Want to recreate scenes from movies and TV shows at their locations? 6 places in Asia, including Hong Kong and Singapore, to be a ‘SetJetter’
- SetJetters is an app that allows users to find film and TV locations, recreate their favourite scenes and upload photos of themselves there in a ‘ShotSync’
- From Extraordinary Attorney Woo scenes on Jeju Island, Korea, to Chijmes Hall in Singapore, scene of the Crazy Rich Asians wedding, here are six in East Asia
It started with a pint in my local in London. First licensed in 1722, The Blue Anchor is beside the Thames, just along from the Victorian architectural splendour of Hammersmith Bridge. Behind the bar is a still of Gwyneth Paltrow from the romcom Sliding Doors.
Depressed that 2023 marks a whole quarter of a century since the release of that celebration of serendipity with Paltrow’s questionable British accent, I googled the name of the film and the pub.
Images of Paltrow and co-star John Hannah appeared and then, having disappeared down an internet rabbit hole, up popped a link to an app called SetJetters, with the tagline “From reel to real”.
The app aggregates locations used in major films and TV shows, letting users find a scene on a global map, then upload their own photo from the location in what is called a “ShotSync”, as they recreate the image. Users can also submit details of locations, films and shows, growing a global community in the process.
Seattle-based filmmaker Erik Nachtrieb is one of the app’s co-founders. They came up with the idea during the Covid pandemic, when, unsurprisingly, filmmaking all but stopped.
“We knew that film tourism was a thing, as we’d seen it everywhere,” says Nachtrieb. “When you go to Pike Place market in Seattle, the first thing they tell you is that Sleepless in Seattle was shot there. SetJetters actually started out as a show pitch called ‘Beyond the Frame’ as we built an app to promote the show, but quickly realised there was clearly a market for it.”
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It’s difficult not to get hooked on the app and it’s easy to see why the founders refer to it as ‘The Pokemon Go of movie locations’, especially as users can collect badges based on their travels.
“It validates where you live or, if you’re travelling, the visualisation evokes a real emotional attachment to a destination,” Nachtrieb says. “People really want to go there.”
SetJetters has incorporated a flagging system for a destination, to ensure that if a home is private – such as the house in Astoria, Oregon, in the US, seen in the cult 1985 adventure-comedy The Goonies – people visit responsibly. There are also plans for an in-app function whereby users can donate to a heritage site or national park.
Asian TV show and film locations are increasingly being inputted by users through the “Submit a Scene” icon, and although the app is currently only in English, plans are afoot to launch what Nachtrieb calls “localised” versions, starting with Chinese, Korean and Hindi.
Here are six Asian destinations included in the app and some of the scenes you can recreate as you channel your inner Andy Lau, Bill Murray or Julia Roberts.
Hong Kong
But it’s hard to beat the iconic Hong Kong backdrop from the Mid-Levels escalator overlooking Wellington Street. In 2008’s The Dark Knight, Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne and Morgan Freeman’s Lucius Fox talk with all-too-recognisable neon signs, market stalls and air conditioners behind them.
Bali
The newly divorced character played by Julia Roberts, Liz, goes on a journey of self-discovery that also takes her to Italy and India, but it was Bali that stole the show for many. Scenes in the movie included our heroine wandering through the fragrant Ubud outdoor market, hiking Mount Batur and doing plenty of yoga and meditation at what is now unsurprisingly known as the Eat Pray Love Villa.
At Padang Padang Beach, Liz is pressed to reveal her feelings. The picturesque spot with warm turquoise waters sits on the island’s rugged Bukit Peninsula.
Jeju Island, South Korea
On Jeju Island, at the foot of Mount Halla, the Gwaneumsa Temple dates back more than two millennia, although the current incarnation was rebuilt in 1912 by a Buddhist nun.
In one episode, Attorney Woo and her team visit the temple and ask a monk where they can find the treasure known as the Gwaebultaeng of Guanyin.
Tokyo
Arguably the most iconic Tokyo scene in recent years came in 2003, when Bill Murray’s perfectly cast character Bob Harris travelled to Tokyo on business and ended up befriending Scarlett Johansson’s Charlotte at the Park Hyatt Tokyo – where director Sofia Coppola had stayed when working on The Virgin Suicides (1999).
Take a seat at the famed bar and, if you’re in full Lost in Translation obsessive mode, order the ‘LIT’ cocktail with sake, sakura liqueur and cranberry juice.
Bangkok
The year 2011 brought what many considered a sequel too far, which still took more than US$500 million at the box office, as The Hangover Part 2 swept into cinemas with a chain-smoking monkey, tattoos and a musical performance – by boxer Mike Tyson.
A scene shot in Ancient City, the “world’s largest outdoor museum”, shows The Phra Kaew Pavilion, where Zach Galifianakis’ character meditates in an attempt to retrace the previous night’s events.
Much more relaxing is the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok’s Riverside Terrace restaurant, a retreat on the Chao Phraya river. When Roger Moore dined there as James Bond in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), it was under the watchful eye of the tiny evil henchman Nick Nack, played by French actor Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize.
Singapore
The Lion City’s skyline was destroyed in Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), and Ewan McGregor played Nick Leeson, the infamous investment broker at Barings Bank, in the Singapore-set Rogue Trader (1999).
But for SetJetters, it’s mainly about one film: Crazy Rich Asians. The 2018 romcom cost US$30 million to make, but brought in almost 10 times that at the box office.
