The Toronto Star featured an article today on the much anticipated City of Bones movie set to begin filming (as stated in the article) on August 20th in Toronto. So for all those who have not been to Toronto let me tell you about it.

I was born and raised in downtown Toronto, a city filled with an array of cultures, styles and nuances. All around the downtown core you can find hipsters lounging on cafe patios, b-boys break dancing by Dundas Square and colourful street art lining the walls of various buildings. Indie bands play at local bars, the nightlife is always vibrant, swanky shops line the streets, tattoo parlours buzz with business. Toronto is a city like no other...well, except for in the case of filming! Then Toronto is very much like New York City.

You see, even though Toronto has its own unique identity, it is also a chameleon. Toronto is easily camouflaged as New York because the architecture of the two cities are very similar.

I think a lot of the filming will take place in and around Bay Street, which is our version of Wall Street. In that area there is a bevvy of tall buildings that fill the entire financial district and is easily interchangeable with New York. Dundas Square is another mark, for sure. It’s like a smaller version of Time Square and along those streets are tons of old and new stores that have been the focal point for many movies that are said to be in New York. Slap a few New York style signs on garbage cans or public transit buses and you’d never be able to tell the difference.

Union Station is a replica of Grand Central Station, it’s just smaller, but identical and all along Front Street (where most of Robert Pattinson’s Cosmopolis was filmed) gives the illusion of New York City with very little effort. All these areas are very close together and I strongly believe filming will take place primarily in these spots. There are a few really old churches that could easily be the Institute. I haven’t yet determined which one seems the best but I’ll have some pics of those spots soon.

There’s so much that can be done with Toronto for this movie and with an unofficial budget of 60 million dollars (which isn’t really that much) I can guarantee that a huge majority of filming will be done here and I’ll find all the hot spots for you guys!

Your Toronto TMI Paparazzo
-Shannon


Check out the article for yourself below

City of Bones coming to Toronto

 

Jamie McCarthy/GETTY IMAGES

Mirror, Mirror actress Lily Collins is set to star as Clary Fray in City of Bones.

By Bruce DeMara

Entertainment Reporter
Jun 22, 2012

City of Bones is coming to Toronto.
 
Oscar-winning producer Don Carmody (Chicago) confirmed the first book in the wildly popular Mortal Instruments urban fantasy book series will begin shooting in the city around Aug. 20.

“We’re very, very pleased and looking forward to working in Toronto again,” said Carmody, who is teaming with his partners from the highly successful Resident Evil film franchise, which had four installments earning more than $675 million worldwide.
“It is a great series,” said Carmody of the six-book Mortal Instruments, adding his daughters are huge fans of the fantasy books involving demon hunters and vampires in the mean streets of modern-day New York by author Cassandra Clare.
Variety has reported the film’s budget at $60 million, a figure Carmody would not confirm. But he said the film would be a big boost for Toronto’s film production industry, especially for visual effects companies.

While a small portion of filming will take place in New York City, the lion’s share will be in Toronto, Carmody said. Lily Collins, who recently starred in Mirror, Mirror and is the daughter of U.K. rock legend Phil Collins, has been cast in the lead role of Clary Fray and U.K. actor Jamie Campbell Bower (Caius in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn) will play Jace. Other major roles, Alec and Isabelle Lightwood, Simon Lewis and Magnus Bane, have yet to be cast.

Carmody said the film has the potential to have the same cachet among young audiences as the Twilight series, based on the vampire novels of Stephenie Meyer.
The film comes with the backing of Screen Gems, a subsidiary of Sony’s Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group. Screen Gems has hired Norwegian Harald Zwart, who helmed the reboot of The Karate Kid (2010), to direct.

The film is slated for release in August 2013.