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Reel Toronto: Breach
Toronto’s extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn’t always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.
A few years back in the USA there was this dude named Robert Hanssen and though he was a devout Catholic and a longtime FBI employee, he also happened to be a spy giving secrets to the Soviets over the course of decades.
When they finally nailed him it was a huge story—the worst intelligence breach in US history—not to mention a cool one, so they made a movie about it. In fact, they made two and both were filmed here. The first was a Fox TV movie called Master Spy, and the second was a great little film called Breach. Sadly, we couldn’t find screencaps of the former but the latter does such an excellent job of using Toronto and Washington DC locations you might not even notice that the vast majority was shot here. Only about ten of the fifty shooting days were outside our fair city.
Since Hanssen was a member of Opus Dei you can’t tell his story without a good church or two. Breach starts off with Hanssen, played by Chris Cooper, praying in what could be any old church. But it ain’t. Nope, it’s the Church of the Redeemer which is that distinctive one located kitty corner from the ROM, with an office tower built around it.
This becomes a bit more obvious when he steps outside, onto Bloor Street, and you can’t help but miss Yorkville’s Irish Shop. Master Spy, on the other hand, went further west, using Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church.
Ryan Philippe plays the FBI agent assigned to catch Hanssen by getting close to him. At one point he agrees to go with him to a church service which was filmed at St. Paul’s Basilica on Power Street. You can recognize it by the distinctive paintings in the cupola.
Hanssen makes his drops, and eventually gets arrested in Virginia’s Foxstone Park which is played here by Sunnybrook Park and the Colonel Danforth Trail.
We know they shot on Prince Arthur near Bedford and while we stand to be corrected, we’re pretty sure it was Philippe’s apartment, seen here.
Some office scenes were shot at 70 University Avenue and they also filmed something at the 7-11 at 980 Islington but we’ll be gosh darned if we can figure out what. Master Spy shot scenes at the Esplanade Fionn McCool’s outlet, Forest Hill Village and Union Station, among other locations.