#149: As a Los Angeles-based film location scout/manager who’s been in the business for nearly 30 years, Rick Schuler has found lots of streets and buildings in downtown L.A. that can look like lots of other places.Places like Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Italy and Colombia. And different time periods too — like 1960s-era L.A. (for the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and L.A. in the “near future” (for the 2013 film Her).Schuler’s other film credits include Seven (1995), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), A Star Is Born (2018), and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019). All of them were filmed, at least partially, in and around L.A.Maybe more than other cities, Schuler says, “L.A.’s very adaptable to pass as a lot of different places.”
But why?