Bowfinger (1999)

Hey, it's Chris. And today is my birthday! Therefore, I get to pick BOWFINGER as the FILM OF THE DAY!



I took a tour of BOWFINGER film locations in LA. The pic above is in downtown LA (by Capitol Records) and the house was used as Bobby Bowfinger's house in the movie.

Before we get into more pictures, here's the trailer for the film...

After we hit Bowfinger's house, my buddy Josh and I went to the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood which doubles as "MindHead HQ" in the movie. Here's a still from Bowfinger...

And here is Josh at the same location as it looks today...

Then we motored over to Westwood Village for the theatre which hosted the premiere of Bowfinger's sci-fi epic "Chubby Rain"....

When we got there, they weren't showing Chubby Rain but some sci-fi film called "Transformers"?!

There's a great scene in Bowfinger where Bowfinger (Steve Martin) cons a pitch to Hollywood executive Jerry Renfo (Robert Downey, Jr.). The scene takes place at La Dome - an actual LA restaurant where many power lunches used to take place. Here's the scene...

At the end of this scene, Bowfinger exits the restaurant and jumps up into the air with joy about haveing a "go picture." That scene was also shot outside La Dome. Unfortunately, La Dome went out of business, but the building is still there. Here I am replicating Bowfinger's joyous jump...

The movie deals a lot with Bowfinger visiting, chasing and stalking Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy). Here is Kit's mansion with me acting like Bowfinger: yelling cut after we've secretly filmed Kit...

The most practical Bowfinger location to visit is Rae's Diner in Santa Monica - a still-operating diner. Here is the scene in Bowfinger shot in Rae's....

My friend Scott, his daughter and I were able to get the same table to eat at while in Rae's. Notice the  palm tree on the left is still there...

There’s plenty of additional locations I didn’t hit this tour – including the iconic Griffith Observatory (which I’ve been to numerous times - if you haven't been there, you should go). For most of the addresses and additional information regarding a BOWFINGER tour of LA, check out this link: http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/b/bowfinger.html#.U7m8U_ldX5w

My tour took only 2 days – thanks to my friends Josh and Scott chauffeuring me around. But, in theory, you could hit all the above locations in one day – with careful planning and minimal traffic. Either way, it only costs a tank of gas and a meal at Rae’s – well worth it, in my humble opinion.