Films

Lights, Camera, Boston!

We are proud that our opulent architecture and ballrooms have taken center stage in many feature films and television series over the course of our rich history. You will recognize plenty of star power and popular productions from the list below, all shot on location with our grand hotel as the backdrop.

2022

Spirited

A new holiday classic! The Apple Original starring Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, and Octavia Spencer is a musical version of Charles Dickens’s story of a miserly misanthrope who is taken on a magical journey. It was truly Christmas in July: our grand lobby and front desk were decked with sparkling trees and glittering garland for the summer production.

2023 & 2022

Julia

The Max series “Julia” is inspired by Julia Child’s extraordinary life and her long-running cooking show on Boston’s WGBH station, “The French Chef.” Our hotel had the pleasure of starring in both seasons. In season 1, the Presidential Suite and exterior acted as the Fairmont Nob Hill in San Francisco, and our gilded lobby and Oval Room hosted a gala celebration with actors Sarah Lancashire, David Hyde Pierce and Bebe Neuwirth in attendance. In season 2, production used two more ballrooms for pivotal scenes: Singleton and St. James.

2021

Don’t Look Up

Directed by Adam McKay (“The Big Short” and “Succession”), this big-budget film from Netflix is about two low-level astronomers who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet earth.

The crew and actors, including top-billed stars Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tyler Perry, took over the hotel for three days, filming key scenes in many spaces: our restaurant, OAK Long Bar + Kitchen, a luxury suite, our back-of-house banquet kitchen, and exterior shots at our hotel entrances. Fairmont Copley Plaza played the part of a Washington D.C. hotel named The Buchanan.

Fun fact: production used OAK Long Bar + Kitchen’s own furniture and tableware to shoot an ‘end of the world’ looting plot point.

2019

Little Women

Our Grand Ballroom had a starring role in this star-studded adaptation of “Little Women”, directed by Greta Gerwig. The space was dramatically transformed into a New Year’s Eve party scene featuring the characters Amy March and Laurie, played by Florence Pugh and Timothée Chalamet. The movie put Boston and Massachusetts in the spotlight as a production hot spot: see all the locations in this Film Tourism Map created by the Massachusetts Film Office.

2013

American Hustle

This Oscar-nominated movie featured Christian Bale and Amy Adams dancing in our grand lobby and enjoying a date night filmed in our Singleton Room.

Fun fact: our beloved Canine Ambassador at the time, Catie Copley, roamed free around the set during filming because the director, David O. Russell, was a big dog lover.

2011

Zookeeper

Kevin James, Rosario Dawson and Leslie Bibb star in this fantasy comedy movie about an unlucky zookeeper and the talking animals at his zoo who break their silence to help him find love. All three actors are seen walking out of our main hotel entrance following a party scene.

2008

Bride Wars

Although “Bride Wars” was set in New York, and the wedding scenes were scripted as taking place at our sister Fairmont property, The Plaza Hotel, they were actually shot here at Fairmont Copley Plaza. Our hotel acted as a beautiful stand-in for The Plaza Hotel because both were designed by the same architect and look ornately similar. Kate Hudson’s ceremony took place in our Venetian Room and Anne Hathaway’s ceremony was in the St. James Room.

Fun fact: Kate Hudson would play the grand piano in our restaurant when she had downtime in between scenes.

1999

Boondock Saints

Fairmont Copley Plaza makes a cameo as Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus run past the hotel’s St, James entrance. In this cult classic, the actors play two Irish Catholic brothers who become vigilantes and wipe out Boston’s criminal underworld. It was filmed entirely on location in Boston.

1998

Next Stop Wonderland

“Next Stop Wonderland” stars Hope Davis, Alan Gelfant, Holland Taylor and Philip Seymour Hoffman in this romantic comedy. Hope and Alan play two Boston residents who don’t know each other, but they share a frustration: their romantic lives. Hope and Holland’s characters filmed a mother-daughter lunch scene dining in our restaurant.

1993

The Firm

Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris and Holly Hunter star in this thriller. Tom plays a young lawyer who joins a prestigious law firm only to discover that it has a sinister dark side. In the opening scene, he walks into our St. James entrance from Copley Square and down Peacock Alley.

Fun fact: our then Director of Catering played the coat check girl in the opening scene.

Entertainment at Fairmont Copley Plaza:

Spirited (2022)
Confess, Fletch (2022)
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (2022)
Julia (2021)
Dexter: New Blood (2021)
Don’t Look Up (2021)
Little Women (2019)
The Equalizer 2 (2018)
Live By Night (2017)
The Forger (2014)
American Hustle (2013)
That’s My Boy (2012)
Zookeeper (2011)
The Company Men (2010)
Bride Wars (2009)
My Best Friend’s Girl (2008)
Stolen! (2005)
Boondock Saints (1999)
Next Stop Wonderland (1998)
Blown Away (1994)
The Firm (1993)
Starting Over (1979)
The Brink’s Job (1978)