History Main / CaliforniaDoubling

* Wilmington stands in for Detroit in ''Film/TheCrow''.

* ''Film/ShortCircuit 2'' was set in New York City, but obviously shot completely in Toronto and environs (including scenes at the Eaton Centre and World's Biggest Bookstore, two famous Toronto landmarks). You can even see the CN Tower in some shots if you look closely.

This will end up happening in any film production hub. The reasons why vary greatly depending on what the production is looking for, the tax incentives and maybe some CreatorProvincialism. State and national governments know this, and the combination [[TheRedStapler of advertising]] and economic boon for production (employ local crews, recruit local actors for extra parts and supporting roles, hire local caterers, increased traffic to local sites, etc) make them frequently offer generous tax credits to lure film and television productions to their locales, to the point where even California itself has started [[http://deadline.com/2017/05/california-film-production-report-2016-tax-incentives-la-la-land-1202100575/ offering its own tax incentives]] to keep Hollywood filming near, well, Hollywood. Some sites were once hugely popular areas but became more restricted because ''everyone'' wanted to film there, and may take an especially powerful [[AuteurLicense artist]], [[CashCowFranchise popular franchise]] or BigNameFan to get permission. A breakdown of different locations and the reasons why can be seen in the [[Analysis/CaliforniaDoubling California Doubling Analysis Tab]].

** Helsinki, Finland has a reputation as standing in for Moscow in many American films, such as [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082979/ Reds]] and ''Literature/GorkyPark''.

** Not to mention the bizarre detour through [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park Yosemite National Park]]. Seriously, the scene takes place right under Half Dome.

** ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen''[='=]s climactic battle in Egypt, like the opening scenes of the first movie, was filmed at White Sands. The opening scene set in an industrial area of Shanghai was filmed at the former Bethlehem Steel plant in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The forest battle, which according to [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Pine_Barrens TFWiki]] was fought in the Pine Barrens in New Jersey ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Barrens_(New_Jersey) a rather flat area]]), was filmed in Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico.

* The outdoors scenes of Los Angeles in the original ''Film/{{Total Recall|1990}}'' were actually Mexico City; ostensibly because the design, cleanliness and architecture of Mexico City's subway stations have a futuristic look to them. Many other exterior shots were filmed in public roadways and plazas. The rest of the movie was filmed in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estudios_Churubusco Estudios Churubusco]] soundstages.

** Seeing typical [[MisplacedVegetation Mediterranean vegetation]] on typical [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karst karst]] rocks in what is supposed to be wild west or Mexico is quite amusing (''"Wait a minute! This could actually be that hill where we use to go to weekend trips."'').

** Elements of Gotham City from both films (and presumably the third) were also built in the massive disused airship hangars at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Cardington#Film_and_Television RAF Cardington, Bedfordshire, England,]] in a weird case of this trope.

* Most of the exterior shots of the first ''Film/{{Mortal Kombat|TheMovie}}'' movie were filmed in Thailand, and [[TheMountainsOfIllinois it really shows]], particularly when it's doubling for China. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Buddhist_temples_in_Thailand Thai Buddhist temples]] look ''waaaay'' different from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Buddhist_architecture_in_China#Buddhist_temples Chinese ones]].

* ''Film/TheSeaOfTrees'' is set in Japan within the infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara suicide forest]] at the base of Mt. Fuji, but was filmed in the Purgatory Chasm State Reservation and other locations in Massachusetts.

* The cover art for ''[[http://dozerfleet.wikia.com/wiki/Ciem:_Vigilante_Centipede Ciem: Vigilante Centipede]]'' and its tie-in playlist uses downtown Grand Ledge, MI as a double for downtown Evansville, IN. There are parts of Evansville that do match with parts of the greater Lansing area, but it can still be difficult to make one a convincing double of the other. The author/photographer chooses Grand Ledge/Lansing as a double anyway, largely [[NoBudget to save on gas]].

* Most of the backgrounds for Yamaku High School in ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', a Western-developed DatingSim set in Japan, are actually pictures of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_University Brown University campus]] (located in Rhode Island). Additionally, in an instance of ''actual'' California Doubling, the kitchen from the Ibarazaki house appears to be of a not especially uncommon design in the San Francisco bay area.

* "[[http://imgur.com/gallery/LwquN6i Mom was worried about my trip to Detroit, I sent her this picture]]." That picture was actually taken in UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}; Windermere is a neighborhood in the east side and very much the WrongSideOfTheTracks as the pic implies.

* The UK/Canada co-production [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1105836/ Burn Up]]. Filmed on-location in Calgary and London - and actually set in both cities. "[[http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/reallife/greenguide/story.html?id=d213ebcd-6192-49a3-a6c6-1b25dc82e36b While filming in the city is hardly unique, it's rare for a high-profile project to feature Calgary as Calgary]]."

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' is set and filmed within Georgia and scenes set in UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}} were filmed in the city proper; however, there are cases of TelevisionGeography for locations in other parts of the state. The [[http://www.cobbenergycentre.com/ Cobb Energy Centre]] doubles as the CDC headquarters (which is in [=DeKalb=] County), and the town of Senoia doubles for the town of Woodbury[[note]]However, the real Woodbury is located about 25 miles (40 km) south of Senoia[[/note]]. It has since begun meeting the trope, as it continues to be filmed in Georgia despite now being set in Virginia.

** ''Film/TheShining'', set in Colorado.

** ''Series/MsMarvel2022'', set in New Jersey, was mostly filmed in Georgia, aside from secondary plates actually in Jersey. Plus, Thailand doubles for Pakistan in flashback scenes.

* '''Film/FlodderInAmerika'': According to the making-of featurette, most outdoor scenes were shot on location in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, but the in-door scenes in Mr. Rosenbaum's club were shot in a studio in the Netherlands. Creator/JonPolito was flown in for his part.

* The short-lived action show ''Series/FXTheSeries'' doubled for New York.

* ''Series/{{Tracker}}'' was filmed in Toronto while being set in Chicago.

* You'd think a movie named ''Film/{{Chicago}}'' would be shot in the eponymous city, wouldn't you? Nope, it's mostly Ontario. Naturally, this annoyed many UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} viewers. When asked what he thought of the movie ''Chicago,'' Mayor Daley replied, "I would have liked it better [[TakeThat if it had been filmed in Chicago]]!" To a Toronto viewer who didn't see it as a big deal, Chicago film critic Creator/RogerEbert retorted, "If a musical named '[[CanadaEh O Canada]]' were currently being filmed in Chicago, how would that make you feel?"

* ''Film/{{X|2022}}'' and ''Film/{{Pearl}}'', set in a backwoods Texas city and farmhold, was filmed in Fordell and Whanganui.

* ''Film/DarkCity''. The only real giveaway that the filming took place primarily in a studio near UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}} is the somewhat out of place Australian accent of a young police officer who talks to Detective Bumstead in one scene. Also, the director happens to be from Australia.

* The BBC drama ''Series/{{Traces}}'' is set in Dundee. Apart from a few scenes featuring well-known Dundonian landmarks such as the statue of [[Comicbook/TheDandy Desperate Dan]] from outside the Creator/DCThomson offices, it was filmed in Bolton, Lancashire.

* Zig-zagged with ''Film/PeterRabbit'': the scenes in UsefulNotes/{{London}} were shot in both London itself and Sydney (e.g. the scene's at Harrod's in London were actually shot there, while the scenes in Paddington Station were actually filmed at Sydney Central Station).

* The Philippines doubled for Thailand in ''Brokedown Palace''.

* The Philippines doubled for Vietnam in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' and a biker film called ''The Losers''. The Philippines are also a particular favorite country for a lot of low-budget Hong Kong movies to double for the US and other countries due to the different kinds of urban cities, beaches and deep jungles.

-->When we heard that the story took place in Spain, we all thought, "Oh, lovely, we're all going to go to Spain and do some filming". Did we hell. But it was a lot of fun.

* ''Film/TheBlackDemon'' takes place in an oil rig off the shore of Mexican. Except the Dominican Republic doubled for Mexico. Even the scenes shot in a water tank were filmed in a Dominican studio.
* Both the [[Film/TheBlueLagoon1949 1949]] and [[Film/TheBlueLagoon1980 1980]] movie versions of ''Literature/TheBlueLagoon'' were partially shot in UsefulNotes/{{Fiji}}, where it doubled as the remote island depicted in the book.