Sydney on Screen: Where Heritage Becomes Fantasy

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Excerpt:

“Science House is one of the few Sydney buildings built in the commercial Italian Palazzo style. Designed by Peddle Thorp and Walker in 1928 as the result of an architectural competition, construction was completed in January 1931 at a cost of 45,000 pounds. Located on the corner of Essex and Gloucester Streets, Science House plays a starring role in Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) as the Chinese Consulate in Houston where Li Cunxin (Chi Cao) is being held captive.”

“Governor Phillip Tower and Governor Macquarie Tower appeared in The Matrix Reloaded (2003) that filmed in the lift lobby area. In the scene, two hundred and fifty extras walk in one direction while Neo (Keanu Reeves), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) head the other way toward a lift leading to Le Vrai Restaurant. The sandstone walls inside the foyer were made to look like black granite and were covered with lightweight painted and papered foam on which a giant fake clock was attached using sticky tape.”

“After rescuing Kitty Kowalski’s (Parker Posey) runaway car in Superman Returns (2006), Superman lowers the vehicle in front of the fountain at the corner of Martin Place and Pitt Street. The very same fountain appeared in the “lady in red” sequence in The Matrix (1999). In an iconic moment in the movie, Laurence Fishburne sets everything and everyone into freeze frame during an agent-training program while a stunned Keanu Reeves looks on. Other productions shot in the area include Son of the Mask (2005) and Thank God He Met Lizzie (1997) starring Richard Roxburgh, Cate Blanchett and Frances O’Connor.”

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