While in Vancouver BC I was able to watch some filming of the ABC series When We Rise. Its a story of the re-telling of the gay rights movement in the United States, beginning with the Stonewall riots in 1969. The filming in Vancouver is to actually be San Francisco in the later 1960’s.
The set up today on Carrall Street was done to show a Asian marketplace and restaurant. They brought in several palm trees and other grass huts and a bar was set up for the filming. The filming took place mostly in whats called Shanghai Alley which is located at the base of Chinatown. After filming inside the alley they then moved to the street with several old cars and several motorbikes. They filmed with several extras walking by on the sidewalk.
They then moved the filming to inside this incredibly old multi story building that looked to be in its original condition. It was an interesting sight in the area with the mixture of old and new buildings in the heart of Chinatown. The main actors Guy Pearce and Mary Louis Parker were not on set today. I heard that also appearing in the series is Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell. One of the series Executive Producers is Gus Van Sant. He was on set today and I had the opportunity to watch him work. He did the movie Elephant in Portland, Oregon in 2002 and has gone on to work on several other movies. They will continue to film more of the series in Vancouver’s Chinatown through this week.
