The cast of Opus—John Malkovich, Ayo Edebiri, and Juliette Lewis—join Condé Nast Traveler to test their movie location knowledge! From The Bear to Being John Malkovich, can they remember the iconic locations from their most famous roles?
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00:00And he said, remember the day at the Queen Mary,
00:02you know, you were kind of an a**hole.
00:04And I said, well, I am kind of an a**hole, so what?
00:08Hi, I'm Aya Debery.
00:10I'm John Malkovich.
00:12And I'm Juliette Lewis.
00:14We have filmed in some pretty amazing locations.
00:17Let's see if we actually remember them.
00:20♪♪
00:24Okay, image number one, location number one.
00:29Oh, I recognize this.
00:31This is a plate with a napkin on it,
00:34but it's shot through almost like a portal.
00:38Ooh.
00:39Do you recognize this?
00:40I...
00:41I think I do.
00:43That was in, I believe, a restaurant.
00:48If it's the restaurant scene at the end
00:52where all the people are Malkovich...
00:53Malkovich, yeah, yeah.
00:55Malkovich, Malkovich.
00:56Malkovich, Malkovich.
00:58Malkovich, Malkovich.
01:00Malkovich!
01:01That was on the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
01:04My guess is that it's from being John Malkovich.
01:09I'm filming it, actually,
01:11with the camera meeting on my shoulder.
01:13Wait, really? Wow.
01:15I remember it was unbelievably hot,
01:17no air conditioners,
01:19and there were a number of people
01:23with my face in a rubber mask
01:28with only the little breathing holes,
01:30so a lot of people were fainting.
01:33And eventually I kind of said,
01:36I'm very happy in my dress.
01:38Life is good. Life is beautiful.
01:41Can we shoot, please? Let's shoot.
01:43People are fainting. Let's get on with it.
01:46Then years later, I got a call from Vince Landay,
01:50who produced Being John Malkovich,
01:51and he said he was working on a new production
01:54that Spike Jonze was doing,
01:56a film called Adaptation.
01:57And would I look at it?
01:59And he said, well, remember the day at the Queen Mary?
02:03And I said, oh, well, I'm sure it's fine.
02:06And Vince said, well, we think you should look at it.
02:09And I said, well, why?
02:11And Vince was like, well, you know,
02:13you're kind of an asshole.
02:15And I said, well, I am kind of an asshole.
02:18So what? That was the scene from that day.
02:22Shut up! Shut up!
02:26Let's really try today to solve our camera problems.
02:30Keep between take time at an absolute minimum.
02:33These masks are really hot.
02:35That was a pretty absurd one.
02:37I want to go back and watch this again.
02:39It was pretty absurd, but mostly it was fun.
02:43I have seen a world that no man should see!
02:46Who's this?
02:49Oh, wait, I think I know.
02:51These are so obscure that you...
02:54These are close-ups.
02:55I'm sure it is.
02:56It looks like Mars.
02:58Wait, are those...
02:59These are snakes that might even be rattlesnakes or cobras, I think.
03:06I think it's a natural-born killer.
03:08Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
03:10So we did shoot in New Mexico,
03:13and that's what Opus reminded me.
03:16I was having flashbacks of Deja Vu.
03:19Tatanka is Russell Means' son, and he's in Opus.
03:24And that's the scene that I shot with his father.
03:28So this we shot, it was freezing,
03:31and we shot with real rattlesnakes all around us
03:34and fake rattlesnakes.
03:36But the cameraman who had to walk backwards,
03:39he doesn't know where the real and fake ones are.
03:42And so the first cameraman was like,
03:44I'm out, I'm not doing it, I'm not doing it.
03:47And then Oliver Stone got a second cameraman
03:51who was a bit more daring or crazy,
03:54and he's like, I'll do it.
03:56And he did it.
04:03The truth is, how I did it, where I wasn't scared,
04:07is I watched the rattlesnake handler
04:10try to get a rattlesnake to bite.
04:12They had to do a close-up.
04:14And this rattlesnake would not bite
04:16this pretend pant leg for anything.
04:18And I was like, why is he not biting it?
04:20He said, it's cold.
04:22Oh, they're not as cold.
04:24They'll stay coiled up, and they're harder to get you.
04:27So I lodged this little safety gem.
04:30They were a bit away, but for the cameraman
04:32who's walking backwards.
04:34Totally different.
04:35Totally different.
04:36We all live to tell.
04:37Here we go.
04:38Oh, I know that.
04:40I know what that is.
04:42That's the bus.
04:43That's in Chicago.
04:44That's from the movie.
04:46Is that the back of my head?
04:48Or is that the back of my head?
04:51I didn't know they shot that in Chicago, though.
04:53On the train, yeah, in Chicago.
04:55Or maybe, I don't know, that's like Old Town or somewhere.
04:59So you're on the L.
05:00Yeah.
05:01I'm on the L.
05:02Was it a real running train?
05:04Yeah.
05:05Whoa.
05:06Yes.
05:07Sound must have loved that.
05:09Our sound department, I don't even know.
05:11I think they're some of the most chill people.
05:13Every line of dialogue on that show,
05:15everybody's talking over each other at the same time.
05:17Sydney, you stir that pot for me, please, chef.
05:19Yes, chef.
05:20You want a cartouche?
05:21Please, thank you, chef.
05:22What's our best day here?
05:23Five?
05:24Like, they just have given it to God at this point.
05:26We're on the train and on the bus on that show very frequently.
05:30And our locations department is like, I don't even know.
05:34They're the best, sweetest people in the world.
05:36And they have so many connections to the city.
05:39Because we use a lot of real locations.
05:41Like, we're out in the city a lot.
05:43Oh, gosh.
05:44Bill is, I think, his name.
05:46But it's like our contact to the public transport city.
05:51And we've, like, used him so much that he's kind of become an unofficial,
05:54like, crew member.
05:56And in the third season, he made a cameo as, like,
05:59an uncle of the character.
06:01Yeah.
06:02Because we just, like, he has given us so many favors
06:07and, like, helped us out so much.
06:10Because our characters are often having contemplative moments
06:13on moving public transit.
06:15There's just really good food in Chicago.
06:18It's really easy to get a seat in a restaurant there when we're filming,
06:22which is nice.
06:23Me and Lionel had a little side quest, like, first season or second season,
06:28because we were like, we really need to get, like, some good soul food,
06:31like, while we're out here.
06:32And so we, like, made it our mission to get really good soul food,
06:35and we found this place.
06:36I thought my foot was going to fall off at the end of when we were done
06:40eating there, which is a compliment.
06:42What is it called?
06:43It's called, but I think it doesn't exist anymore also.
06:47And we literally tried looking for it.
06:49We were like, oh, there's a lore.
06:51But it's called Ooey It Is Too.
06:53Oh.
06:54And there's no one.
06:56There's no Ooey It Is One.
06:58It's just Ooey It Is Too.
07:00Yeah.
07:01It's crazy.
07:02We went straight to the sequel.
07:04Yeah, we went straight to the sequel.
07:05We went out there, and I had, like, a sweet tea that I was like, oh, my God.
07:08Like, I saw my ancestors.
07:10Like, I was like, a portal had opened.
07:13There was a line down the block where people would just, like,
07:15they'd go there every Sunday after church.
07:17And we were just like, all right, yeah, we're here.
07:20Opus.
07:21Yeah.
07:22It's the compound.
07:23Yeah.
07:24Moretti's compound.
07:25Moretti's compound.
07:26I forget the story about it.
07:28Do you remember?
07:29Oh, yeah.
07:30There's, like, a woman who owned this place.
07:34Oh, wait, the place we shot.
07:36Yeah.
07:37Different colorful events might have occurred at this place.
07:40Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:42Yeah.
07:43It's sort of between Santa Fe and Los Alamos.
07:46It was, I think, a horse, ranch, horse farm, but quite a lovely place.
07:53Probably not at the best time of year.
07:56Definitely not snowing.
07:58So cold.
07:59Snowing, very cold, and, you know, very, very arid, dry landscape for the most part.
08:06But we got a lot of snow and a decent amount of mud as well.
08:10That was a fun trip down memory lane.
08:12Yeah, I agree.
08:13I think we did a pretty good job.
08:14I have to agree.
08:15I said I was.
08:16Yes.
08:17Yes.
08:18Yes.
08:19Yes.
08:20Yes.
08:21Yes.
08:22Yes.
08:23Yes.
08:24Yes.
08:25Yes.
08:26Yes.
08:27Yes.