21 movies and TV shows you didn't know filmed in and around Calgary
British Columbia prides itself as “Hollywood North” for their film and television industry, but sitting just on the other side of the Rockies is a city that can give BC a run for its money.
Most of the Alberta-shot productions range from mega blockbusters to award-winning films and TV series, and we’ve decided to saddle up a list of projects filmed in the area.
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Unlike Vancouver, Calgary has actually played itself in a Hollywood film – just watch Cool Runnings to see the city in all its Olympic glory!
Here’s our list of all the top movies and TV shows that you may have never realized were filmed in YYC.
1. Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain/IMDb
The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger as cowboys who begin a forbidden romance in the fictional town of Signal, Wyoming. Filming actually commenced in Calgary and the Metro Calgary Region. The film features the famed Ranchman’s Cookhouse and Dancehall.
2. Inception
The dream bending heist movie by Christopher Nolan stars an ensemble cast, led by Leonardo DiCaprio. Alberta’s Fortress Mountain is the location of the third-level of the film’s “dream within a dream” state.
3. Legends of the Fall
While the film is set in Montana, they filmed in recognizable Albertan locations like Bow River. (TriStar Pictures / Sony Entertainment)
Brad Pitt’s role as Tristan Ludlow was prime heartthrob material for movie buffs. The film shot in Morley and Banff to emulate the Montana wilderness.
4. Superman (plus Superman II and Superman III)
The iconic St. Louis Hotel, featured in the 1983 film, Superman III. (Warner Bros. Pictures)
The renovated St. Louis Hotel in East Village. (Calgary Municipal Land Corporation via Wikimedia)
You may recognize the old facade of East Village in Calgary for the first film and other parts of Metro Calgary in the sequels starring Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. Here’s the famed St. Louis Hotel from the film and in its current glory today.
5. Interstellar
The dust bowl scene from Interstellar features Tourmaline Field. (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Seaman Stadium in Okotoks. (Google Maps – Street View)
This sci-fi movie, starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, is the second time director Christopher Nolan has shot in Alberta. Locations filmed include Okotoks, Fort Macleod, Longview, and Canmore.
The baseball field with the sandstorm features Tourmaline Field at the Seaman Stadium in Okotoks.
7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Brad Pitt stars as Jesse James, with the mountainous backdrop in Kananaskis. (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Brad Pitt’s criminally underrated film was shot in Alberta, with scenes taking place in areas like Kananaskis Country. In the movie, Pitt plays one of America’s most notorious outlaws, Jesse James.
8. Game of Thrones
Quigley, an Arctic white wolf, plays Ghost in HBO’s Game of Thrones. (Instinct Animals for Film)
The worldwide phenomenon shoots in Calgary on a much lesser scale than at its other international shooting locations. An Albertan wolf named Quigley plays Jon Snow’s direwolf Ghost, and some of his scenes are filmed in Calgary on local sound stages. Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark, filmed some parts of season seven in Banff with wolves. Williams clearly had a blast in Alberta, according to her Instagram.
9. Unforgiven
Clint Eastwood as William “Will” Munny in the Alberta-shot film, Unforgiven. (Warner Bros. Pictures)
We all know the significance of Clint Eastwood in Western films, and this 1992 movie is no exception. Set the late 1800s in a Wyoming town called Big Whiskey, the movie depicts a wild west setting – when really production built the Western town sets near Longview, Alberta.
10. Mystery, Alaska
Mystery, Alaska shows some target practices and the Rockies in the background. (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
It doesn’t get any more Canadian than hockey! Russell Crowe leads a pond hockey team from the small town of (you guessed it) Mystery, Alaska. The actual locations filmed for the movie include Banff National Park and Canmore.
12. Seventh Son
The Badlands in the Seventh Son‘s opening scene. (Legendary Pictures / Universal)
Horseshoe Canyon. (Nature Conservancy of Canada / Google Maps – Street View)
While it performed below expectations, the fantasy movie reunites Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore after their last film, The Big Lebowski. Though mainly filmed in British Columbia, the opening sequence features Horseshoe Canyon in Drumheller.
12. Shanghai Noon
Owen Wilson stars as Roy O’Bannon in Shanghai Noon, shot in Drumheller. (Touchstone Pictures / Walt Disney Studios)
Wow!
Owen Wilson stars with Jackie Chan as an unlikely duo for this Western comedy. The movie was predominantly shot in Drumheller and at CL Westerntown, a famed ranch and studio used for old-timey towns.
13. The Young and Prodigious T. S. Spivet
Fort Macleod, as featured in The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet. (Gaumont Film Company / Entertainment One)
24 St in Fort Macleod, Alberta. (Google Maps – Street View)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, best known for the quirky French film Amélie, directed this Canadian, French, and Australian production starring Helena Bonham Carter. Set in Montana, they partially filmed the movie in locations like Pincher Creek, Lethbridge, Fort Macleod, Longview, and Calgary.
14. War for the Planet of the Apes
The film had a week-long shoot in Kananaskis, like this scene at Fortress Mountain. (20th Century FOX)
Another predominantly shot-in-BC film that needed Alberta’s beautiful mountainous views. The production filmed for about a week in the Rockies and used backdrops from Fortress Mountain.
15. The Bourne Legacy
A Bourne film without Matt Damon was somehow put together, and it features a few scenes in Alberta. Jeremy Renner plays another black-ops agent name Aaron Cross and shooting locations included Fortress Mountain and Elbow River by Elbow Falls. The film’s official featurette shows off Alberta’s notoriously cold winters.
16. Klondike
Richard Madden plays Bill Haskell as he searches for gold in Klondike, shot in Kananaskis Country. (Discovery Channel)
The Discovery miniseries stars the former King in the North, Richard Madden. Set during the Klondike Gold Rush, Alberta appears as a stand-in for Yukon’s Dawson City. Filming commenced at CL ranch, Kananaskis’ Spray Lakes, and Fortress Mountain.
17. Tin Star
The Little Big Bear police station in Tin Star. (Sky Atlantic)
The Museum of the Highwood, located in High River. (Google Maps – Street View)
Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction) and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) star in this television series, which is set in the fictional small town of Little Big Bear, Alberta. Standing in for the location are the towns of High River, Waterton, and Cochrane.
The show airs on Sky Atlantic in the UK and Amazon Prime but ironically, is not available in Canada.
18. Fargo
Martin Freeman as Lester Nygaard in Fargo. (FX)
Inglewood Pizza in the Inglewood neighbourhood. (Google Maps – Street View)
We’re not talking about the film by the Coen brothers but instead the television anthology series. The dark comedy has filmed all three seasons in and around Calgary, which stands in for locations set in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The pilot episode features Inglewood Pizza as a stand-in for Norm’s Pizza.
19. The Revenant
In one of the scenes shot in Kananaskis Country, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass. (20th Century FOX)
The film where Leo FINALLY gets his Oscar. The locations scouted in Alberta range from Kananaskis Country to the Badlands in this critically acclaimed film.
20. Hell on Wheels
Set after the Civil War, the AMC series lasted for five full seasons. The Western backdrops of the show was filmed in Southern Alberta’s Okotoks and also features the familiar sights of Bow River, Albertina Farms, and CL Ranch. This featurette video shows the filming of their production in Tsuu T’ina Nation.
21. Ghostbusters (2020)
The newest addition to the Ghostbusters movie franchise is expected to land in theatres this summer, and Calgarians will be able to spot some familiar sights, as the film was largely shot within YYC.
A trailer features actors Finn Wolfhard and Paul Rudd, both of whom had been spotted throughout Calgary during the filming of the movie; Rudd was seen at Hudsons Pub, while Wolfhard was seen at Urban Fare.