7 Movies Filmed on the Brooklyn Bridge
FROM JOHN WICK TO ENCHANTED AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN
BY: V. RHODES
FROM JOHN WICK TO ENCHANTED AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN
The Brooklyn Bridge is a 125 year old icon of New York City. This steel-wire suspension bridge stretches over the East River, connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. It is one of the most recognizable bridges in the world. In recent years the bridge has become a hotspot for runners, instagrammers, photoshoots, wedding proposals and movie locations! The fantastic and easily accessible pedestrian walkway makes this possible!
ARCHITECTURE & THE WOMAN BEHIND THE BRIDGE
The Brooklyn Bridge was the world’s first steel-wire suspension bridge. Each of the four cables is capable of supporting a live load of 12,000 tons, and are composed of 5,296 galvanized steel wires. The two large gothic towers are constructed entirely of granite and stand 84m tall. After 14 years of construction, the Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883. It cost about $15 million USD then, which is over $320 million USD now!
When lead engineer and architect, Washington Roebling, fell ill due to decompression disease he was bed ridden for the final 10 years of construction. His wife, Emily Warren Roebling, became dedicated to the completion of this project. She began by getting instructions from her sick husband, and bringing the information to the workers on site. But she then took it upon herself to become an expert in engineering, doing studies on her own of technical issues, cable strength analyses, site visits, and structural calculations. Emily Warren Roebling became so closely tied with the project, that people suspected she was the intelligence behind the bridge.
Upon completion, Emily Warren Roebling was the first person to cross the bridge in a horse drawn carriage. At the opening ceremony, an engineering competitor, Abram Hewitt, said of Emily Warren Roebling and the bridge “...an everlasting monument to the self-sacrificing devotion of a woman and of her capacity for that higher education from which she has been too long disbarred.” You go girl!
A WEIRD FUN FACT
After construction was complete, rumors started that the bridge would crumble under the weight of use. So on May 17, 1884, circus owner P.T. Barnum led 21 elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge to prove that it was stable.
OUR TRIP: FROM SOHO TO DUMBO
The walk across the Brooklyn Bridge is a must-do if you are visiting New York. It has become one of my favourite places in the city! On our last trip, we stayed at the NoMo SoHo. From there, it was an easy walk to the bridge and then across to DUMBO. We went on a weekday morning at about 10am, and the crowd size was fine. Although we stopped a lot to take pictures along the way, the walk was only about 40 minutes.
In the last few years, DUMBO has gotten a huge face lift. Short for “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”, DUMBO has become one of the hottest neighborhoods of Brooklyn. It has transformed from it’s industrial roots into a destination for dining, arts and entertainment. With the addition of world famous marketplace TimeOut Market showcasing the best of Brooklyn foods, you’ll be dying to try everything! If you’re looking for something a bit lighter, there is One Girl Cookies and Butler, two coffee shops I highly recommend!
It’s not just the Brooklyn Bridge that is featured on screen, DUMBO is a very common filming location, most notably it is the location of Dan Humphrey’s apartment from Gossip Girl (2007-2012). And it is along Washington Street that you can get the famous picture of the Manhattan Bridge between the buildings.
BROOKLYN BRIDGE ON SCREEN
Although there are countless movies that feature Brooklyn Bridge in the background (I Am Legend (2007), The Perfect Man (2005), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2011), and Annie Hall (1977)), only a handful of my favorite movies have scenes actually on the bridge. Let's explore!
#1
enCHANTED (2007)
Enchanted (2007) follows Giselle (Amy Adam), a typical Disney princess, as she gets ripped from her traditional animated world getting stuck in present day NYC. Along the way Giselle realizes that Prince Edward (James Marsden) might not have been the true love she was looking for. This movie-musical is both a homage and a parody of conventional Disney animated classics.
Enchanted is such an underrated Disney movie! If you haven’t seen it, please stop what you’re doing, head on over to Disney+, and watch it! It is so underrated that it has developed a cult following. Because of this, Disney recently announced a sequel that will be released in 2022. That would be 15 years after the original.
Watching the movie back, I forgot just how many New York locations were used! For example, when Giselle arrives in NY, she comes up through a manhole in Times Square. This becomes a running joke throughout the movie. Later Giselle’s big musical number, “That’s How You Know,” takes place all around Central Park. And of course, this scene of Giselle and Prince Edward going over the Brooklyn Bridge!
#2
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
The John Wick film series is shot all over New York City. Having never seen the movies, I had no idea that there were so many recognizable landmarks. It was only after doing research for one of my Gossip Girl posts that I spotted how much overlap there is between the two.
In John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is a retired super-assassin trying to resume a normal civilian life after the events of the first movie, John Wick (2014). An Italian gangster, Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) arrives to cash in a favour, and Wick agrees to travel to Rome to take out D’Antonio’s sister, Gianna D’Antonio (Claudia Gerini).
In this scene, John Wick’s house has just been attacked and he is walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to Continental Hotel. He is of course accompanied by his dog.
#3
Kate & Leopold (2001)
If you’re looking at this title, then looking at the picture, then back again to the title, and thinking “Is that Meg Ryan? With Hugh Jackman pre-Wolverine? Why don’t I know about this movie?” Then your reaction is pretty much the same as every other person who I’ve introduced Kate & Leopold (2001) to.
This very strange plot follows Leopold (Hugh Jackman), a Duke from 1876, as he accidentally time travels to present day New York through a time vortex only activated by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. He meets and falls in love with Kate (Meg Ryan) and the pair try to return Leopold back to his original place in time. You know, your average day in New York.
Kate & Leopold is an incredibly underrated rom-com from the early 2000s, which is why you’ve never heard of it. By this point, audiences had grown tired of the rom-com genre, and much preferred rewatching movies like You’ve Got Mail (1998) or When Harry Met Sally (1989).
Hugh Jackman’s big break was of course as Wolverine in X-Men (2000). In the late 1990’s Jackman was making the transition from Broadway to Hollywood, so when he was cast in both X-Men (2000) and Kate & Leopold (2001) he was pretty much an unknown. X-Men of course being the hit that it was, blew up, and Kate & Leopold fell to the wayside.
#4
Sex and the City: The Movie (2008)
Whether you consider yourself a Carrie, a Samantha, or a Charlotte, you felt this moment for Miranda! I know the SATC movie has a less than positive response (from both critics and fans, yikes!) but we have to talk about this Brooklyn Bridge scene!
Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg) are one of the most stable relationships throughout the series! Which is why we were outraged at the situation they were put in during this movie! In order to save their marriage, Miranda and Steve both need to commit to working at it. The symbolic movie-moment way of showing that is having them literally meet in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge, each coming from their respective burrows. All things considered, this was one of the better moments from this film.
The bridge also served as a backdrop for promotional photographs taken of the lead women for both the show and for this movie. Love Sex and the City? We’ve got lots more.
#5
Sophie's Choice (1982)
I won't go too in depth here, because Sophie’s Choice (1982) is incredibly emotional, and I highly recommend people go into the movie unspoiled. The basic plot is that author, Stingo (Peter MacNicol), moves in with a couple Sophie (Meryl Streep) and Nathan (Kevin Kline) in Brooklyn. As Stingo and Sophie become friends, she tells him of her harrowing past and her and opened up to him about being a Holocaust survivor.
Meryl Streep’s Oscar winning performance as Sophie is said to be one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema. When you watch this movie, you’ll see why.
In the movie, the trio walk along the Brooklyn Bridge. They stop to open some champagne and Nathan climbs up a light post and makes a toast to the author, Stingo.
#6
Newsies (1992)
Newsies (1992) is a Disney movie-musical, based on the real life newsboy strike of 1899. It follows Jack (Christian Bale) and his friends, as they rally for a living wage against their boss, Joseph Pulizer (Robert Duvall). They meet a journalist, Bryan Denton (Bill Pullman), along the way, who is able to help them in their plight.
There is only one short clip of Jack and his friends on the Brooklyn Bridge. The gang are crossing the bridge and stop to look out at the city. The camera zooms out, and you see a shot of New York in 1899.
#7
Oliver and Company (1988)
Oliver and Company (1988) is the only animated movie to make our list. Based on the classic novel “Oliver Twist”, Oliver the kitten is separated from his owner, Jenny, and taken in by a gang of thieving dogs in New York City.
The final chase sequence follows dog gang owner, Fagin, on the run from slick loan shark, Sykes - with of course all of their dogs in tow. What starts as a chase through the subways ends up on the Brooklyn Bridge, even though in real life trains don’t run on the bridge. It’s through these scenes where Sykes and his two doberman meet their unfortunate end. If you’re like me, these deaths really stick out in your childhood memories, and not in a good way.
BONUS
I am Legend (2007)
I know at the beginning of this post I said I was going to focus on movies actually filmed on the bridge, not adjacent to it - but hear me out! The Brooklyn Bridge is literally blown up at one of the most emotional points in this film! So, let me proceed:
First of all, I’m sorry, the second movie on the list where the dog dies! I Am Legend (2007) is about scientist Robert Neville (Will Smith), who is the last human left in New York after a pandemic turns the rest of civilization into bloodthirsty mutants. Robert uses his immune blood to create a cure for the virus, and tries to reach out to any other survivors.
After the year we’ve had, I don’t think pandemic movies are on anyone's must-watch list right now. But as far as this genre goes, I Am Legend is a pretty good one. It is really fun to see Will Smith walking around an abandoned NYC - all overgrown with deer running through Times Square. What’s less fun is seeing the scary zombie monsters.
The big evacuate-the-city scene takes place under the Brooklyn Bridge. As Robert’s wife and daughter, Zoe (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) and Marley (Willow Smith), are about to fly away in a helicopter, military planes shoot out the bridges in order to contain the disease on the island of Manhattan. In the chaos, another helicopter crashes into theirs, and sadly everyone is killed.
PLAN YOUR FILMTRIP
LIKE IT? PIN IT!
IMAGE CREDIT:
All screencaps are used for non-commercial entertainment and education purposes. We are not endorsed, sponsored or affiliated with any movie studios. All copyrights, trademarks, and logos are owned by their respective owners. If you own the rights to any of the images and do not wish them to appear on the site, please contact us and they will promptly be removed.
REFERENCES:
Arbeiter, M. “15 Fascinating Facts about the Brooklyn Bridge.” Mental Floss, 24 May, 2018.
Cella, Mary. “Famous Brooklyn landmarks that are featured in movies we love.” Medium: Coconuts, 11 July, 2018.
Editors. “Brooklyn Bridge.” A&E Television Networks: History. 21 May, 2020.
Editors. “One-Day Dumbo Itinerary.” NYC: The Official Guide. 10 February, 2017.
Editor. “Emily Warren Roebling.” ASCE.
Editor. “Brooklyn Bridge.” New York Architecture.
Hatt, Doug. “Famous Films and TV Shows Shot in Dumbo.” Dumbo NYC, 2 September, 2016.
Jones, Mike. “Why Rom-Coms Died in the 2000s (& Why They’re Coming Back)”. Screen Rant, 20 September, 2020.
Moon, Ra. “Where was John Wick Chapter 2 filmed? Complete Filming Location Guide.” Filming Locations by Atlas of Wonders.