomlinson and Marc Warren.
Meanwhile, William Brown Street doubled for a snow-filled Moscow in the 1989 film The Hunt for Red October, starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin.
Nicholas Bennett from Los Angeles film company Technicolor VFX told The Guide Liverpool: “We converted Liverpool into the busy streets of New York by adding subtle details to every frame.
“We added iconic New York buildings into the backdrop for the wide shots as well as classic 1980s’ advertising billboards, the American flag and signature New York steam rising up from the subway.”
Kevin Bell, Operations and Liaison Manager for Liverpool Film Office added: “The plethora of grand buildings on Water Street, the beautiful Georgian Quarter and of course the iconic docks…they’re more historically accurate than the modern skyscrapers we can see in New York today.”
Meanwhile, this UK town is attracting US tourists because of a popular TV show.
And a magical beach in the UK where Harry Potter was filmed has been called a “surfer’s paradise” by fans of the franchise.