Photos: IMDB

A recent trend for travelers is to find certain locations from films and to take photos in the area. Most famously, there are tours in South Korea that take K-drama fans to filming locations. There’s also the ultimate Lord of the Rings experience for just about anyone who visits New Zealand. You can either visit the set pieces from the original filming area of The Shire or tread your way to the many valleys and mountains present in the film. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, there are a surprising amount of international films that were filmed in various locations throughout the country. Here are a few of them and how where you can find these spots today.

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Perhaps one of the bigger productions shot here in recent years, The Bourne Legacy took place in the same setting as Matt Damon’s character in the previous three films. This time, we follow black ops agent Aaron Cross (played by Hawkeye actor Jeremy Renner) as he goes on the run from government agents hunting him and a fellow agent (played by Rachel Weisz) down. Their journey to Manila has them searching for a live virus to fight off chemicals from enhancements they both take to gain special skills in their black ops missions. In the factory they are greeted by a security guard (played by John Arcilla).

Much of their scenes in the Philippines involved high-speed chases as they ran from local police and army men trying to capture them. As such, most of the filming locations are places you likely pass by on a daily basis during your way to work or whenever you drive around the Metro. Iconic areas seen include Taft Ave., Jones Bridge, and Ramon Magsaysay Blvd. in Manila. There are also some scenes along EDSA. What’s funny is how fast the duo seemed to make it from Manila City to Marikina City, as the tail-end of their chase shows them at the Marikina City Public Market. In the finale, we see the duo sailing off in a boat captained by Lou Veloso through the pristine seas of the then-undiscovered El Nido, Palawan.

Brokedown Palace (1999)

A rather controversial pick for this list, Brokedown Palace is a film that caused quite the ruckus after its lead actress, Claire Danes, spoke negatively of Manila City in interviews for Vogue and Premiere. It was enough to have former President Erap Estrada cast her as a persona non grata. 

Brokedown Palace was mainly shot here due to its critical views on the Thai legal system. It follows the story of two American friends imprisoned in Thailand for allegedly smuggling drugs into the country. There are three notable locations throughout Manila shown in the film. For the first, we have The Manila Hotel shown as a Thai hotel where the actors indulge in the various luxurious amenities by pretending to be guests. There’s also the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 acting as a stand-in for the Don Mueang International Airport. Perhaps the bleakest scenes though would be the scenes where they are shown detained at the DSWD’s Sanctuary Center, a place for providing assistance to women with mental health issues in Mandaluyong City. Danes recounts how scenes were often interrupted by the wails of those residing in the rehabilitation center. Her co-star, Amanda de Cadenet, also shares how some would throw their own feces at a wall that was put up to divide them from the residents.

Days of Being Wild (1990)

Wong Kar-Wai has become a popular director among the youth these days for his films tackling unconventional romances and missed chances. He is no stranger to mentioning the Philippines in his films, often pointing it as the go-to place for Hong Kong residents to start anew and live a better life. It’s best shown in his 1990 film, Days of Being Wild.

Days of Being Wild centers around Yuddy (Leslie Cheung), who discovers the one raising him is not his birth mother. We follow him through a cat-and-mouse type relationship he starts to form between two women, hoping to see which of the two will win him over. In the final arc of the film, he finally discovers where his birth mother is residing and finds out she is living somewhere in Bicol. Hoping to find her, he makes his way to Manila where he finds residence in Intramuros. There is also a big action scene filmed at the Tutuban Center in Tondo, Manila, when it was still utilized as a PNR station. Another thrilling fight sequence takes place as they ride the old PNR route to Bicol. For the sequence of Yuddy reuniting with his mother, it takes place at the Villa Escudero in Quezon. 

Apocalypse Now (1979) and Platoon (1986) 

As Vietnam was still recovering from the devastation of the Vietnam War, Hollywood found the Philippines to be a suitable filming location for Vietnam War films. Two of which are the Academy Award-winning films Apocalypse Now and Platoon. They are also considered as the greatest war flicks of all time as both the films have unique stories about the horrors of war faced during the Vietnam War. For the first, we follow a team trying to locate US Army Special Forces Colonel Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who had gone rogue in starting his own battles against the enemy without permission from his commanders. In the second, we follow the story of US Army volunteer Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) joining a team of inexperienced soldiers and being led by feuding sergeants (Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe).

In Apocalypse Now’s iconic helicopter scene, where Ride of the Valkyries blasts at full volume, we witness helicopters provided by former president Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. These scenes and other napalm strike scenes took place in Baler, Luzon. For the final arc when the team finally reaches Kurtz’s compound, the team can be spotted sailing along Magdapio River leading to Pagsanjan Falls in Laguna. With Platoon, Villamor Airbase acts as Da Nang for the entry of Charlie Sheen’s character. For the other scenes that cinephiles might wish to visit, you’ll need a be ready for a bit of a trek. One of the night forest ambush sequences takes place on Mount Makiling. Finally, there’s Willem Dafoe’s most dramatic sequence from the film, shot in the lush jungles of Luzon.

Another interesting part in the history of how these movies were made also provide a unique view of our own history. During the filming of Apocalypse Now, Marcos Sr.’s Martial Law was at its height. Various stories from the cast and crew of the film recount how some of the military equipment Marcos Sr. provided for the film were withdrawn to fight off rebels. Meanwhile, Platoon’s production saw a short halt as the EDSA Revolution went in full force just as it was about to begin filming. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Platoon star Willem Dafoe even recounts how he felt empowered after he joined the crowd in its peaceful protest. 

These films are just some of the many productions made here that show how rich our country’s locations are. It also shows the potential for cinephile tourism to take a boom for our local tourism industry, just as it has for other countries. Here’s to hoping that we are able to have more films and series take place in the Philippines for the near future.