John Atkins, our fantastic tour guide, saved Chinatown for our last stop. It just so happened that they were filming while we were there. Vancouver is a major movie and TV production city. Major. I noticed that a huge amount of shows I watch are filmed in British Columbia.
For example, the bus in the photo on the right is (I think) supposed to be a Japanese bus used in the terrific original Amazon TV series “Man in the High Castle.” Also, “Fifty Shades Darker,” the sequel to the hit film “Fifty Shades of Grey,” was filming in Gastown, a famous section of Vancouver, while we were there and will continue filming through July.
My buddy Louis, a guitar player in our band Fifty Shades of Sixty, has his car in the “Fifty Shades…” sequel. Yes, that’s right: his car. In fact, several of his vehicles, including his giant RV, appear in Vancouver-based TV and film productions, including “Bates Motel.”
The Steam clock (see picture left), which is located in Gastown, is one of Vancouver’s most famous landmarks.
Below are Japanese posters that I assume are being used in the filming of “Man in the High Castle.”
As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series, the reason for my first visit to Vancouver was to reset my LA-based novel Voices in the Night to Vancouver. The local film board showed me around this beautiful city and I’ve been a big fan of Vancouver ever since.
It would be wonderful if my research for Rules of the Game paid off in the forms of a great new book and later a movie set in Vancouver.
Maybe then we could get access to some of the tunnels that still exist but which are currently off limits.
Or maybe we could build some new ones.