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Reel Toronto: Extreme Measures
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.
Before he got caught with a hooker (and inadvertently and unfortunately reinvigorated Jay Leno’s flagging career) Hugh Grant was just about the handsomest, Britishest star around. Toronto was abuzz when he and gal-pal Elizabeth Hurley were in town to shoot Extreme Measures.
It aims to be something of a smart, probing thriller and falls short, without being utterly terrible. But what makes it a bit funny is that they seem to have shot so much of it in New York, where it’s set, that it’s hard to imagine it could have been worth hauling everyone up here. Anything to save a few bucks, eh?
So, Hugh is this handsome British doctor and, being a doctor and all, he works in a hospital. You’d have to be pretty savvy to recognize each location but the hospital-room scenes were primarily shot at Princess Margaret and Sick Kids.
The hallways, however, are in Old City Hall. You can see it here pretty recognizably…
…and you can also see the inner courtyard a bit here.
About as generic as the hospital rooms is the morgue, which was, well, shot in our morgue, on Grosvenor Street.
Hugh’s antagonist is the ever-reliable Gene Hackman, whose character may or may not be conducting medical experiments on homeless people. Hugh has the nerve to confront him at this party, taking place in Casa Loma‘s Conservatory.
And, hey, is that David Cronenberg? Why, it is! This is one of his rare acting turns as head of a medical board…
…which meets at U of T’s Victoria College.
So, there are a few choice Toronto locations, but the filmmakers actually shot at places like Grand Central Station instead of trying to pass off something like Union Station. Points for effort?