75

I have seen the below balcony in many movies.

Is it an actual place? Where is it?

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows:

In Men in Black 3:

Improve this question
1

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
115

Whether each of those shots is real or a model on green screen is probably not at issue.

The building itself is real. It's the Chrysler Building, on Manhattan Island, New York City.

I guess the reasons it appears so often in movies are

  1. It could be one of the most photogenic buildings in existence. There aren't too many true art deco skyscrapers around.

  2. It's got gargoyles and a hell of a drop!

Even if they're not on the building itself, they sure do like to show it in the background…

enter image description here

enter image description here

Just for a bit of added anecdote and because I love this photo, this is Oscar Graubner's picture of the building's official photographer — Margaret Bourke-White atop the Chrysler Building c. 1934.

This one is definitely not done on green screen!

enter image description here

After comments:

She's holding her camera — they didn't have iPhones in those days ;)

Here's another pic showing greater detail. For the camera buffs, I think it might be a Graflex*, an early SLR [Single Lens Reflex] camera, which is why she looks into the top of it to see out of the actual lens on the front, but I'm really not certain of the model…

* Link is to Google Images search

enter image description here

Improve this answer
17
  • 5
    Her camera - possibly a Graflex - close-up added, source unknown
    – Tetsujin
    May 28, 2018 at 6:32
  • 36
    Great answer, and wow, Margaret Bourke-White is really interesting. "She was the only foreign photographer in Moscow when German forces invaded [in WW2]. Taking refuge in the U.S. Embassy, she then captured the ensuing firestorms on camera... 'The woman who had been torpedoed in the Mediterranean, strafed by the Luftwaffe, stranded on an Arctic island, bombarded in Moscow... was known to the Life staff as 'Maggie the Indestructible.' "
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    May 28, 2018 at 7:59
  • 5
    For context, the eagles/gargoyles can be seen in the shot of the Silver Surfer — they're the bits you can see jutting out to the sides of the building about 3/4 of the way down the frame.
    – Michael Seifert
    May 28, 2018 at 14:16
  • 8
    @BrettFromLA - someone did - imdb.com/title/tt0097834/?ref_=nv_sr_5
    – Tetsujin
    May 28, 2018 at 15:00
  • 3
    Note that the Chrysler Building is easily within eyeshot of the Empire State Building. Depending on the angle of the shot, the absence of the latter may be a dead giveaway that a scene is fake. Or it may just mean that they happen to be shooting northish or eastish.
    – Kevin
    May 28, 2018 at 15:41

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .