Where was Elle filmed, and the place did manufacturing happen for sequence one? There are some apparent spots for frequent Stateside travellers, though it might shock many residents of 1 western Canadian area to see their neighbourhood portrayed as Seattle on display screen.
Before Elle shifts north, we’re thrown headfirst into the world of Californian glitz and glamour in all its blinding pink hues. These opening scenes stayed true to the storyline, with the grand home and the likes of Rodeo Drive enjoying main elements. On the house, manufacturing designer Laurin Kelsey mentioned: “The team found this amazing house which had the perfect setting for her Sweet Sixteen birthday party. Being the opening of the show and it being the place she wants to be so badly, it had to be like this dream – a bubblegum, bright, shiny thing that feels like her.”
Beyond California, the Canadian seaport of Vancouver served as Seattle.
On setting the sequence in Seattle, Hello Sunshine govt producer Lauren Neustadter mentioned, “Seattle was the perfect setting for this show for so many reasons and in so many ways. When we see Elle in Bel Air, she’s a fish IN water – and we needed to make her a fish OUT of water in the series. So we thought: it’s the ’90s, it’s Elle Woods, she’s all pink all the time. Where can we put her where she’s going to feel like she doesn’t belong, where can she really be an underdog? And of course, we thought about Seattle. We thought about flannel, grunge – about a world that felt inherently different in terms of its values and its ethos, and we thought this is the perfect place to take Elle Woods, to watch her struggle to figure out who she is, who she wants to be and where she belongs.”
While the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Burnaby, Canada, doubles as Bel Air High School, far more of the sequence revolved round the streets of Vancouver. Seattle Pike Place Market scenes have been shot on Granville Island, the bookstore featured is Banyen Books, the Coffee Shop is Finch’s Tea House – a buzzy hideout certain to have regulars scratching their heads after they’re streaming.
For scenes set in Seattle Park, the forged and crew descended on Vancouver’s Central Park.
Elle is on the market to watch on Prime Video now.