Naman Shrestha
Making a return to Hollywood after about two decades, John Woo wears the director’s hat for the Joel Kinnaman starrer ‘Silent Night,’ an action thriller movie. The narrative centers upon Brian Godluck, a husband and a father who leads a rather picture-perfect life with his loving family. But the celebratory occasion of Christmas Eve turns awry when his young son dies in front of his eyes by getting caught in the crossfire of a gang. Even Brian gets shot during the scuffle, a wound that costs him his voice. While in the hospital bed recovering, he makes it his life mission to exact revenge for his son’s death.
Upon recovering, Brian indulges in an intense training regime to make himself strong enough to complete his mission. When he is ready, he embarks on a vengeful journey where he fights off the members of the gang responsible for his son’s untimely demise. Although a silent film without any dialogues, it does its talking through the high-octane action sequences Woo is known for and the interesting visuals in the backdrop, making the viewers wonder where ‘Silent Night’ was shot.
Silent Night Was Filmed in Mexico
For shooting ‘Silent Night,’ the director and his team took over Mexico City in Mexico. According to reports, principal photography for the silent action film got underway in March 2022 and wrapped up in the following six weeks or so, in late April of the same year. So, let’s traverse through all the specific sites that served as the production locations for the movie!
Mexico City, Mexico
All the pivotal sequences for ‘Silent Night’ were lensed in and around Mexico City, the capital of Mexico situated in the Valley of Mexico. The production team traveled across the city and set up camp in various streets and neighborhoods to shoot important scenes, both interiors as well as exteriors. For instance, the cast and crew members were spotted by numerous onlookers and passersby recording key portions around Vivero Coyoacán or Viveros de Coyoacán, which is located in the Coyoacán borough of Mexico City. Founded by Miguel Angel de Quevedo, Vivero Coyoacán is a combination tree nursery and public park that sprawls across 38.9 hectares.
When asked about his favorite scene to film during the entire shoot in an interview with Hidden Remote, Joel Kinnaman stated, “So my favorite action sequence was like the stair sequence. I think that one is one of the coolest action sequences of all action films. We nailed that one.” Although the movie is filled with several memorable action scenes, there is a one-shot sequence involving the protagonist taking out one opponent after the other on the staircase of a warehouse, that Kinnaman talked about in detail with Entertainment Weekly.
Kinnaman explained, “It took us several days to rehearse that. We were also shooting in Mexico City. It’s at elevation, so running up those stairs was pretty gnarly. The location was a little scary. I stepped out, and I was like, oh, that’s a 60-foot drop, we should probably have a little tape there warning people. The mantra that was going through my mind the whole film was ‘no permanent injuries.'” Apart from ‘Silent Night,’ the vast and versatile landscapes of Mexico City have been featured in numerous film and TV projects over the years. Some of the notable ones are ‘Man on Fire,’ ‘God Is a Bullet,’ ‘Total Recall,’ ‘Sicario: Day of the Soldado,’ ‘The Mask of Zorro,‘ and ‘Alex Rider.’
