Where Was The Killer Actually Filmed & Which Spots Can You Visit In Real Life?
David Fincher's latest feature film, "The Killer," is as lean and mean an affair as the nameless assassin (Michael Fassbender) it depicts. The Killer lives by a strict collection of mantras and his routines are as deliberate and considered as Fincher's exacting direction. When he botches an assignment, the film turns into a revenge tale. In his brutal pursuit of victims, the Killer becomes quite the jet-setter.
Before the bloody travelogue begins in earnest, the Killer is in Paris, where much of the film's first act was shot. He sets up shop with his sniper rifle at a WeWork office across the street from the Panthéon monument in the 5th arrondissement. He also visits the McDonald's at a nearby square, the Place de l'Estrapade. During the tense escape scene, the Killer tears through Paris on his motorbike, discretely disposing of any incriminating possessions and tossing his helmet off the Passerelle des Ardennes in the 19th arrondissement.
While the exteriors were shot on location in Paris, the WeWork and the target's lavish apartment interiors were built on a soundstage in New Orleans. "We shot exteriors and then built the interiors of the apartment he was firing into," production designer Donald Graham Burt said in a press interview (via Decider). "And they were composited into existing buildings. The buildings were in the style of mid-19th century Haussmann Parisian architecture. We took those and built our own version, to have the control we needed for all the work that had to be done."
The Killer didn't really go to Florida or New York
For the next location, the Killer frantically travels to the Dominican Republic, where he traverses Santo Domingo's historic Ciudad Colonial neighborhood in his Jeep. The Killer seeks out the doomed cab driver in Ciudad Colonial's Parque Colón, also known as Columbus Park. Scenes were also shot at Santo Domingo's Las Américas International Airport, as well as La Isabela International Airport.
Next, the Killer jets off to New Orleans to greet his primary contact, Hodges (Charles Parnell), with a nail gun. In addition to the aforementioned sound stage, scenes were shot at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and outside of Ace Hardware in Belle Chasse. The exterior of the lawyer's office was shot in downtown New Orleans. The Lower Algiers to Chalmette Ferry was featured, as well. New Orleans was also used as a stand-in for the scenes in St. Petersburg, Florida (the Breaux Mart supermarket in Chalmette might be a giveaway). The production team constructed the Florida house.
New Orleans wasn't the only city that did double duty in "The Killer." The New York-set scenes were filmed in Chicago, with nearby St. Charles, Illinois, serving as Beacon. At the end of "The Killer" in Chicago, the swanky Baliquinox health club was filmed at the Midtown Athletic Club. The Killer also visited the Hyde Park–Kenwood National Bank Building. For travelers keen to recreate the Killer's globetrotting, we recommend sticking to a single passport.