Travelling the movies

At the ksar of Ait Ben Haddou [Ait-Ben-Haddou-travel-guide-1074352] there is a list on display with movies filmed here, on it are movies like:Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Kundun (1997), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

Pictures with this list show the set of Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator (2000) but other movies on the list are not filmed at the actual ksar, but in de surrounding mountains

For the movie The Jewel of the Nile (1985) they even extended the ksar: they build a new gate which still stands on the site, not directly connected to the ksar but at the river bank

The ksar acts as the city Yunkai in its full glory in the popular series Game of Thrones

The list of movies also contains: The Living Daylights (1987), Cleopatra (1998),The Bible (2012), Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

But there are some missing compared with the list in Wikipedia:

Sodom And Gomorrah (1963)

Oedipus Rex (1967)

The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

The Message (1976)

Jesus of Nazareth (1977)

Time Bandits (1981)

Marco Polo (1982)

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

The Sheltering Sky (1990)

Alexander (2004)

One Night with the King (2006)

Son of God (film) (2014

It's going to take me some time to view or review them all to make out who's list is correct, maybe my fellow TB-ers can help me out here?

I couldn't imaging Ireland not being used as a film location but I really had to google to find what movies were shot there. One reason is maybe the fact the Irish don't brag much about it, another maybe even more important is the fact lots of scenes shot in Ireland are posing as completely different locations, and I don't mean the science fiction and fanatsy stuff.

Saving private Ryan (1998) - The D-day landing on Omaha beach in Normady was shot at Curracloe beach, Wexford

Far and away (1992) - several 'Boston' streets are actually Dublin

Hear my song (1991) - Dublin's Merrion hall (Now the Davenport hotel) features as the Liverpool club. Also from this movie: The cliff, over which which Micky O'Neill is dangled, is at Howth, north of Dublin. And filming also took place at the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare

Barry Lyndon (1875) Chevalier's home is actually Dublin castle (interior)

Brings us to the famous Cliffs of Moher, these actually feature in several movies and as I visited Ireland in 2008 I skipped visiting them and went to the Burren instead (!) We visited the cliffs near Portmagee [Portmagee-travel-guide-938466] a few days before ( also pretty spectacular ) and the Cliffs of Moher may be famous and all but we thought the parking fee was way too expensive just to go see some rocks. From the Burren you do have a view on the cliffs just a bit further away. They rise 120 meters above the ocean and together with the Burren they form the Unesco global geopark site. As I was visiting a camera crew was actually filming on the Burren, no actors present so I guess a nature documentary or just background shots.

So what other movies got closer to the cliffs than I did?

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009) Dumbledore takes Harry to a sea cave to find the horfix which is situated at the foot of the Cliffs of Moher and also the movies the Princess bride (1987), Into the west (1992), Blind pass (2012) and the Yank (2013)were filmed at Moher

A film location I did actually visit was Skellig Michael. The skellig islands are situated about 12 km off the coast of Portmagee (south west Kerry). There is Little Skellig (closed to the public) and the larger Skellig Michael with its peak of 218 meters. On Skellig Michael you can visit a sixth century monastic settlement and this is also the site used inStar Wars: Episode VII - the force awakens (2015) I feel sorry for the crew members who had to drag all the gear up those ancient stairs!

Other movies filmed in Ireland are Braveheart (1995), Barry Lyndon (1975) andthe Italian job (1969) and ofcourse there is Ireland in lots of episodes of Game of Thrones (Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, Dunluce castle, mussendun Temple, ..)

There even is a game of thrones tour you can join to visit all the Irish sites, I guess we can forget my earlier statement of Irish not bragging . ..

http://gameofthronestour.com/game-of-thrones-filming-locations-tour/ [http://gameofthronestour.com/game-of-thrones-filming-locations-tour/]

Palazzo Reale, CasertaLots of movies are set in the Vatican [vatican-travel-guide-1343770] but hardly any are actually shot there, perhaps it's because many are leaning to the demon side or have something to do with crime

The Godfather Part III (1990) They used footage of the front of Saint Peter's Cathedral but the scenes with the Vatican bank were shot in New York

End of days (1999) Here we see several scenes set inside the Vatican, where the Pope and his advisors discuss what to do about the coming of the Antichrist. These scenes were actually shot inside the lobby of the Los Angeles Theatre (at 615 S. Broadway),

Mission: Impossible III (2006) Some parts actually shot on location in Vatican City [Vatican-City-travel-guide-1308514] but a room at Caserta Palace has also been used as a filming location presenting the Vatican. Same room was used as the setting for Queen Amidala's Royal Palace on Naboo in film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones as Queen Jamilla's palace.

Angels and Demons (2009) The ‘Vatican’s’ grand staircase is actually Palazzo Reale, Caserta, Italy; For St Peter's square the makers of the Dan Brown film, digitally recreated the Vatican by posing as tourists and taking thousands of photographs of the Square after being banned from filming there by the Catholic Church.

The rite (2011) Takes place in the Vatican's Exorcism School, nice shots and areal views from the exterieur of Vatican city but interieur is ones again all fake.

James Bond: Spectre (2015) On of the car chases takes place near (!) Vatican city but that's apparantly enough to have the Vatican mentioned in reviews

And I can go on and on and on with movies like these and others vaguely connected to the Vatican. If you want real footage from the Vaticans inside you can best watch one of the many documetaries like:

The Vatican Museums (2015) or Secret Access: The Vatican(2011)

But better still, travel to Rome [Rome-travel-guide-278393] and visit the Vatican yourself!

Most big cities are popular locations for shooting a movie or setting a story, Paris, London, New York and and and. But Rome [Rome-travel-guide-278393] is kinda special (I think) since it's also the capital of the ancient Roman empire which in turn is a favorite subject for stories and movies, not to mention the actual history that took place there. Lot's of movies just use the streets of Rome as background for car chases or romantic scenes like the twenty-fourth James Bond film Spectre (2015), Mission Impossible III (2006), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) or Kiss Me Again (2010)

I guess everyone knows about Ben Hur; The first Ben Hur movie (after the 1880 novel) dates from 1907 was a silent film ; Ben Hur: A Tale Of The Christ film locations (1925)also a silent film mainly filmed in Culver City, California after trouble at locations in Italy and Egypt.
Then the all time classic and Academy Award winning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Hur_(1959_film)]Ben Hur (1959) which was mainly filmed at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios where a giant race track was built for the chariot races modelled on the Circus of Antioch (in present day Turkey). And a 2003 animated film of the same name. For the 2016 remake the chariot race was originally planned to be filmed at the Circus Maximus arena in Rome, but access was denied due to fear that the stunts would damage the historic site. Again a great part was filmed at Cinecittà Studios also again the chariot race as Circus Maximus was out of the question. I'm sure this won't be the last Ben Hur movie.

Another famous movie filmed at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)an epic Spaghetti Western (no need to explain that title I think !? Or else send me a message) And also the 1968 Romeo and Juliet film comes from these studios

Angels & Demons (2009) based on Dan Brown's novel has been filmed at multiple locations throughout Rome; the first clue is given at the Pantheon; the cardinal is dumped into the fountain: the Fountain of the Four Rivers, Piazza Navona; the church of the Illuminati = Castel Sant Angelo and Piazza del Popolo comes by but the ‘Vatican’s’ grand staircase is not even in Rome, it's Palazzo Reale, Caserta, Italy.
Pantheon - Angels and demons; the first clue

There are even two films called When in Rome filmed in Rome, a 2010 romantic comedy and a 2002 teen movie with the Olsen twins

The list is really long and getting longer, I still have to watch a lot of movies and this list is getting longer with every place I investigate on the subject, I think I'm going for the Ben Hur 2016, see if the modern times produced a better or worse movie than the 1959 version I know. I have to watch that was again also because I still haven't located the red Ferrari or the wrist watch mistakes they say are in that one ...
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The Moroccan dessert is a great place to shoot films likeBabel (2006), Sahara (2005), Hidalgo (2004)and of courseLawrense of Arabia (1962) But the area also acts as the Himalaya mountains in Kundun (1997) and it suggests to be somewhere in the US in the American Horror movies the hills have eyes 1 & 2(2006 & 2007

On our way from Ouarzazate to Taroudant we passed the film set of the hills have eyes
We had already passed it but made the driver turn around to take a closer look.
Two man were guarding the set and for a few coins we could look around all we want.
Not everything is from the one movie, some egyptian stuff got mixed in there as well (from the Mummy (1999)maybe?)
We just couldn't help ourselves and just had to fool around getting in, on and touching stuff, but apparently thats ok. The set is maybe even scarier than the movie. Back home I watched the movie again to see if I can make out the stuff on the set and I must say it's not really a great movie even for a horror story. Our guide found a big gun in the store so we all went in there to see what else was there, I wouldn't buy anything there though! The pole with the bottles and the gas station are exactly as they were in the movie, there may be a car wreck more or less but it's all very recognizable

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