Lights, camera, action!

It would be a shame to come to Hollywood and not visit one of the iconic film studios, so this year the Warner Brothers Studios was on our itinerary. Technically it is in Burbank and not in Hollywood at all. When you look at the Hollywood sign on the hillside, Burbank and Warner Bros are just behind it on the other side of the mountain. But Hollywood after all is just a notion and not really a place. For two and a half hours the guide threw facts at us but I remember nothing so I will not be able to bore you with them! I can't even remember which films were filmed on which set, but interestingly a huge number of films that we have all seen were filmed on the SAME set but we don't even notice! Does this look like a real house? Well it's not, it's just a facade. Well done if you recognise it from any films - let me know! I do remember the guide telling us that if they filmed this in the summer but it was supposed to be winter, then they would pull every single leaf of these trees. But worse...if it's filmed in winter (and there is a sort of winter in California for trees) then they will go to the trouble of sticking fake leaves onto these trees. No wonder films cost millions to make!

This is taken in the New York streets where just about every film set in NYC has been filmed. They do a very good job of "dressing" the set to depict the particular era or neighbourhood. Not only Warner Bros films are filmed here as they rent out the sets to other film studios. This particular place where Tris is standing was used in the Batman films and also a lot in FRIENDS! I just know who is going to be able to spot which scenes were filmed here!

We also visited the set of "Two and a Half Men" which is the most successful sitcom at the moment and Charlie Sheen is the highest paid actor on TV. The guide did mention how much he is paid for each episode but I don't remember although I think it was in millions again...Unfortunately we couldn't take photos on the set (which looks very small compared to what it looks like on TV) but this is his changing room - a very luxurious camper trailer. This was a holiday weekend - Thanksgiving - so we didn't see any actors milling around as you usually would do. This is the Batmobile. They keep a selection of vehicles used in the films in a hangar. I remember feeling really impressed when I saw the real Chitty Chitty Bang Bang years ago. But unfortunately the Batmobile and Austin Powers car and Harry Potter's car didn't make too much of an impression. Maybe I'm getting old!