Arka Mukhopadhyay
With Seth McTigue at the helm in the director’s feature-length debut, ‘Take the Night’ is a mind-bending thriller movie fraught with twists and turns. The premise conceals an elaborate birthday surprise that eventually escalates into a situation of profound gravity. To surprise younger brother Robert, older brother William assembles a veteran kidnapping crew. However, contrary to the latter’s benign plan, the criminals seek to employ their own strategy.
As William cares about his family and its luxury, he must set aside the sibling rivalry and team up with Robert to deter the rogue kidnappers from taking a drastic step. Following its theatrical release, the film garnered much attention from critics and audiences, thanks to its relatively refreshing treatment of usual genre tropes. Most of ‘Take the Night’ unfolds in urban areas, in increasingly dark and dingy places. Now, if you are wondering where the riveting movie was filmed, allow us to probe further.
Take the Night Filming Locations
‘Take the Night’ was filmed entirely in California, especially in and around Los Angeles. Although the director hails from New York City, the cast and crew seemingly found greener pasture in the Golden State. While Rainer Lipski (‘Sleepwalker,’ ‘Coyote‘) handled most of the cinematography, Julian Brown (‘The Basement,’ ‘A Christmas in New York’) took care of the production design.
For native and foreign filmmakers and producers, California’s movie production landscape is among the prime choices. The state is home to the country’s historical movie production district, which still churns many films and TV shows yearly. Moreover, the state government entices qualified filming projects by offering a 25 percent transferable tax credit. So, let us take you to the specific locations where the movie was lensed, shall we?
Los Angeles, California
Almost all of ‘Take the Night’ was taped in Los Angeles, an iconic metropolis in the eponymous valley near the coastline. The cast and crew charted the entire length of the city, filming scenes in residential areas and studio locations. For the sequences in Chad’s house, they opted to rent a property and decorate it accordingly. The process was different from the director’s early short films, where the director could use his own house, and there would be no need for dressing it up.
Furthermore, the car chase action sequence was shot over a wild night; the production unit was working with a Lamborghini model, and the director felt extremely nauseous. The pressure was intense, both literally and metaphorically, and the team sought to employ a stunt driver to overcome the tricky aspects of the scene. The crew also got hold of AKS Stages, a state-of-the-art production facility located at 9450 Chivers Avenue in the Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles. The studio features three fully-equipped sound stages and a cumulative space of over 72,000 square feet to facilitate movie and TV projects.
Read More: Is Take the Night Based on a True Story?
