“I grew up going to back and forth to San Francisco a lot,” he says.
I had seen so much of it during different parts of my life.
stand-ins but, they made the most of the city while they could.
Here, Khan and Park break down all the places in San Francisco we left our hearts.
“I needed that side-by-side house,” Khan says.
“I needed it to look a certain way.
It’s set in the mid-’90s, so it couldn’t look too modern.
Our production design team did a great job of distressing it even more.”
“We wanted Marcus' house to feel colorful and vibrant and joyous,” explains Khan.
“His mother is there.
That’s where Sasha learns her love of cooking, and we wanted [it] to feel warm.
Conversely, she’s more of a latchkey kid, her parents aren’t home.
So we wanted her side to feel more stark.”
This meant shooting this pivotal scene on Pier 7.
“We looked at a bunch of different piers,” explains Khan.
When you turned around and looked back towards the land, I really liked the way that looked.
I knew that that shot was going to be nice with his dad coming toward them.
It felt emotional and authentic.
For Park, the location held an extra layer of significance.
“I grew up going to that pier as a kid,” he reveals.
“My folks would take me.
Whenever we’d go up to San Francisco, we’d run around the whole area.
I remember that pier.
It was really fun.”
Khan and Park have varying stories about the nightclub in question.
But Park remembers shooting at a still working club in Vancouver instead.
A club that marked a full-circle moment for fellow castmate Lyrics Born, who plays fellow bandmate Quasar.
“He actually had performed at that club not too long before,” explains Park.
“He’s still a touring musician who plays throughout the country and the world.
And he was very familiar with that spot.”
Marcus and Sasha go out for dim sum, forcing Sasha to reconsider her perceptions of her hometown.
Then, the two walk and talk through the neighborhood.
That helped, but it’s still some movie magic.
But it wasn’t exactly a great business proposition for the restaurant.
“They were like, ‘We make so much money at lunch, we’re losing money closing down.
But we love Ali so we’ll do it,'” says Khan.
“Everyone there was actual people [shopping],” Park remembers.
A lot of people recognized us, and there was a crowd forming.
Because they’re not extras.
They’re actually just people on the street."
“I just wanted to be unsettled a little bit,” Khan adds.
Park’s memories of the utilitarian space are overshadowed by it marking their first day shooting with Reeves.
“I’ve never seen a room like that before,” Khan marvels.
“That is all original to the space the floor, the fountain.
We just put a little light in the fountain so you could see the water.”
“The Fairmont was amazing.
They were very accommodating, and it couldn’t have been a better location.
I totally believe that Keanu would be staying there.”
“We saw the back secret entrance where [Kennedy] sneaked Marilyn Monroe up.
[There were these] secret nook, and we were fascinated by that place,” he remembers.
“It was a bittersweet, but a lovely place to end our production.”
Judy’s Way
All of the film’s ending New York City scenes were shot in Vancouver.
That was their last night of shooting in Vancouver, and they went big.
“We wanted it to be romantic and feel big and theatrical,” Khan explains.
“So they had that long red carpet, and we had lights all in the trees.
We had spotlights everywhere.”
Then, there’s Judy’s Way, the eatery Sasha opens dedicated to Marcus’ mother’s cooking.
There was that big long line.
When she brings Marcus to taste the soup, it’s right there.
The layout worked for what I wanted to do."
“We made reservations there.
It was very fancy.
Usually super fancy things aren’t my speed.
But it was just so different and so fun because [of] the company.
It was a special evening.”
