Naman Shrestha
Directed by Adele Lim, ‘Joy Ride’ is a comedy movie that follows four unlikely friends who embark on an adventurous journey across countries. When a business trip of Audrey doesn’t go according to plan, she is forced to ask for help from her friends — Lolo, her childhood best friend who is a hot mess; Deadeye, Lolo’s eccentric cousin; and Kat, her college friend who is now a Chinese soap star.
Along their journey, the four friends discover what it’s like to belong, bond, and be friends, as they have a common objective in mind — search for Audrey’s birth mother in a foreign country. The comedy film unfolds in a variety of locations, including China, where the friends not only explore the places but also themselves along the way. Thus, it is only natural for you to wonder where ‘Joy Ride’ was filmed.
Joy Ride Filming Locations
‘Joy Ride’ was filmed in British Columbia, specifically in Metro Vancouver. As per reports, principal photography for the raunchy comedy movie commenced in early October 2021 and wrapped up in about a month or so, in November of the same year. Owing to British Columbia’s vast and versatile landscape, its locales stand in perfectly for other countries as well, making it a suitable filming site for different kinds of productions. Now, without much ado, let us take a look at all the specific locations that make an appearance in the film!
Metro Vancouver, British Columbia
Almost all the pivotal sequences for ‘Joy Ride’ were lensed in Metro Vancouver AKA Greater Vancouver. While the city of Vancouver, which is the urban center of the metropolitan area, served as the primary filming location for the film, the production unit did not restrict themselves from traveling to other sites of Greater Vancouver to shoot some important scenes. For instance, the airport scenes for the Ashley Park starrer were reportedly taped at the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) in the city of Richmond.
Moreover, several scenes based in China were recorded in and around Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden at 578 Carrall Street in the city of Vancouver. Situated in Vancouver’s Chinatown, it is a Chinese garden that promotes Chinese culture by giving visitors an immersive experience of being in China. Therefore, since many parts of the film are set in China, the garden served as the ideal production site to double for the Asian country.
During the early stages of the shooting schedule, the cast and crew members were spotted taping various key portions in and around Fletcher Park at 12260 Fletcher Street in Maple Ridge. The filming unit constructed some obscene and rated-R rides, which possibly turned some heads, to match the raunchiness associated with the movie. In regards to the dance sequence over the “WAP” track, Screen Rant, in an early July 2023 interview, asked the co-producers and co-writers Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao to expand on what it was like to shoot it.
After giving a shoutout to the amazing cast, comprising Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, and Sabrina Wu, that made it possible, Cherry Chevapravatdumrong said, “Those days on set were super hyped too because you can’t help it. You’re hearing that song, which is awesome, over and over and over and watching, basically, what was happening is we were just watching a full concert happen in front of us as each individual cast member did their choreography with the backup dancers. We basically saw four Beyonce concerts in a row as they all did their thing. It was amazing.”
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