The 1997 Chris Farley comedy “Beverly Hills Ninja” was filmed around Southern California. Haru, played by Farley, joins a clan of ninjas in Japan and trains in their martial arts. These scenes were filmed at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, in their Japanese Garden.
LOCATION: 1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino, CA 91108
The hotel scenes were filmed at the The Langham Huntington in Pasadena. The hotel has appeared in countless films, including “Seabiscut,” the 1998 remake of “The Parent Trap,” “Lovelace,” “Saving Mr. Banks,” “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Richie Rich A Christmas Wish” and many more. It has also appeared in the TV series “Westworld,” “Simon & Simon,” “Remington Steele,” “Highway to Heaven,” “Knots Landing” and more.
LOCATION: 1401 S Oak Knoll Ave, Pasadena, CA 91106
Haru disguises himself as a chef at Hop Louie in Chinatown, where a fight soon ensues. The restaurant has since closed, but the facade still remains. The same restaurant was also seen in the 1990s comedies “Surf Ninjas” and “Mystery Men,” as well as the film “I Love You, Man.”
LOCATION: 950 Mei Ling Way, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Haru gets captured by his enemies and taken to a meeting with a rival gang at the Malibu Hindu Temple in Calabasas. The temple also appeared in the 1998 film “Jeans” and the TV series “The Big Bang Theory.”
LOCATION: 1600 Las Virgenes Canyon Rd, Calabasas, CA 91302
The 2019 Steven Soderbergh film “The Laundromat,” which tells the story about the Panama Papers scandal, was filmed in numerous locations, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles and the Florida Keys. After a boat capsizes, Ellen Martin, played by Meryl Streep, finds she is unable to get compensation from the accident, as the insurance company has been bought out by a mysterious company in Nevis, a small island in the Caribbean Sea.
When Ellen’s attempts to contact the Nevis-based company are unsuccessful, she travels there to confront manager Malchus Boncamper, played by Jeffrey Wright. These scenes were actually filmed in Key West, Florida. The area is first seen in a dream sequence as Ellen crosses this street.
LOCATION: 109 Fitzpatrick St, Key West, FL 33040
As Ellen approaches the area, named Hunkins Waterfront Plaza in the film and Kino Plaza in reality, it becomes a CGI composite of a couple different locations. We first see this strip of the actual plaza.
As the camera continues to pan over, a massive building is shown. This is actually the Sunkist Headquarters building in Sherman Oaks, California. The building has been featured in several films, such as 2004’s “Paparazzi” and 2017’s “The Hero.” It has also been seen in such TV series as “Too Old To Die Young,” “Alias,” “Knight Rider” and more.
LOCATION: 14130 Riverside Dr, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Back at Kino Plaza in Key West, the scene plays again, this time no longer a dream as Ellen approaches the plaza. However, it is again modified, this time with a facade set built over part of the plaza. Here is what the area actually looks like without the facade.
Ellen bumps into Malchus, not knowing who he is, and asks questions about his firm’s location. Malchus lies to her and walks away. This area is mostly the same, but the wall is depicted with dozens of PO boxes lining a brick facade. Here is how it actually appears.
The view of the plaza as Ellen and Malchus speak is relatively unchanged.
Jürgen Mossack, played by Gary Oldman, becomes concerned when he hears one of his clients has been arrested. The film then cuts to a scene in Mexico with Will Forte and Chris Parnell, credited as Doomed Gringo #1 and #2, drinking at a bar. These scenes were filmed at the Melody Ranch Studio Backlot in Santa Clarita, California, also commonly known as the Veluzat Movie Ranch. The ranch, which is available for tours, has been featured in countless films, such as “3 From Hell,” “Dante’s Peak,” “Friday The 13th Part III,” “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter,” “Last Man Standing,” “Chaplin,” and many more. It was also featured in the TV show “Westworld” as the Mexican town of “Las Mudas.”
LOCATION: Melody Ranch Studio Backlot (a.k.a. Veluzat Movie Ranch), Forest Rte 5N28, Santa Clarita, CA 91390 (GPS coordinates: 34°29’03.5″N 118°30’25.1″W)
The interior of the bar the men drink at is the same building seen in the above shot, on the right side.
Forte’s character makes the mistake of going to what he thinks is the bathroom, but turns out to be a private office space of some criminals in the middle of business.
Jürgen and Ramón Fonseca, played by Antonio Banderas, speak to the camera about privacy and secrecy while shopping at Fields Market in Canoga Park, California. The store is a staple of film and television, appearing in such films as “Bird Box,” “Lady Bird,” “Matchstick Men” and “Birds Of Prey: And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn,” as well as such television shows as “Desperate Housewives,” “American Horror Story” and dozens more. It has also been seen in countless commercials and music videos.
LOCATION: 23221 Saticoy St, Canoga Park, CA 91304
Gu Kailai, played by Rosalind Chao, tells a story of a Chinese police chief targeting a Falun Gong temple, where people engage in a spiritual practice deemed illegal. The temple is supposedly located in China, but was actually filmed at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.
LOCATION: 1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino, CA 91108
The Huntington Library is a very popular filming location, with hundreds of productions shot around the vast, kaleidoscopic grounds. We can’t name them all, but “Mank,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “A Cinderella Story” are just a few among them.
The 2020 David Fincher film “Mank,” about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his story of writing the screenplay for “Citizen Kane,” is set in the 1930s and 1940s, against the Hollywood studio backdrop of that era. The film likewise shot around Southern California. The movie employs heavy use of CGI to maintain the period look, often taking portions of real locations and adding computer generated elements and different backgrounds altogether. Fincher himself described the process as being as labor-intensive as a Marvel movie. It makes it challenging at times to nail down specific locations, as the real life places in present day don’t always align with what is seen in the film.
One location that matches up very well is the ranch where Mank, played by Gary Oldman, spends much of the film writing “Citizen Kane.” The Kemper Campbell Ranch in Victorville, known at the time the film takes place as the Verde Ranch, is where these scenes were shot. The ranch is, in fact, also the actual location where the real Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote much of “Citizen Kane.” Today, the property is a private estate and cattle ranch. Due to the fact that there are full-time residents living at the ranch, they do not offer tours to the public. However, they do offer guest rentals at the property. The guest rentals are currently only available at group rates, with a two night minimum, so it can be quite a costly stay, unless you have a larger party to help split the costs. Here is the area of the ranch featured most heavily in the film, where Mank stays.
LOCATION: 10 Kemper Campbell Ranch Rd, Victorville, CA 92395
Here is a closer look at the building. The door, stairs and courtyard are all featured throughout the course of the film, as it cuts between Mank writing in 1940 and various flashback scenes throughout the 1930s.
Here is a look at one of the roads leading to the ranch, which is also seen several times in the film.
Here are some additional views of the ranch and surrounding mountains.
In a flashback scene, Charlie invites Mank on a weekend trip to what turns out to be the Hearst Castle. They depart from the Glendale Station, just as the characters state in the film. Mank arrives at the station drunk. While the real building was featured in the scene, visual effects were used to add additional buildings and palm trees into the background.
LOCATION: 400 W Cerritos Ave, Glendale, CA 91204
Mank awakens at the Hearst Castle to screams coming from outside. It is made to appear the scenes shot at the real Hearst Castle, located in San Simeon (750 Hearst Castle Rd, San Simeon, CA 93452). However, the scenes were actually shot at The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. The southwest corner of the Huntington Art Gallery building served as the grounds of the Hearst Castle, with quite a bit of visual effects added to the shot, such as the Hearst towers and palm trees. The Huntington grounds are quite large, so we’ve provided GPS coordinates below of the exact spot.
LOCATION: 1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino, CA 91108 (GPS coordinates: 34.126274, -118.113582)
Mank follows the sound of the screams and discovers a film set, where Marion Davies, played by Amanda Seyfried, is performing a scene in which she is burned at the stake. This scene was also filmed at The Huntington Library, near the Australian Garden and Desert Garden, according to comments online. The film employs so many visual effects, adding mountains and open land, to the point that we were unable to match with certainty the exact spot the set was built.
In yet another scene at the Huntington Library, Marion walks with Mank to a fountain, where she asks him about which roles he feels she could play. The fountain can be found on the North Vista, with the GPS coordinates 34.128229, -118.113415. More visual effects were used in the scene, showing the Hearst Castle in the distance.
While at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, Mank sees Upton Sinclair giving a political speech. The hotel is one of the most frequently used locations in all of Los Angeles, having appeared in “Ghostbusters,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Independence Day,” “Fight Club” and countless more productions. The interior of the hotel also appears at the end of the film, when the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay is awarded.
LOCATION: 506 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Mank runs into his friend C.C. in front of Bullocks Wilshire, a famous art deco building on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles. Mank learns that MGM is hiring actors to play outspoken citizens against Upton Sinclair. Once a luxury department store, Bullocks Wilshire now operates as a law school. The building has also been featured in the films “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “The Aviator,” “The Public Enemy” and “Dunston Checks In,” the TV series “Moonlighting” and Areosmith’s music video for “Love in an Elevator,” in addition to many other productions.
LOCATION: 3050 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010
The Trocadero Nightclub was not a real club. The exterior location used was Cicada Restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles, with a few visual effects composited into the shot, such as the Trocadero sign. The location has been featured in countless films, such as “Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood,” “Pretty Woman,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “Indecent Proposal,” “Suicide Squad” and “Bruce Almighty,” as well as such TV shows as “Mad Men, “The Morning Show” and “American Horror Story.”
LOCATION: 617 S Olive St, Los Angeles, CA 90014
Mank tries to intervene in a potential suicide of his friend Shelly Metcalf, pulling up in front of the brick sidewalk on the right.
LOCATION: 1944 N Kenmore Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Mank then knocks at the front door of Shelly’s home, which is located in Hollywood.
As Mank is leaving, he drives over La Loma Bridge in Pasadena, with the Griffith Observatory visible in the distance. This is another visual effect. In reality, the Observatory is not visible from the bridge, although it is visible from Shelly’s home. The same bridge was featured in the film “The Little Things.”
LOCATION: La Loma Bridge, 799 La Loma Rd, Pasadena, CA 91105
Film Oblivion 