New England Country Journal, Part___: “Mystic Pizza” — by Steve Nadis
“Mystic Pizza” was an important moment in film history, as it really launched the career of Julia Roberts. (The careers of Lili Taylor and Vincent D’Onofrio also got big boosts.) And now I’m an important part of that important moment in film history because on Wednesday I ate dinner at Mystic Pizza in Mystic, Connecticut. Julia Roberts evidently did well enough with that role that she’s no longer dishing out pizza there. The pizza itself was decent, and certainly cheesy enough, though nothing to write a cheesy screenplay about. I was also dismayed to learn that the movie was not shot at Mystic Pizza in Mystic at all but rather at a pizzeria in nearby Stonington, Connecticut. I couldn’t help wondering about that locations choice. What was the problem? Couldn’t they find anything in Toronto?
Posted by in 05:57:25
Last I checked, Toronto wasn’t on the coast, so it’s difficult to find the quaint seaside fishin port to film in.
Haven’t seen frozen Mystic pizza in the neighborhood grocer’s for awhile. I wonder why?
As far as the gals, I had the HoTs 4 the youngest- the astronomer, but haven’t found her in any more-recent flicks.
There’s always Vancouver. As for the youngest [Annabeth Gish???], she didn’t have quite the career trajectory as the others–at least that’s how it looks to this distant observer.
Film scouts occasionally run into snafus when seeking ideal locations for the shoot. Look at “21″ which is wrapping up on-location filming in Boston. One would think a film that is about MIT students would have no problem filming on that campus, but MIT officials said no, so Boston University made most of the backdrop.
Thanks Ari, I didn’t realize MIT had balked at its chance for film glory.