Rockport, Alaska?
It used to be that we Bostonians had to pack our bags and head to Los Angeles to break into Hollywood. Failing that, Toronto was the place to film scenes that took place along the East Coast. But now the magic of Hollywood has been lured to our area, and it’s so powerful it’s turned one local town into Alaska.
Rockport Pirates has a collection of images from a shoot for the The Proposal, which has been shooting in and around Boston for weeks. All filmmakers needed to do to change Rockport into the Alaskan town of Sitka was add some signs to the local storefronts and put up a few state flags.
It doesn’t sound like much, but as the pictures show it’s surprisingly easy to change a Massachusetts fishing village into the Alaskan boonies. In November 2007 issue of Boston magazine, we told you how easy it was for moviemakers to transform Boston into the streets of Manhattan or Paris in our exhaustive guide on the Hollywood Invasion.
We just hope they don’t change our street without ample notice. We’re easily confused.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I am happy for Rockport and the State of Massachusettss in being selected as a site for filming. Changing street signs and hanging Alaska state flags may be enough to satisfy the movie’s director, but these won’t begin to “change a Massachusetts fishing village into the Alaskan boonies.”
These few cosmetic alterations will not fool the millions of cruiseship tourists who come to Sitka to appreciate the glacier-capped mountains that rise within a short walk from the Pacific Ocean shore. Our main street circles the still functioning and vibrant Russian Orthodox cathedral. (Sitka was the seat of Russian Government in North America until the US took possession of Alaska two blocks from where I write this.) Alaska Natives lived here for thousands of years before first contact with Europeans in 1741 and are still the dominant cultural influence.
After you watch the movie, please, please come to Sitka and see the REAL Alaska where hundreds of bald eagles and teams of sea lions fish for supper and whales breech in Sitka Sound. This is the most beautiful place in the state (where the sun sets over the Pacific, not rises over the Atlantic.)
April 18th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
You have to be kidding me.
Hang an Alaskan Amber sign and a flag? Massachusetts’s is quite a bit different from Sitka, seeing I’m from Boston and have lived in Sitka for 20 years.
I can tell you right now if it was really Sitka in this movie? It would be raining.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Man,
I’ve been drunk as hell in Sitka. I can tell you what, this does not look like Sitka.
You need some more toothless indians!
April 18th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Get yourself a good Harbor Squaw.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Someone might want to let the film crew know Sitka has daily Jet service from Seattle with connections to LosAngles. For a cameo they would probably fly the film equipment for cost in the new 737-400 combie. Would have been a lot cheaper than that lame makeover.
Nocheechako,
Former Sitkan
Watching from Kodiak
April 18th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Too bad it looks nothing like the Sitka I know and love. I too live in Kodiak now and am dissapointed in the portrayal.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
The set looks nothing of Sitka, but then again all of hollywood is fake and cheap. I was looking forward to watching this movie, but that will not happen now. This will again provide the simple east coast mind that Sitka is like this little simpelton town of Rockport. We are much more then that. Sandra Bullack needs to make up names for towns then to try to duplicate ( very badly )these communities
April 18th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Russian Rub, You are truly an Idiot.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Never in your dreams will this look, feel, be Sitka. Why not a digital cartoon version. Suckers who watch cheap movies do not care.
April 18th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Congrats Sitka! Screwing yourself on another golden opportunity….Gotta love our local town leadership
April 18th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I use to live in Sitka and if this movie is anything like how Barrow was portrayed in 30 days of nights I will puke. Also, Russian Rub and Chili please refrain from making racial comments. Not appreciated and you make yourself look ignorant.
April 18th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
I know Sitka Rockport, and you are no Sitka.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
It’s no wonder people in the lower 48 still think we live in igloo’s up here. Sitka has roads, daily air service, frequent ferry service as well as telephones, Cellphones and Internet. It’s hardly the “Alaskan Boonies” Give me a break. Not to mention the fact that one sunny day in THE REAL SITKA would provide more picturesque images than you could probably get in a month of filming in Massachusetts. You can put make-up on a sow but at the end of the day it’s still a pig. Where’s Mt. Edgecumbe?
April 18th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Man, This is a serious fucking joke.
The chance to get Sitka in a movie and they doctor it up in Rockport?
Can’t the City pay for a ticket from Rockport out there? I’ve been to Rockport, lived in Sitka. You can’t make a fuckin russian tea cup store and throw up a beer sign and call it the same thing.
This gets me fucking riled!
April 18th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
If you really want to see what Sitka looks like, check out click here No place in Alaska can compare with the beauty of Sitka on a sunny day.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:21 am
I’m another Sitka resident disgruntled by this fake portrayal of our community. If you aren’t going to film in Sitka, then don’t call it Sitka in the movie. The look in Rockport is nothing like Sitka, no matter how much they try to dress it up. We’re only about two hours away from Seattle by jet, and Sitka has some of the best scenery in Alaska. I’m looking out my window right now and there are about 20 bald eagles soaring overhead. You won’t get that in Rockport, maybe sturdy shoes but not spectacular scenics and fresh salmon or halibut. Don’t be fooled.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:30 am
The situation is simple from my point of view.
I understand that many people are angry about Rockport being dressed up to look like Sitka so I’m going to break it down.
What the fuck? Some rich stupid massachussetts town is fronting as sitka? Man I’m going to drip sweat from my balls to salt tea and I’m drinking a whiskey right now. If anyone questions Sitka? I’ll go to Rockport, pour chowder everywhere, and demand that my spice is something that a local would be able to identify at a grocery store.
April 19th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
It is unfortunate that Disney did not see the value in filming in Sitka itself. As much as the people of Massachusetts’s grandstand about saving the rain forest and preserving Alaska, the least they and Disney could do is send us some clean economy that is otherwise exploiting our namesake!
Rockport looks quaint, but cannot compare to the grandeur of Sitka and Southeast Alaska!
April 19th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
This looks NOTHING like Sitka. Why didn’t they make up a name of a town instead? Very disappointing.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Just when you thought we were running low on irony: Sandra Bullock, star of rehab drama “28 Days” and currently filming in Gloucester, gets hit head on by a drunk driver, woman who blew a .20 on the breathalyzer. Next up: a guy who steals the heads off parking meters in front of Paul Newman’s house.
April 20th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I am a Sitka resident and I find this a true disgrace… I like Sandra Bullock aolt BUT this is my town… I want every one to know that Sitka is 1 million times more beautiful than this Movie set!!! unles they add that disclaimer I REFUSE to even give this moviwe the time of day and will not recomend it
April 21st, 2008 at 11:05 pm
I am a Sitka resident, and I am disgusted. Somebody didn’t do their research because those pics looked absolutely NOTHING like Sitka. Did the set designer even bother to visit Sitka? Because you can’t tell by looking! Are they somehow going to try to cut & paste the mountains in? Why did you use the name Sitka if you’re making up a set? Make up a name to go with it. I’m telling everyone to skip this movie.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:35 pm
That sounds pathetic. I agree that no town in the country can match the splendor, beauty, and history of the real Sitka, Alaska. Although it is true that there are no roads to Sitka, that is a cheap excuse to film in a town that has little or no resemblance to the real Sitka.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I live in Sitka and have seen those photos, which are a total joke! Boycott the movie, they can also make up some name of a town in Alaska and don’t use ours. It is a shame the film company went across the country instead of up the West coast. It shows their ignorance. I’m embarrassed; in this day and age of digital magic, the film could have used real Sitka images and digitized them into the movie. But…that would just make too much sense I suppose! BOYCOTT the movie when it comes to town. Maybe we can tell the boys who run the theatres to not even show it here.
April 24th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
It is disapointing that hollywood does not respect filming in the location specified in the book or playwrite. We’ve had the same happen for many movies based in Wyoming but filmed in Montana or Canada….you can’t tell me that there are no roads to get into Wyoming.
It’s bad enought that the excuse of “lack of roads to get there” is used but to film on the complete opposite coast is utter stupidity. As usual the lack of “incentives” at a location are what draws the attention….you can’t tell me that film makers do not have enough money to film at any location- weak, just plain weak.