Hook| 1991
- Locations |
- Hawaii;
- Los Angeles, California
- DIRECTOR |
- Steven Spielberg
A misguided, sentimental gloss on the Peter Pan story, filmed almost entirely in the studio on the same soundstages at the old MGM lot as The Wizard of Oz. The old studio frontage stands at 9336 Washington Boulevard, Culver City – see it in Gone With The Wind.
Even the shots of ‘London’, and the Peter Pan statue (which stands in London's Kensington Gardens) were filmed in Los Angeles.
The few exterior shots of 'Neverland' are the Hawaiian garden isle of Kauai, with the addition of much matte painting.
Steven Spielberg returned to Kauai to much greater effect for Jurassic Park and its sequels.
The ‘Great Ormond Street’ banquet, held to honour the grown-up Wendy (Maggie Smith), was filmed in the Ballroom of the Park Plaza Hotel, 607 South Park View Street, downtown Los Angeles. The ballroom of the Park Plaza, which closed in 1998, has been seen in dozens of films, including Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York, Richard Attenborough’s Chaplin, the Coen brothers’ Barton Fink and Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, among many others. There are plans to relaunch the hotel.
The significance of Great Ormond Street is that, in 1929, author JM Barrie gave the copyright to the play of Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. For more on JM Barrie and the writing of Peter Pan, see Finding Neverland.
