By Kaitlyn Locke
Boston Globe
August 22, 2017
Amy Schumer’s movie “< a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/names/2017/06/05/amy-schumer-new-movie-feel-pretty-film-mass/CXaHdkzckBZUASbVix5oqL/story.html"target="_blank">I Feel Pretty” is still filming around Boston, but according to the film’s location manager, the city will stand in for New York in the comedy.
For the past two weeks, Schumer and the crew have visited locations around Massachusetts, including Chinatown, the South End, Salisbury Beach, a bar in Lynn, and a SoulCycle in Dedham, according to location manager Stephen Hartman.
The local spots were chosen because they can double as parts of the Big Apple. Salisbury Beach could represent Coney Island or a beach in New Jersey, Hartman said, and in the movie, Dedham’s SoulCycle will exist in SoHo. He added that when scouting locations they hunted for “urban-looking areas, but also just beautiful areas,” and that they will probably also film in the Financial District. It’s all about creating a visually beautiful world for the story to take place in, he said.
“Just the past few nights, we’ve been doing night work [in Chinatown], and the way the old signs are lit up and the set decoration that we added to it, it actually does have a very picturesque, romantic kind of look to it,” Hartman said.
Movie companies have flocked to Boston — even when stories don’t take place here — because of the state’s tax credit for films. Kathryn Bigelow’s recent release “Detroit” was shot in Massachusetts. Last year’s “Ghostbusters” reboot and 2013’s “American Hustle” were filmed around Boston but, like “I Feel Pretty,” were set in New York City. Thirty-three filming days were spent in Mass., and only two days were taken to shoot in New York City.
While most viewers will not be able to tell if a scene in “I Feel Pretty” was shot in New York or Boston, Hartman said, “to a local, you’ll definitely be able to recognize some specific places.”
He also said that August is a good time to film around Boston because college students have not yet returned for the fall semester and many families are on summer vacation.
“I Feel Pretty” is now nearly halfway done with all filming, Hartman said on Monday. The movie, which is about a woman who suffers a head injury and wakes up believing she is extremely beautiful, is scheduled for release on June 28, 2018.
Kaitlyn Locke can be reached at kaitlyn.locke@globe.com.