Written by new-contact on Jan 24, 2012. Posted in Production News

Producers praise Manila during Bourne Legacy location filming

Up to 25% of new spy sequel The Bourne Legacy is filming on location in Manila in the Philippines and the producers are full of praise for the city. Producer Frank Marshall says that the existing filming infrastructure was a major appeal and the team was keen to film lesser-known locations.

In comments to The Philippine Star, Marshall comments: “We have always tried to find exotic locations which the people have not seen before. We have been to Tangiers and Goa in India [for The Bourne Supremacy]. Manila has great visuals and interesting locations. It worked well. In what Tony [Gilroy, the co-writer and director] was thinking as a writer, that he would be able to create a story around.”

Initially we started out with three candidates - Jakarta, Manila and Ho Chi Minh City. The director and I visited all three cities to see how they felt, what locations would be like and the people.

Patrick Crowley, Producer

Producer Patrick Crowley explains that Manila will play itself in the finished film and that minimal changes are being made to the locations for the shoot. The style falls in line with the previous Bourne films, which filmed mainly in Europe but avoided the usual landmarks.

Crowley tells the outlet: “Initially we started out with three candidates - Jakarta, Manila and Ho Chi Minh City. The director and I visited all three cities to see how they felt, what locations would be like and the people. We visited the cities, talked to the people there and made our choice.”

By the time the project wraps the production team will have filmed for more than 30 days in the Philippines, with the schedule evenly split between the first unit and second-unit action sequences.

(Photo copyright: Adrian Biblanias)