
(c) 2011 Dark Fields Production, LLC
Director Neil Burger talks with Robert DeNiro and Bradley Cooper in the 2011 production of "The Dark Fields," shot in Philadelphia.

Pittsburgh's Forbes Field played host for the original production of "Angels in the Outfield."

The Rocky Statue at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is a city icon, as are the bronzed footprints at the top of the steps.
The Rocky Franchise also left Philadelphia with one of its most visited attractions, the “Rocky Statue.” Director/writer/actor Sylvester Stallone commissioned the statue as part of Rocky III, which was released in 1982. During filming, the statue stood atop the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art overlooking the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. After filming, Stallone donated the statue to the city and requested that it remain in its location atop the Art Museum Steps. Many did not feel the location was appropriate and the statue was eventually moved to the Wachovia Spectrum. In 2006, the statue found a permanent home at the foot of Eakins Oval next to the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Not only did the statue make an appearance in Rocky III and Rocky V, but it can be seen in films such as Trading Places with Eddie Murphy, Mannequin with Andrew McCarthy and Philadelphia with Tom Hanks. When fans blast Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” from their iPods as they dash up the Art Museum steps reenacting the famous scene, they can literally step in Rocky’s shoes. Atop the steps, bronze foot prints commemorate the spot where Rocky fist-pumps after his training. To fuel your passion for Pennsylvania sports in the offseason, check out: That Championship Season, Stealing Home, Invincible, Rocky Balboa, The Greek American, and Slap Shot.

The science fiction movie "12 Monkeys" with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt was filmed partly in Philadelphia.
Michael Cimino’s 1978 Academy Award-winning drama The Deer Hunter is hailed as one of the best depictions of the terrible effects of war on the psyche of the American solider. The film chronicles the struggles of Pennsylvania steel workers before, during, and after the Vietnam War. The men work in the blue-collar town of Clairton, about ten miles south of Pittsburgh; however in the film, Clairton is actually a mixture of eight different. Three locations are in Pennsylvania: the real Clairton, McKeesport, and Pittsburgh. Nestled between the Ohio River and Pennsylvania, Weirton and Follansbee, West Virginia, were used as well. The other three locations lie to the west in Ohio. Cimino chose to use Steubenville, Mingo Junction, and Struthers to capture the home lives of his characters. At the end of the film, Christopher Walken’s character is buried in the Pennsylvania Versailles Cemetery in McKeesport. The beauty of this film is how it portrays the culture of steel towns and the daily hardships the residents face. The men are seen living simple lives as best they can. Besides viewing the workers daily grind of going to work and stopping by the local bar after their shift, the audience sees how their community celebrates the special milestone of marriage in a place where there are few opportunities to rejoice.

The Monroeville Mall's Zombie Experience commemorates George Romero shooting "Dawn of the Dead" there.
In 1990, Romero also filmed the horror flick The Dark Half in Pennsylvania, even though it was set in Maine. “I don’t put it in the contract that I have to shoot here. But a lot of people in the business have discovered it’s a great place to shoot,” explains Romero. Fans admired Romero and said, “He was approachable. He talked to the fans. He seemed to have a genuine hometown feel for the community. And he preferred to stretch out in the sun on a leaf-filled lawn during breaks rather than escape to a van or a secluded restaurant for lunch.” When the production crew packed their trucks and pulled out, there was a definite letdown. As residents explained it, George had brought a, “once-in-a-lifetime thing to our doorstep. We would always be grateful to the man.” Other horror flicks filmed in PA include: Creepshow, The Mothman Prophecies, Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh, and Monkey Shines.
Lancaster County and the Amish hit the silver screen in 1985’s Witness, starring Harrison Ford. Ford plays a detective who is charged with protecting a young Amish boy who witnesses a murder in Philadelphia while traveling with his mother. With the killers searching for the boy, Ford retreats into the Amish country side with the family. The murder scene was shot in 30th Street Railway station. Location director Mike Meehan said they were after a “working-class, urban look,” a nighttime world of violence and decay to contrast with the beautiful country scenes in Lancaster. “Philadelphia was mentioned in the script, so we decided to come and see if the movie could actually be shot here. The city looked great in Trading Places, but we didn’t know if we’d be able to get the kind of access we’d need.”

This picturesque general store in Lancaster County was the scene of some of the filming of the movie "Witness."
As with many films, Witness provided work for locals. “The company I worked for was going out of business, so I went to the Teamsters union hall and they told me there was an opening for a movie and they signed me up. I was there for three months. It paid really well,” said one Lancaster County native. Bob Lawrence, 58, who was a city policeman in 1983, worked security at the Strasburg-area farm where much of the movie was filmed. Paramount Pictures hired city police to do almost all of the security for the film on an overtime basis. Lawrence says Ford was the nicest guy in the world and liked hanging out with cops or hanging out in the woodshop on the farm. “He was just a regular guy,” Lawrence remembers.
Conceivably the biggest supporter of using Pennsylvania as a backdrop is M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan grew up in Penn Valley and returned to the area to film his suspense-filled, plot twisting blockbusters. Shyamalan first received praise for his genius after filming The Sixth Sense starring Bruce Willis in Philadelphia in 1999. He chose the city for his next film Unbreakable and then chose to head to the farmlands of Bucks County to shoot his next three feature films: Signs, The Village, and The Happening. Through his works, Shyamalan has shown the world the beauty of Pennsylvania and the marvels hidden in the country side. Shyamalan also formed his own production company, Blinding Edge Pictures, and chose Berwyn as its headquarters.

Director Jonathan Demme on the set of the Academy Award-winning film "Philadelphia."

The production of "Unstoppable" ranged all over central and western Pennsylvania.
The tax break Cohen speaks of is the Film Production Tax Credit. In 2007, in an effort to increase use of Pennsylvania as a production site, Governor Edward G. Rendell and the PA legislature increased the Commonwealth’s film production incentive program (Government Incentives). Pennsylvania now provides a 25% Film Production Tax Credit for film production expenses incurred in the Commonwealth. This credit is available for feature films, TV shows and series, and commercials intended for a nation audience. The state requires that 60% of the total production expenses be incurred in PA and in the 2010 cap is set at $42 million (Government Incentives).
Pennsylvania is a great place to visit, but who needs to get on a plane when they can travel to their local video store? The film industry has done a remarkable job capturing the essence of the keystone state, and with the legislature’s tax credit, we can be sure that PA will be the location of many films to come.
The Center would like to thank Ryan Callahan of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office for his help illustrating this article.
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