Here's what 15 iconic Oscar movie destinations look like in real life
- When movies are nominated for Academy Awards, they immediately go down in pop culture history.
- Sometimes, the movie becomes so popular that people flock to its filming locations to try and recreate the movie magic.
- One superfan of "Call Me By Your Name" traveled around northern Italy to match stills from the movie with the real-life locations.
The Oscars are upon us — the awards show airs on Sunday, March 4, 2018.
No matter what you actually thought of the films, it's hard to argue that once a movie claims the designation of "Oscar nominated," it becomes that much more famous. And it's not just the movie that gains popularity — its filming locations often become travel hotspots.
We chose 15 iconic Oscar nominees and winners throughout the years, and matched up their filming locations with what they look like in real life.
Keep reading to see how filmmakers turned a desert into Mars, or to see how one movie shut down the busiest train station in the world to stage a musical number.
Iconic musical "Moulin Rouge!" takes place in early 20th century Paris.
Baz Luhrmann's musical "Moulin Rouge!" lives on forever as one of the most romantic movies of all time. The forbidden love story of Christian, a writer, and Satine, a singer/courtesan with big dreams, was nominated for eight Oscars in 2002 and won two: Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.
Even though the Moulin Rouge in the movie shuts down, the real Moulin Rouge is still open to the public today.
The Moulin Rouge, located on the outskirts of Paris' Montmarte neighborhood, is still relevant today — it even made an appearance on "The Bachelor" this season.
It might be an overrated tourist attraction, but it's still a must-see for fans of the musical. Be warned though, tickets are €87 ($106), so it's definitely an expensive evening activity.
"Call Me By Your Name" declares its setting as "Somewhere in northern Italy" in its first scene.
"Call Me By Your Name" tells the story of Elio and Oliver's life-changing summer romance while Oliver is helping Elio's father (a professor) with a history project. This scene of the two visiting an excavation site with Elio's father was shot in Sirmione, a town on the coast of Lake Garda.
"Call Me Be Your Name" is nominated for four Oscars this Sunday.
That somewhere was around Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy.
Lake Garda is beautiful — in "Call Me By Your Name" the water is almost impossibly blue. It's also just over 60 miles from two other important cities from the movie, Bergamo and Crema.
A fan actually traveled around northern Italy to follow in the main characters' footsteps — you can take it a step further by buying the Perlman family's villa for a cool $2.7 million. It's currently on the market.
"The Descendants" prominently featured Hawaii's lush beauty.
The movie, about a father dealing with the aftermath of his wife falling into a coma, was nominated for five Oscars in 2012, winning one for Best Adapted Screenplay.
The view that the King family overlooks is in the Kipu Ranch on Kauai.
Kipu Ranch has been used in many films besides "The Descendants," such as "Jurassic Park" and "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark."
The privately-owned cattle ranch, which covers 3,000 acres on the island of Kauai, was established in 1872 and now offers tours and outdoor activities.
"The Revenant," a brutal tale of survival in uncharted wilderness in 1823, was filmed in Kananaskis Country, Canada.
"The Revenant" will always be known for being the film that won Leonardo DiCaprio his first Oscarafter five previous nominations.
It was nominated for 11 other Oscars, winning Best Director and Best Cinematography, in addition to Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Kananaskis Country is located in western Canada, at the foothills of the Canadian Rockies.
BGSmith/Shutterstock
The Kanaanaskis Country park system, which covers a whopping 988,421 acres, contains multiple parks, ski resorts, campgrounds, and plenty of activities for both winter and summer, like skiing, dog sledding, snowmobiling, hiking, and biking.
"Mad Max: Fury Road" portrayed the world as a desert wasteland.
"Mad Max: Fury Road," which delves into what the world could potentially become after a nuclear apocalypse, could go down in history as the best action movie of all time.
The Academy agreed. It was nominated for 10 Oscars in 2016 (right behind "The Revenant"), and won six — the most of the night.
The desert world of "Mad Max" is actually the Namib Desert in Namibia.
Namibia's Namib Desert is the oldest desert on Earth. It's beautiful but desolate, making it the perfect backdrop for "Fury Road" — especially because the movie used as little CGI and green screen as possible.
If a trip to Namibia isn't in the budget this year, US fans of the "Mad Max" franchise build their own post-apocalyptic world in the Mojave Desert in California every year for Wasteland Weekend.
"Coco," the latest classic from Pixar, takes place in Mexico on El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
We called "Coco" a "fantastic family-friendly feast for the eyes and the heart" and it's in part thanks to the vibrant colors, sounds, and traditions of the Mexican holiday of El Día de los Muertos it centers around.
"Coco" is nominated for two Academy Awards on Sunday: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.
The Day of the Dead is celebrated throughout Mexico and is one of the country's most important holidays.
Día de los Muertos honors those who are no longer alive by inviting them to visit the people they left behind in early November. People in Mexico (and around the world) observe the holiday with offerings of food, flowers, and music for the dead, as well as skeleton costumes and candy for the living.
See more breathtaking photos of the festival throughout the country here.
"Brooklyn" turned back time to show audiences what Brooklyn, New York, looked like in the 1950s.
While much of "Brooklyn," a coming-of-age tale of a young woman who leaves her small town in Ireland for America in the '50s, was shot in Montreal, there's no replacing Coney Island. The iconic amusement park is still open 60 years after the film takes place.
"Brooklyn" was nominated for three Oscars in 2016 for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture.
Coney Island is more than just a beach — it's an American landmark.
Coney Island, which started out as a seaside resort in 1824, boasts miles of sandy beaches, a lengthy boardwalk, and amusement park rides, but is also home to the most famous hot dog eating contest in the world, the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team, and the New York Aquarium.
"Braveheart" is an epic war film about the First War of Scottish Independence in the 13th and 14th centuries.
"Braveheart" filmed entirely on location in Scotland, Ireland, and England.
The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 1996 and won five, including Best Picture.
In February 2018, a sequel was announced called "Robert the Bruce." It will take place immediately after "Braveheart" ends.
It filmed entirely on location: the Scottish Highlands it spent a lot of time in are truly breathtaking.
"Braveheart" was so popular that it still inspires people to travel to Scotland to this day — there are tours based on locations in the movie.
The annual number of visitors to the William Wallace Monument (Wallace is the titular Braveheart) increased from 66,000 to 167,000 the year after the film's release, which some call the "'Braveheart' Effect."
"Lady Bird" is a moving coming-of-age story that doubles as a love letter to Sacramento, California.
"Lady Bird" is semi-autobiographical — director Greta Gerwig also grew up in Sacramento at the same time, went to a private Catholic high school, and moved to NYC after graduation. But, according to Gerwig, "nothing in the movie literally happened in my life, but it has a core of truth that resonates with what I know."
"Lady Bird" is nominated for five Oscars this weekend, including Best Director — just the fifth movie ever to have a female director nominee.
Sacramento is an often overlooked city in California, but it has its merits.
In 2015, the Huffington Post named Sacramento one of five "secretly cool" cities in America. And it's hard to argue — it's cheaper than the Bay Area, but still relatively close, and has a great food and coffee scene.
Surprise hit "Slumdog Millionaire" filmed throughout India, including in Mumbai and at the Taj Mahal.
"Slumdog Millionaire" brought Bollywood-style films to the mainstream when it was released in 2008. The film's final musical sequence set to "Jai Ho" was filmed at a functional train station in Mumbai.
"Slumdog Millionaire" was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2009 (twice for Best Original Song for "Jai Ho" and "O...Saya"), and ended up winning eight.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the setting for the end credits musical number set to "Jai Ho," is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is a beautiful example of Victorian gothic architecture located in Mumbai. The station was built in 1888 after 10 years of construction.
It's one of the busiest train stations in the entire world - three million commuters pass through the station daily.
"La La Land" shot all over the Los Angeles area, but an especially memorable scene took place on a pier where Ryan Gosling's character sings and dances with an older couple.
"La La Land" was the runaway hit of 2016 — the film emulated classic movie musicals to sell a feeling of nostalgia.
The film was nominated for 14 Academy Awards — it shares the all-time nomination record with "All About Eve" and "Titanic." It went on to win six statues, but what we all remember is when "La La Land" was mistakenly announced as the winner of Best Picture, when the winner was actually "Moonlight."
The pier in question is the Hermosa Beach Pier, located in the beachfront city of Hermosa Beach.
Hermosa Beach is one of three "Beach Cities" outside of LA. The other two are Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach.
According to TripAdvisor, visiting the pier is the number one thing to do in Hermosa Beach.
"Forrest Gump" sees the titular character travel all across the world, but the perhaps most heartwarming part of the movie is when Forrest reunites with childhood best friend Jenny in Washington, DC.
"Forrest Gump," which centers around the life of Forrest, a slow-witted man from Alabama, has no shortage of famous scenes that have become embedded in pop culture. But the moment when Jenny spots Forrest speaking at an anti-war rally and runs through the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial will live on forever as a touching, truly memorable scene.
To really get the full effect of this scene, watch it here.
The Lincoln Memorial has its own reflecting pool.
The Lincoln Memorial is located on the National Mall: it's one of the most famous monuments in America.
The memorial was dedicated in 1922, and since then has seen some pretty amazing things, like Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
"Les Misérables" is the film adaptation of the legendary musical of the same name.
The film version of "Les Miserables, " set during the French Revolution, is famous for the way the songs were recorded — there was no lip-syncing. All of the songs were recorded live at the time of filming, which is extremely rare.
The film won three of the eight Oscars it was nominated for: Best Supporting Actress, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Soundmixing.
Even though "Les Miserables" takes place in France, it was filmed in the UK. One of the film's final scenes was filmed at the Winchester Cathedral in England.
The Winchester Cathedral, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, was the site of Eponine and her adopted father Jean Valjean's emotional reunion at the end of the film. It is still operational today, and offers tours and seminars.
Famous author Jane Austen is buried at the Winchester Cathedral, and her grave is open to the public.
"The Pursuit of Happyness" takes place in San Francisco and filmed throughout the city.
"The Pursuit of Happyness" is the inspirational true story of Chris Gardner, a successful businessman who struggled with poverty and homelessness at the beginning of his career.
Will Smith — who acted opposite his real-life son Jaden — was nominated for Best Actor in a Lead Role for his starring role in the 2006 film.
Crissy Field in San Francisco has a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, and has since become what most people think of when they hear San Francisco.
Crissy Field opened in 2001, and is a popular spot for locals and visitors alike to walk, ride bikes, and take in the views.
The otherworldly film "The Martian" had to get creative when filming scenes that took place on Mars.
"The Martian" stars Matt Damon as astronaut/botanist Mark Watney, who gets left behind on Mars after being presumed dead by his team. Since most of the film's story takes place in space, choosing a location that could realistically double as the red planet was important.
"The Martian" was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 2016, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Production Design, though it won none.
The Jordanian desert Wadi Rum was chosen to transform into Mars.
The Wadi Rum desert has played Mars before, in both "Red Planet" and "The Last Days on Mars."
According to production notes of "The Martian," the production designer said the desert is "uncannily similar to Mars in its reddish orange hues."
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