Naman Shrestha
Written and directed by Brian Helgeland, Paramount+’s ‘Finestkind’ is a crime thriller movie that follows two estranged brothers — Tom and Charlie — who finally catch up with one another as adults. Given the difficult financial circumstances, the brothers have no other option than to join hands with a violent crime syndicate. Meanwhile, a young woman named Mabel also finds herself pulled into the middle of all the chaos.
Now, in order to come out of this perilous situation, all the individuals involved must make certain sacrifices while their bonds are tested to the limit. The mystery film features impressive onscreen performances from a talented ensemble cast, comprising Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, Jenna Ortega, and Tommy Lee Jones. With much of the story unfolding in the open waters and inside the titular ship, the viewers tend to have questions regarding the filming locations of ‘Finestkind.’
Finestkind Was Filmed in Massachusetts
‘Finestkind’ was filmed in Massachusetts, particularly in Boston, Bristol County, Brockton, Scituate, Stoughton, and Dedham. According to reports, principal photography for the Brian Helgeland directorial got underway in April 2022 and wrapped up within two months, in June of the same year. Reports also suggest that one of the crew members got a severe leg injury during the shooting, while some complained of not receiving the salary they were promised. So, let’s take a look at all the specific locations that make an appearance in the Paramount+ production!
Bristol County, Massachusetts
A major portion of ‘Finestkind’ was taped in Bristol County, which is situated adjacent to the counties of Plymouth, Norfolk, and Dukes. The city of New Bedford and the town of Fairhaven are a couple of locations that served as prominent filming sites. As for the former, the fourth level of the Elm Street Parking Garage at 51 Elm Street in New Bedford was turned into a film set, alongside Cove Street.
When it comes to Fairhaven, the filming unit of ‘Finestkind’ set up camp in a few establishments around the town, including Rasputin’s Tavern at 122 Main Street and F J Moriarty Liquors at 101 Middle Street. Moreover, several exterior scenes were lensed on Hedge Street, Union Wharf, Main and Church Streets, Scott Street, Egypt Lane, and the Fairhaven Bike Path. The renowned Fort Phoenix State Reservation at 100 Green Street and the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge, which is a bridge that connects New Bedford and Fairhaven, are another couple of production locations that feature in several scenes. They also shot the exterior scenes involving the titular ship in the Sandra Jane fishing vessel, which was renamed ‘Finestkind’ for the film.
During a conversation with Collider, the director, Brian Helgeland, was asked about his experience filming in New Bedford. He stated, “…it’s a kind of sleepy town in a lot of ways, and they made it very easy to move around and shoot and get from A to B, and company moves weren’t a big deal. It was very strange for me because when we were scouting locations, we’d go look at a house, and the location manager would say, ‘Okay, well–’ and I’d say, ‘No, not this one.’ And he’d say, ‘Okay, well I’ll keep looking,’ and I’d say, ‘No, no, go to the corner down here, take a left, and the house we need is on Durkin Street,’ or whatever I’d say to him.”
Talking about the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge scenes in the same interview, Brian elaborated, “There’s this big scene on a bridge at the end of the movie, and it’s a bridge I used to ride my bicycle over when I was 10 years old. It was like my sister would walk down to set from her house. Many times we were, like, four blocks from my sister’s house. It’s very odd. (Laughs) Very odd. I didn’t know what to even make of it a lot of the time.”
Boston, Massachusetts
A portion of the filming of ‘Finestkind’ also took place in Boston, the capital city of Massachusetts, in Suffolk County. The process of shooting in the City of Champions proved to be a fun rollercoaster journey for the director Brian Helgeland and his cast and crew. In an interview with The Cinemen, the filmmaker opened up about the experience in detail and shared some interesting titbits from the occurrences on the set. On being asked whether they faced any major difficulty recording scenes in the water, Helgeland said, “We were just as fast on the water as we were on land. Part of it is, we got lucky, very lucky with the weather. I had a great ‘water team’ around me.”
He further added, “The captain of the actual boat I had fished with when I was 23 years old and he was 19 and he was now the captain of his own boat. So, I had him with me, instead of being a curmudgeon, he was a guy that I would be like, ‘just go that way a little bit’ and he’d be like, ‘okay, I will.’” Interestingly, many of the members learnt the ropes of fishing by spending time on a commercial fishing boat for about a week. “They still weren’t completely comfortable but they knew what they were doing and they knew what everything was called and that helped a lot too,” Helgeland added.
The director stated that they got really lucky with the weather which immensely aided in ensuring the filming got wrapped up in the estimated time without any delay in the schedule and further prevented having to go over the assigned budget. Having said that, the whole process wasn’t devoid of any hiccups. Throwing light on how the crew managed to shoot the toughest scene in the film, Helgeland said, “…there’s a scene in a kitchen where the bad guy shows up to confront the crew and it’s kind of a three-ring circus of stuff going on.”
He concluded, “An odd amount of action is happening in there and, we’re in the kitchen, and the whole cast is there. One of the cast is prematurely having a baby on the kitchen floor and someone’s getting shot and people are being threatened and brothers are arguing with each other. Like I said, we’re trying to shoot it in a kitchen and have some dynamic look to it so it doesn’t feel like a bunch of people talking in a kitchen.”
Other Locations in Massachusetts
For the purpose of filming, the production team of ‘Finestkind’ also moved to several other locations in the Baked Bean State, namely the towns of Brockton and Scituate in Plymouth County as well as Dedham and Stoughton in Norfolk County. In particular, a few scenes were lensed at a cafe called Supreme Coffee & Donuts at 741 Crescent Street in Brockton. A residential property situated on Edward Foster Road in the seacoast town of Scituate, known for its beaches and rich historical heritage, also served as one of the shooting sites. A set was also constructed by the crew in a building complex in Stoughton in order to tape some sequences in the initial stage of filming.
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