Sartaj Singh
Helmed by Jake Kasdan, ‘Red One’ is an action comedy in which Santa Claus’ chief security advisor, Callum Drift, and a bounty hunter, Jack O’Malley, team up to rescue the not-so-jolly mythical man, code-named Red One. Featuring a star-studded cast including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Chris Evans, and J.K. Simmons, the Christmas movie creates a fantastical world of mythical creatures and landscapes brought to life with imaginative twists. The North Pole is an industrial city that appears capable of cranking out enough toys for the world population, and an alternate reality creates backgrounds beyond those of the natural world.
Red One Filming Locations
‘Red One’ was primarily filmed in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area, Georgia, and partially in Oahu, Hawaii. Principal photography began in early October 2022 and was wrapped up by early February 2023 in Atlanta. Shooting continued for ten more days in Hawaii in May 2023. During filming, controversy arose over Dwayne Johnson being hours late to set, which reportedly delayed the completion of the film.
Johnson addressed the issue and acknowledged it was partly true but blown out of proportion. He did confirm his use of water bottles as makeshift urinals to save time on set. His costar, Chris Evans, attributed his slight tardiness to his daily morning workout schedule, which became a part of the shooting timetable. He also revealed that the team had a cast and crew raffle every Friday and that Johnson would raise the amounts exponentially with his donations. He reportedly gave away over $100,000 by the end of filming, raising team morale.
Atlanta Metropolitan Area, Georgia
Filming for ‘Red One’ was mainly carried out at a studio location and on closed sets in Atlanta. Some on-location shooting was conducted at sites across the city, including in Dunwoody. The Children’s Museum of Atlanta, located at 275 Centennial Olympic Park Drive Northwest, served as a vibrant shooting location. The museum became the giant toy store visited by Callum and Jack through a portal. “We loved your museum and thank you guys for being so wonderful to work with. Your museum will become our ‘portal’ to a lot of amazing Christmas magic in our film.” wrote Johnson in an X post.
The production crew was also seen around Inman Village Townhomes on 200 Montag Circle Northeast in the Inman Park area at the heart of Atlanta. To simulate the fantastical backdrops of the movie, the production team reportedly constructed two large sets, one of which included a jungle beach. The mall sequence in the film involving Santa was filmed at the Perimeter Mall at 4400 Ashford Dunwoody Road in Dunwoody. The mall was completely decked out in Christmas paraphernalia to simulate the festive season time when their adventure takes place.
Oahu, Hawaii
A filming unit was dispatched to Hawaii’s third-largest island of Oahu to shoot some backgrounds and sequences of ‘Red One.’ Of the lead cast, it appears only Chris Evans flew to Hawaii. A bustling, verdant backdrop involving some of Jack’s scenes was captured at the University of Hawaii campus at 2500 Campus Road in Honolulu, the state capital. One of the bright shopping areas seen in the movie is actually SALT At Our Kaka’ako, a commercial center on 691 Auahi Street.
The film crew moved out of the city and headed north to roll cameras across cinematic terrain. Some landscape shots were captured with the stunning forest and beach views of Secret Island, a popular tourist spot north of Waikane. The Kaena Point State Park, situated on the northwestern tip of the Island, provided a jaw-dropping coastal expanse for filming, with a combination of golden sands, volcanic rocks, and lush greenery covering jagged mountains.
