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| Cleveland not only stood in for NYC, it also hosted shots set in Germany |
How many cities in America would be willing to lock down a major thoroughfare for weeks, reroute thousands of commuters and ignite multiple explosions in the heart of downtown?
It only took one.
Cleveland embraced the filming of "Marvel's The Avengers" last summer with celebratory glee, contributing hundreds of crew members, extras and onlookers. When the $220 million action movie opens nationwide Friday, we'll finally see what the fuss was all about. In 3-D.
Shutting down a chunk of East Ninth Street and other parts of town for fierce fights featuring Thor and Captain America was just part of the film's massive Cleveland invasion.
"It was absolutely extraordinary for us, the amount of cooperation and enthusiasm in Cleveland," said writer-director Joss Whedon. "We had a wonderful time, enjoyed extraordinarily good locations and some really good restaurants. Everybody welcomed us so much, and said, 'Come to our fair city, and blow it up.' "
Whedon and company shot the film's biggest action scenes here. "We ate at Lola a bunch. That was great," he said. "And we rocked out at the Velvet Dog." They also poked around Little Italy and the museums in University Circle. Sometimes the locations were ridiculously convenient. After shooting a lengthy Stuttgart, Germany, sequence on Public Square, the actors were mere steps from the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel.
"That was wonderful," said Whedon. "People could finish up the night shoot, and then their room was right there. They were literally standing outside their own hotel, even though it had a German name slapped on it." Whedon stayed at the Ritz-Carlton.
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