Under the direction of Pierre Morel, “Taken” is a 2008 crime action thriller film about Liam Neeson’s character, Bryan Mills, an ex-CIA agent whose teenage daughter Kim and her best friend are kidnapped by Albanian human traffickers while she is on vacation in Paris. Bryan is forced to use his past talents and abilities, so he travels to Paris and defies gravity to find the kidnappers and make them pay for their crimes. Regarding “Taken 2,” Olivier Megaton directed the film in 2012.
“Taken 2” is a follow-up to the original film and the second part of the “Taken” trilogy. It features Liam Neeson repeating his role as Bryan Miller, a man who takes his family on vacation to Istanbul. He has no idea, though, that the father of one of the men he killed in “Taken” is seeking retribution and will finally be captured with his wife. Given that “Taken” and “Taken 2” are set amid the beautiful and energetic streets of Paris and the historically significant and culturally diverse neighbourhoods of Istanbul, respectively, it seems sense that many of you would be curious as to whether or not these films were shot on location.
Taken and Taken 2 Filming Locations
Both “Taken” and “Taken 2,” the sequel, were mostly filmed in Los Angeles County, California; the majority of the former was shot in Paris, France, and the second part was done in Istanbul, Turkey. The filming of “Taken 2” began in October 2011 and ended in January 2012, three months after the filming of “Taken,” which took place between February and late May 2007. Now let’s explore every single place that was used for filming in the two parts!
Paris, France
Paris was used extensively for filming major scenes in both “Taken” and “Taken 2,” as the filming unit made the most of the city’s streets and neighbourhoods. Let’s first have a look at the Parisian settings that are included in the first installment of the movie series. The Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Roissy-en-France, which is 23 km northeast of Paris, is said to have been the site of filming for the airport sequences, which include the scene where Kim lands in Paris. Furthermore, Kim stays in an unoccupied flat in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, northwest of the Palais de Chaillot, at 9 Avenue d’Eylau.
Bryan meets Square du Vert-Galant at 15 Place du Pont Neuf and Jean-Claude at 99 Avenue des Champs-Elysées. Bryan rents a car from CarGo Location de Véhicules – La Garenne Colombes, located at 5 Rue Léon Maurice Nordmann in La Garenne-Colombes, in order to carry on his daughter’s search. He asks numerous prostitutes near Porte de Clichy and even ends up bugging one of the pimps.
Bryan’s friend runs the hotel, Hôtel Camelia International, at 3 Rue Darcet, which is located just west of the Place de Clichy. It is there that he takes the girl wearing the jacket. The Toupary Restaurant, located in the Samaritaine building on Quai du Louvre, was the location of the scene where Bryan is being watched from a van outside the restaurant. Regretfully, the restaurant has permanently closed. The main character can even be seen perched atop the Gothic tower of the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois Church, located in Paris at 2 Place du Louvre.
In Epinay-sur-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, the filmmaking unit apparently also set up shop at Epinay Studios, formerly known as Studios Eclair. The film studio complex, which consists of two distinct buildings, provides the amenities required to meet the needs of various production types, including “Taken.” Rue Saint-Louis en l’Ile at Quai d’Anjou, Jardins du Louvre, cloître Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois at 13 Rue des Prêtres Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, a grand mansion in Ile Saint-Louis, the Pont de Sully, Quai Henri IV, and Pont des Arts, which is next to the Louvre, are just a few more locations in Paris and its environs that have been transformed into film sets.
The production crew of “Taken 2” used the studios of Paris, located at 20 Rue Ampère in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, or Cité du Cinéma. The film studio complex has nine distinct sound stages spread across 102,000 square feet. It also has dressing rooms, production offices, workshops, and plenty of parking, all of which are necessary for a successful production.
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County was used as a main production location for both “Taken” and “Taken 2,” just like Paris was. For example, Bryan’s flat was located at 4660 Kester Avenue in Sherman Oaks, and Lenore and Kim’s opulent home was located at the Fremont Mansion, 56 Fremont Place in the Hancock Park neighbourhood. In the movie “Taken,” Bryan gets a karaoke machine at 6630 Hollywood Boulevard #B near Cherokee Avenue in Central Hollywood from Hightech Electronics.
Bryan also gets some of his images developed at Valley Stores, located at 11418 Moorpark Street in North Hollywood. The scene in the restaurant where Kim begs Bryan to let her go to Paris was filmed in and near 33 Taps on Hollywood Boulevard. In reality, the scene where Kim leaves the airport was recorded at 1 World Way, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
The actors and crew of “Taken 2” visited more locations outside of Los Angeles, including the Malibu Farm Pier Cafe at 23000 Pacific Coast Highway Building C and the Inglewood DMV Office at 621 North La Brea Avenue. They were even observed filming sequences at the Olympic Car Wash, located at 3554 West Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Istanbul, Turkey
The whole “Taken 2” production crew journeyed to Istanbul, a significant metropolis in northwest Turkey, in November 2011. For a short while, they occupied various areas of the Grand Bazaar in order to film some crucial scenes for the Liam Neeson film. Additionally, a number of other outdoor shots were filmed in the vicinity of Ragıp Gümüşpala Caddesi and Profesör Sıddık Sami Onar Caddesi.
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