Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has been home to dozens of productions over the years.
Toronto tends to transform into any location needed when it comes to movie or series sets that are budget friendly, especially when the more similarly built alternatives across the pond are more expensive.
Here are some movie and show locations to put on your road trip bucket list.
Movies
Hairspray
Filmed right in the heart of downtown, the 2007 musical transformed Toronto into Baltimore, Maryland, set in the 1960s.
Notable areas in the film include Lord Lansdowne Public School, the Roncesvalles area and Gale’s Snack Bar at 539 Eastern Ave.
The movie opens with “Good Morning Baltimore,” while lead character Tracy Turnblad sings and walks down Dundas Street West.
The It duology
While many external scenes in both It and It Chapter Two were filmed in Port Hope, Ontario, transforming locations like the town hall and Hotel Carlyle as staple Town of Derry spots,many of the internal scenes were also shot in Toronto.
The abandoned home shots were filmed at the historical Cranfield House, near Pape and Riverdale Aves.
The movies were also shot on a set built in Oshawa, with some scenes also in Hamilton, and the iconic cliff-diving scene in Elora.
Camp Rock films
Soon to be a Disney trilogy, Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam were filmed in two different Ontario summer camps.
The Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato and other star cast members graced both Kilcoo Camp in Minden Hills and YMCA Camp Wanakita in Haliburton.
Additionally, some movie scenes were also filmed at the Rockwood Conservation Area, northeast of Guelph.
Mean Girls
This cult classic teen comedy was filmed across Toronto.
Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams and the rest of the cast took over Etobicoke Collegiate Institute, Malvern Collegiate Institute and Artscape Youngplace when filming school scenes.
Additionally, the notable watering hole scene was filmed in Etobicoke’s Sherway Gardens, utilizing the mall’s central water fountain.
Shows
Schitt’s Creek
This Canadian show by CBC gained popularity globally for the comedic luxurious family gone poor in the centre of it.
Recently passed Canadian icon Catherine O’Hara was joined by fellow Canadian actors Eugene and Dan Levy, and Annie Murphy played the once-rich family who must live in a small town they bought jokingly prior to losing all their assets. The town of Schitt’s Creek was set in the small town of Goodwood, Ontario, north of Toronto. The Rosebud Motel used as the main location was filmed at the Hockley Valley Motel, in Mono, Ontario, by Orangeville.
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Other spots in the show included Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area in Milton, and Unionville for external shots.
The Handmaid’s Tale
This popular drama series transforms parts of Toronto, Cambridge and Hamilton into the Republic of Gilead, a near-future United States.
Toronto’s Fairmount Royal York hotel was used as the show’s Jezebel’s brothel. the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant and areas like Richmond and Bay were also used for external shots.
Parks in Cambridge were used for many of the outdoor scenes in the series, with visitors often able to see women in red during filming.
Suits
Set in New York, after the pilot episode the drama series Suits used Toronto’s similar tall buildings to replicate Manhattan for cheaper.
Many buildings in the financial district were used as offices for the show, capitalizing on the business aesthetic near Bay and Adelaide.
Locations included 333 Bay St for external shots, TIFF Bell Lightbox, and the Fairmount Royal York Hotel.
The Boys
This show also uses Toronto to look like a city in the same state. This superhero show is set in modern day New York City.
Special effects helped to transform Roy Thomson Hall into the highrise Vought Tower. The show is no stranger to this use of CGI, with Sankofa Square (formerly Yonge-Dundas Square) being highly edited to resemble NYC’s time square.
Other scenes were also shot in Hamilton, Mississauga and Brantford.
