something I've always wondered

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earendel · #1 Post by **earendel** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:01 am

A number of movies have used the White House interiors as sets - Independence Day, Dave, X-Men 2, and a host of others. I always wondered whether they used the actual White House or if there was some exact replica somewhere that all film studios used when they were doing interior scenes. Of course these movies were filmed before 9/11 and the ending of public tours (except by special arrangement), so maybe they could actually get access. But did they, and what about these days?

ne1410s · #2 Post by **ne1410s** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:03 am

I think the West Wing used a set previously used by some Michael Douglas film.

gsabc · #3 Post by **gsabc** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:22 am

ne1410s wrote:I think the West Wing used a set previously used by some Michael Douglas film.

"The American President" was written by Aaron Sorkin, which he morphed to some extent into "The West Wing". Rob Reiner, director of the movie, managed to get some serious time with people in the Clinton White House, to the extent of taking measurements, notes on which paintings were where, etc. The sets were reasonably accurate, with some liberties taken for visual purposes. Sorkin used the same stuff for The West Wing.

The Roosevelt room, for instance, was used frequently as a meeting room in The West Wing. As one of the changes made, the real thing supposedly doesn't have nearly as many windows into it.

nitrah55 · #4 Post by **nitrah55** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:27 am

The set used as Air Force One on the West Wing was the set used for the movie Air Force One (duh).

Interestingly (to me, anyway) WW did not have the budget to do the lighting required to simulate moving sun through airplane windows, so President Bartlet did all his flying at night.

andrewjackson · #5 Post by **andrewjackson** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 12:43 pm

I'd guess all the movies set in the White House are actually sets on sound stages. Even from before 9/11. I can't imagine film crews getting permission to take over the Oval Office or any other room in the White House for the amount of time and people that would be required. Those are small rooms in the White House.

Also, the technical requirements of filming mean that building a set is going to be way more practical and not that expensive.

IMDB says that the same White House interior sets were used for Independence Day, The American President, and Mars Attacks! All of those were filmed within a couple of years of each other.

earendel · #6 Post by **earendel** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:03 pm

andrewjackson wrote:I'd guess all the movies set in the White House are actually sets on sound stages. Even from before 9/11. I can't imagine film crews getting permission to take over the Oval Office or any other room in the White House for the amount of time and people that would be required. Those are small rooms in the White House.

Also, the technical requirements of filming mean that building a set is going to be way more practical and not that expensive.

IMDB says that the same White House interior sets were used for Independence Day, The American President, and Mars Attacks! All of those were filmed within a couple of years of each other.

After posting the question I found a site that had comments about the accuracy of the White House interior shots in various films/TV shows:

http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/special/movies.htm

So evidently none of them used the actual WH for filming.

danielh41 · #7 Post by **danielh41** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:31 pm

I took a tour of the Warner Bros. back lot in 2003, and they had a pretty convincing replica of the White House carport there. Actor John Spencer from The West Wing was outside taking a smoke break and gave all of us a wave.

I didn't think there had been any film shot in the actual White House.