Universal Studios Hollywood
Backlot - Falls Lake
Falls Lake
Essentially a large outdoor water tank, this facility is used for a wide variety of large scale set construction, and for large scale water effects. It was formerly located closer to the current Psycho House location than it is now (see plan below). Falls Lake was first constructed in 1926 for the early Universal classic Uncle Tom's Cabin and was named after a massive waterfall flowing down fake "cliffs". The cliffs were made from a plaster-like material called "Hydrocal", and could be adjusted in height.
Photos (Old Falls Lake - 1926 - 1986)
Falls Lake
The area the waterfall occupied is currently taken up with the set for Site 'B' from Jurassic Park 2, adjacent to the War of the Worlds set. The waterfall used to be pumped over the steep hill to the rear of the crashed jet plane set. Between the 1920s and 1980, the cliffs were much taller than they are now. In 1980/81 the ground levels of a large area of the backlot / theme park were changed with a massive construction project. The ground level in this part of the backlot were raised considerably.
The
main features
of "new" Falls Lake are the log cabin (built for 1988's The
Great Outdoors with
John Candy and Dan Ackroyd and used in ABC's Coach)
and the massive (200 feet wide, 50 feet high) blue sky backing which
provides a backing
to the water tank.
The sky backing was built in 1986 for Jaws: The Revenge. The 2.7 million
gallon lake / tank features regularly in movies where close control
over a large body of water
is required.
Photos (Falls Lake Backdrop under construction in 1986)
The Falls Lake backdrop was built in 1986 for Jaws The Revenge. These photos are courtesy of Graham Hill.
Falls Lake Backdrop Construction
(Old) Falls Lake On Screen
- Leave It To Beaver [Friends Lake - Wally as lifeguard]
- Psycho (1960) [Swamp]
- More coming soon!
(New) Falls Lake on Screen
Because it's a large open area, with a large water tank and backdrop which can be replaced digitally with anything, Falls Lake is regularly used for large productions.
The effects team for Godzilla (1998) recreated the Hudson River here for the sequence which featured in the trailer.
Falls Lake was recently used for a massive tomb set for National Treasure: Book of Secrets with Nicolas Cage. It's also recently been used for Evan Almighty (Ark sequence) and Pirates of the Caribbean: World's End.
Seen on Screen: Universal Studios Hollywood [Falls Lake]
| Title | Released | Director | IMDB |
| Davidoff: Cool Water [Commercial] | |||
| Falls Lake | |||
| Jaws: The Revenge [Feature Film] | 1987 | Joseph Sargent |  |
| This was the first movie to use the new Falls Lake location on the backlot. | |||
| Coach [TV Series] | 1989-1997 | Barry Kemp | |
| Stage 43, Log Cabin at Falls Lake | |||
| True Lies [Feature Film] | 1994 | James Cameron | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Apollo 13 [Feature Film] | 1995 | Ron Howard | |
| Falls Lake - The splashdown at the end of the movie was shot on Falls Lake with the blue sky backdrop. | |||
| Stage 27 - Mission Control | |||
| Stage 36 - Stage kept at a low 38 degrees Fahrenheit (3.5 degrees Celsius) so that actors' breath was visible on camera. | |||
| Waterfalls: TLC [Music Video] | 1995 | F. Gary Gray | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Dante's Peak [Feature Film] | 1997 | Roger Donaldson | |
| Falls Lake, Stage 01, Underwater Tank | |||
| Deep Impact [Feature Film] | 1998 | Mimi Leder | |
| Colonial Street featured as the residential street where Leo lives. Falls Lake also featured. | |||
| Godzilla [Feature Film] | 1998 | Roland Emmerich | |
| Falls Lake (Hudson River sequence used in the trailer) | |||
| Message in a Bottle [Feature Film] | 1999 | Luis Mandoki | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Charlie's Angels [Feature Film] | 2000 | McG | |
| Falls Lake, Court of Miracles (Damn You Salazar scene) | |||
| O Brother, Where Art Thou [Feature Film] | 2000 | Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | |
| Falls Lake (flood sequence featuring CGI cow on barn roof) | |||
| The Perfect Storm [Feature Film] | 2000 | Wolfgang Petersen | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Jurassic Park III [Feature Film] | 2001 | Joe Johnston | |
| Falls Lake, Stage 01, Stage 12 [jungle rain forest set - plane crashes into tree, Tyrannosaurus vs Spinosaurus battle], Stage 18 [plane in flight - interior, dinosaur kennel set], Stage 27 [A pteranodon grabs Eric. The groups watches helplessly as Eric is carried away. Everyone scrambles to get Eric. Grant and Amanda are separated from Paul by a Pteranodon], Stage 28 [Pteranodon drops Eric into the Nest area. Eric hits hatchlings with his knapsack. Paul, in pursuit, slips and slides, lands down to nest. Paul grabs Eric, they fight their way out of the nest.], Stage 29 [rock wall observatory], Stage 44 [rock wall canyon, flooded], Stage 25, Stage 747 | |||
| The Majestic [Feature Film] | 2001 | Frank Darabont | |
| Falls Lake on the backlot for the bridge / car crash sequence | |||
| Crossing Jordan [TV Series] | 2001-2007 | Tim Kring | |
| Elm Street, Square of Warriors, Falls Lake (Season 6 Finale), Stage 27, Stage 33, Stage 36, Stage 37, Stage 41, Stage 42, Stage 43, Stage 44 | |||
| Bruce Almighty [Feature Film] | 2003 | Tom Shadyac | |
| Brownstone Street, Courthouse Square, Falls Lake, New York Street on the backlot and Stage 01, Stage 19, Stage 29, Stage 41. | |||
| Hulk [Feature Film] | 2003 | Ang Lee | |
| A new set of houses was built on Elm Street on the backlot for this movie. Banner's childhood home was built on the Falls Lake tank. These stages were used for interior scenes: Stage 01, Stage 12 [underground lab], Stage 22, Stage 23 [father's house interior], Stage 27, Stage 28 [the first floor of Bruce Banner's house], Stage 35. | |||
| Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl [Feature Film] | 2003 | Gore Verbinski | |
| Old Mexico (as Tortuga, shot during December 2002), Falls Lake, Little Europe (as Port Royal), including the exterior of Will's workshop. | |||
| The Italian Job [Feature Film] | 2003 | F. Gary Gray | |
| Falls Lake (Venice palace boathouse canal sequence) | |||
| Van Helsing [Feature Film] | 2004 | Stephen Sommers | |
| Falls Lake and stages. | |||
| Evan Almighty [Feature Film] | 2007 | Tom Shadyac | |
| Ark flood sequence shot on Falls Lake. Stage 12 (top section of the ark) and Stage 27 (entrance and lower section of the ark) were also used. | |||
| National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets [Feature Film] | 2007 | Jon Turteltaub | |
| Stage 12 (treasure room), Stage 41, New York Street (opening scenes set in 1865), Falls Lake | |||
| Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End [Feature Film] | 2007 | Gore Verbinski | |
| Falls Lake, Stage 12 (tropical island village / Singapore), Stage 23, Stage 24, Stage 28. | |||
| Shooter [Feature Film] | 2007 | Antoine Fuqua | |
| Falls Lake log cabin was blown up in a major stunt sequence. | |||
| Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [Feature Film] | 2008 | Steven Spielberg | |
| Falls Lake, Old Mexico (as Peru), Freeway Park, Stage 27 [Cemetary where Indy and Mutt find the Crystal Skull], Stage 29 [Indy's house] | |||
| Inception [Feature Film] | 2010 | Christopher Nolan | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides [Feature Film] | 2011 | Rob Marshall | |
| Shooting on Falls Lake in August 2010 - Bell tower stunt sequence in front of the bluescreen backdrop. | |||
| Wanderlust [Feature Film] | 2011 | David Wain | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| Battleship [Feature Film] | 2012 | Peter Berg | |
| Falls Lake | |||
| The Amazing Spider-Man [Feature Film] | 2012 | Marc Webb | |
| A number of the buildings on Universal's New York Street area were temporarily replaced with new facades for this production, which was filming during January 2011. The sequence where Captain Stacy and Spider-Man meet was shot on New York Street. | |||
| Falls Lake - bridge was set up in front of the bluescreen backing for the Williamsburg Bridge stunt sequence. | |||
| The Hangover Part III [Feature Film] | 2013 | Todd Phillips | |
| Falls Lake | |||
Falls Lake has also appeared on TV shows such as
- Fear Factor (TV)
- The Biggest Loser (TV) (2009)
Shooting at Falls Lake
Falls Lake On Screen
The Log Cabin
This wooden structure was built for 'The Great Outdoors' with John Candy and Dan Ackroyd (1988) and was also featured in ABC's 'Coach'. It's believed it was first built at Jaws Lake, was then moved to old Falls Lake (see plan below), where the 'Jurassic Park III' Site B set still stands behind the 'War of the Worlds' plane crash site set.
It's not known when it was moved to it's current location.
Video: The Log Cabin in it's second location at Old Falls Lake
Log Cabin
Seen on Screen: Universal Studios Hollywood [Log Cabin]
| Title | Released | Director | IMDB |
| The Great Outdoors [Feature Film] | 1988 | Howard Deutch | |
| Log Cabin | |||
| Coach [TV Series] | 1989-1997 | Barry Kemp | |
| Stage 43, Log Cabin at Falls Lake | |||
| Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult [Feature Film] | 1994 | Peter Segal | |
| Log Cabin | |||
| Desperate Housewives [TV Series] | 2004 - | Marc Cherry | |
| Colonial Street and Elm Street as well as Stage 01 [production of season 3 started on Stage 1 then moved to other stages including larger Stage 41], Stage 03, Stage 04, Stage 05. In Season 1 Episode 18 the Log Cabin appeared as Camp Hennessey. | |||
| Shooter [Feature Film] | 2007 | Antoine Fuqua | |
| Falls Lake log cabin was blown up in a major stunt sequence. | |||
It also featured in an Expedia advert about skiing.
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