Iconic cities including Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro were considered as filming locations for the film Transformers Age of Extinction before the production team chose China.
The city of Cape Town, South Africa, attracts a lot of top-class Hollywood moviemakers and other international directors as a chosen location for filming. Filmmakers have been producing top class movies in Cape Town for a number of years. Simply put, Cape Town is super marvelous. Judging by its beautiful weather conditions, pristine beaches, numerous world class tourist attractions and being cost-effective to shoot a movie in Cape Town answers the “how it does it” question.
Cape Town’s beauty needs no introduction and it makes a lot of sense why it is more convenient to choose it when making a Hollywood movie outside of Hollywood. Not only is it beautiful with friendly people but also it is also convenient for filmmakers to film a world-class movie in a world-class city.
The movies that were filmed in Cape Town are star studded. Looking at some of the movies in 2014 only that were filmed in the beautiful Cape Towns is firstly a yet to be released movie called “Tiger House”. It was filmed in Wynberg in Cape Town according to the Website www.travelground.com. The movie starrs Kaya Scodelario, Dougray Scott and Ed Skrein. And will be released in 2015 while the filming of it started in 2014.
Another movie, full of legends and featuring stars is “The Giver”. It was filmed in Cape Town and its film production started in 2013. It is a sci-fiction movie with your favorite actors and actresses, including some well-known singers. The movie was released in August 2014 and was well received at the box office. Starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep and Katie Holmes with an appearance from the multi-talented Taylor Swift, Cape Town has indeed become a second home to Hollywood.
“The Perfect Wave” was shot in Cape Town from 2013 to 2014 and released last year 2014 in various cinemas around the world. It stars Cheryl Ladd, Patrick Lyster, and Rachel Hendrix just to name a few. The film made use of the beautiful beaches that Cape Town had to offer and Cape Town delivered – as it is known to deliver.
In order to understand the trend of filming international movies in Cape Town, what particular place attracts tourists in Cape Town? Here are a few to start off with.
Crew members alongside vehicles with Maryland numberplates for a funeral scene in the upcoming series ‘Homeland’ that was shot in Cape Town recently.
Filming a Documentary about Sinenjongo High School in Joe Slovo Park, Cape Town.
I would definitely think that one of, if not the most attractive places to visit in Cape Town, is the Cape Point. According to the website, www.CapeTown.Travel, Cape Point is the most south-Westerly tip of Africa that is covered in endemic fynbos and it’s a home to the most beautiful bays, beaches, green hills and valleys. It is situated 60 KM outside of the city of Cape Town.
It appears that Cape Point is not just a pretty place .The website suggests the following activities to keep you entertained; hiking, experience the ride in a famous ship called The Flying Dutchman, walk the shipwreck trail, great swimming and picnic spots to name just a few.
The most obvious tourist attraction to talk about in Cape Town is the Table Mountain, being named amongst the new 7 world wonders. It is a true wonder indeed, and forms part of the Table Mountain National Park with a level plateau of about 3 kilometers from side to side, edged by cliffs.
It offers loads of activities for everyone to enjoy. The website recommends activities such as firstly taking a cable car to the top of the mountain. While you at the top, you can enjoy a spectacular view, retail therapy, hiking and a joint guided walk.
We cannot afford to not mention the mouth-dropping Two Ocean Aquarium. It has more than 3000 marine creatures on view, which include the Great White shark, turtles and penguins. The website, claims the Two Ocean Aquarium is one of the finest aquariums in the world.
Derived from where two oceans (The Indian and Atlantic) meet in the bottom tip of Africa is what the aquarium is named after. It has 7 large exhibition galleries with gigantic viewing windows.
There are countless other activities to do while you enjoying the sights and sounds of the Mother City of Cape Town such as shark cage diving, the world famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens which offers 528 hectares of plant life – indeed a walk in heaven for any aspirant horticulturist and certainly one of the most rejuvenating experiences one can experience in terms of being exposed close to nature.The website says to film foreign filmmakers are taking advantage of South Africa’s diverse, unique locations and low production costs and favorable exchange rate. It continues to say to film its 40% cheaper to make movie in South Africa than in Europe or the US. This is indeed a big advantage for the international filmmakers.
The only thing advice we have for you all filmmakers is, be careful to not be blown away by the beautiful city of Cape Town. The Mother City welcomes you and enjoy.
This article was written by VANGILE MKHUSELI
