Morbius films Manchester as New York
Comic book movie Morbius is filming Manchester’s Northern Quarter as New York.
Jared Leto stars in the story of a scientist whose efforts to cure his own rare blood disease end up afflicting him with a type of vampirism.
Daniel Espinosa is directing for Sony Pictures, which had an international hit last year with the Atlanta-filmed Venom.
Morbius is based on a character originally created by Marvel and is using Pinewood Studios near London as a production base.
Parts of the capital have also been doubled for New York in recent weeks.
The red brickwork and architecture of Manchester’s Northern Quarter is known to Hollywood as a suitable stand-in for New York, having first doubled for the iconic US city in Marvel’s 2011 superhero movie Captain America: The First Avenger.
Set dressing for Morbius has involved erecting New York street signage and using the city’s distinct buses and taxis.
American productions using studio facilities in and around London as a base often look for locations elsewhere in the country to double for specific story settings.
Another high-profile recent example has been Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi movie Ready Player One, which used parts of Birmingham as a futuristic Ohio.
Image: FreeImages.com/Createsima
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