Grey Man

At BRIX we’re even more excited about the release of the Netflix movie The Grey Man than we were watching the many action scenes being filmed here last summer. Prague serves not only the setting for many of the key events in the film, but also manages to quite credibly portray itself as several other cities where the story is set, including Baku, Vienna, Berlin and even Bangkok. And not only is Prague prominently featured, our own neighbourhood of Žižkov is used for so many location shots it should get its own Hollywood star.

Prague first appears about 23 minutes into the film with a funeral scene set in Baku where retired CIA agent Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) first encounters Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), the film’s psychopathic villain. In reality, this scene was filmed a few blocks from BRIX at Žižkov’s best known landmark, the Vitkov Hill National Monument commemorating the victory of the Hussites led by Jan Žižka over the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigsimund in 1420.

Although the filmmakers digitally added some Baku skyscrapers to the skyline, the Žižkov tower can be clearly seen in the background in the scene where Hansen threatens Fitzroy.

Prague’s next role in the drama starts with one of several drone shots at about the 42-minute mark, with the camera flying down Mánesova street in Vinohrady before soaring over the buildings to reveal Prague’s Art Nouveau main railway station, Praha hlavní nádraží, presented as “Vienna” (Vienna’s actual main rail station is of recent construction that began operations in 2012).

At the 48:00 minute mark in the film, another drone flyover shot filmed just 100 meters away at the Prague’s landmark National Museum is the opening scene in “Berlin”. After panning past the main 1891 neo-Renaissance building, the camera flies up and to the right to focus on the museum’s new, 1960s building next door, which serves as the “Berlin CIA station” in the film.

The Berlin TV tower near Alexanderplatz was digitally added to the skyline.

An hour and two minutes into the film Prague finally gets to play itself, with yet another dramatic drone shot beginning with a fly-under through the arches of the Charles Bridge. The action soon shifts to another Žižkov location, just a few hundred meters from BRIX at Kostnické náměstí.

This scene is also the start of the most intense and dramatic action scene in the film. Following the dramatic gas explosion in Maurice Cahil’s flat, Six escapes and engages police outside, before being seen bounding over the fence into Kostnické náměstí and stealing a police vehicle. Six is next seen a couple kilometres away, sprinting down Široká towards the Rudolfinium, before getting struck by a vehicle while running across 17 listopadu near the Vltava and finally commencing a massive firefight starting in front of the Rudolfinium.

In reality, the round oriel window that is a prominent feature of both the interior and exterior shots in this scene does not exist – it was digitally added, and a somewhat shabby looking appliance store on the ground floor was removed.

The fountain, the bench Six gets handcuffed to, and other features in the middle of square do not actually exist; all were constructed by the film’s producers. Once Six is free of the bench, he escapes, disappears, and then re-appears when a tram rolls into view with Six lying on the floor, blasting away at the kill team as the tram glides by.

This kicks off one of most epic action sequences in any film, as Six battles multiple kill teams (with assistance from Dani Miranda, driving Margaret Cahill’s armoured sports car) from a tram moving slowly through the streets of Prague, albeit in an entirely impossible sequence – from the Rudolfinium, where Tram 17 runs, he is aboard a number 11 tram with the destination “Vozovna Bohnice”, a non-existent station we assume is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Prague’s premier psychiatric hospital.

Subsequently, the tram is seen passing the Veletržní palác before crossing the Čechův most heading towards Náměstí Republiky, but then seconds later approaches the náměstí from the opposite direction before the explosive finale of the scene, as the tram is derailed and slides destructively into the pillars of the Unicredit Bank. Six of course leaps free unharmed and drives off with Miranda in the direction of the river, but a few seconds later their car is shown tearing up Vyšehradská (near Vyšehrad castle) heading towards the centre.

The next Prague scene, where the last remaining contract killer, Avik San, manages to take the thumb drive from Six and Miranda, is set at the hospital “Nemocine svatého Mikuláše” but this hospital does not exist in Prague or elsewhere in the Czech Republic and the scene was filmed at Los Angeles Center Studios in Los Angeles.

Prague’s final scene, where Six and Miranda break into a veterinary clinic to obtain supplies to dress Six’s injuries, was also filmed very close to BRIX, in a location adjacent to the Negrelliho viadukt in Karlin.

After that, the action shifts to Chateau set in Croatia but actually filmed in the Val d’Loire, and is far less interesting.

Look for our special tours of Grey Man shooting locations soon!