2008 Woodie Awards
Fox's Prison Break in Utah. But Not for Real.
Tyler Thomsen
Issue date: 9/28/06 Section: Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
Last year, the Fox network piloted a new drama series with a theme unlike any other. Prison Break is a show about Michael Schofield and his plans to help his brother, who was framed for murder, escape from death row. Schofield went to prison himself and carried out an elaborate plan to escape with his brother and several other prisoners.
This season, he escaped and made his way to find money that was allegedly hidden by D.B. Cooper after he hijacked a plane for ransom in 1974. It was hidden in Utah.
Throughout the season, cities like American Fork and Tooele have been mentioned in episodes as the escapee's destinations to find the money. And the escaped prisoners raced against each other and the authorities to get there first.
On Monday's episode, they all arrived at the same place at the same time. The setting for the episode was mostly in Tooele, where the money was buried.
But the episode wasn't actually filmed here in Utah.
"You could tell it wasn't Tooele they were in. It didn't look anything like it," said Tyler Slack, a Tooele resident.
According to Tooele City Recorder Sharon Dawson, the city of Tooele is generally unaware of their city's involvement in the hit series and the city is not aware of any filming in Tooele for the show.
And according to Frank Park with Tooele County, they are not aware of any filming that has taken place either.
There were other places in Utah that were also involved in the plot. The agents tracking down the prisoners made stops in the FBI building in Salt Lake and used it for their local headquarters.
These scenes weren't filmed on location either.
Another obvious giveaway was the freeway they were driving on is not any freeway here in Utah.
"That show is shot totally in California," said Fox network's Amber VanDam. "Nothing in that show is shot on location."
According to VanDam, they just film it all there to save money.
Other shows and movies have had Utah as their setting, but have actually filmed on location. Disney uses the Salt Lake area to make a lot of their Disney Channel movies. The new popular teen movie "High School Musical" was filmed at East High in Salt Lake. Disney also filmed scenes for the third "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie on the Salt Flats last summer.
Other films such as "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and "National Treasure" had scenes filmed in Utah.
This season, he escaped and made his way to find money that was allegedly hidden by D.B. Cooper after he hijacked a plane for ransom in 1974. It was hidden in Utah.
Throughout the season, cities like American Fork and Tooele have been mentioned in episodes as the escapee's destinations to find the money. And the escaped prisoners raced against each other and the authorities to get there first.
On Monday's episode, they all arrived at the same place at the same time. The setting for the episode was mostly in Tooele, where the money was buried.
But the episode wasn't actually filmed here in Utah.
"You could tell it wasn't Tooele they were in. It didn't look anything like it," said Tyler Slack, a Tooele resident.
According to Tooele City Recorder Sharon Dawson, the city of Tooele is generally unaware of their city's involvement in the hit series and the city is not aware of any filming in Tooele for the show.
And according to Frank Park with Tooele County, they are not aware of any filming that has taken place either.
There were other places in Utah that were also involved in the plot. The agents tracking down the prisoners made stops in the FBI building in Salt Lake and used it for their local headquarters.
These scenes weren't filmed on location either.
Another obvious giveaway was the freeway they were driving on is not any freeway here in Utah.
"That show is shot totally in California," said Fox network's Amber VanDam. "Nothing in that show is shot on location."
According to VanDam, they just film it all there to save money.
Other shows and movies have had Utah as their setting, but have actually filmed on location. Disney uses the Salt Lake area to make a lot of their Disney Channel movies. The new popular teen movie "High School Musical" was filmed at East High in Salt Lake. Disney also filmed scenes for the third "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie on the Salt Flats last summer.
Other films such as "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and "National Treasure" had scenes filmed in Utah.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jamie Donnelly
posted 10/03/06 @ 10:35 AM MST
Actually, the entire second season of Prison Break is currently being filmed in Dallas, TX. All of the scenes in Tooele and surrounding Utah locations were filmed in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. (Continued…)
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