Amazon Prime series ‘Reacher’ films in downtown Oshawa
Published February 9, 2023 at 2:43 pm
Downtown Oshawa was a buzz earlier this week when film crews set up camp at the old bus terminal for scenes of the popular Amazon Prime series Reacher.
The shoot attracted lots of attention from locals passing the terminal on Bond Street, located between Simcoe and Centre streets, with several snapping shots of the activity, including Oshawa Councillor Tito-Dante Marimpietri – “lots of really dynamic special effects by local systems lighting the night skies and numerous massive green screens” as well as Carolyn Christensen, who was watching it happen from her balcony overlooking Bond Street.
“It was kinda cool watching it all unfold,” she said on Facebook, while hoping (in vain) for a glimpse of the series star, Alan Ritchson.
Reacher, based on the novels written by Lee Childs, was originally a 2012 movie starring Tom Cruise (with a 2016 sequel) before Amazon Prime green-lit the series and tapped Ritchson for the lead. Set in fictional Margrave, Georgia, Reacher centres on Jack Reacher (“just Reacher”) a drifter and former U.S. Army MP who is arrested for murder and after teaming up with the only two honest cops on the local force, takes down a huge conspiracy with corrupt police officers, politicians and businessmen.
Photo by Tito-Dante Marimpietri
With an ensemble cast that includes Brampton’s Lara Jen Chorostecki in the role of Molly Beth, Series 1 was largely filmed in north Pickering on a 23-acre backlot on Sideline 2 created for the series by Jack Reacher TV Productions, who built a modern day small town on the site.
(William F. White have since bought the structures and have leased the property at least until 2030 – a deal valued at $3.5 million to Pickering in rent alone – when current plans have it being converted to a district park for the rapidly expanding Seaton community.)
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Scenes were also shot in downtown Port Perry.
Crews started setting up equipment in Oshawa Sunday before shooting Monday afternoon and evening at the former Oshawa Bus Terminal, which sold its last bus ticket November 2, 2018 and has been empty since September 5, 2020.
Several other productions have been happening in Oshawa recently, including Fubar, a film starring former Terminators Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gabriel Luna, as well as a production (so far unnamed) starring a third Terminator, Robert Patrick.
Three Terminators were in Oshawa recently shooting movies: Gabriel Luna, Robert Patrick and the former Governor of California himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Graphic supplied by James Sled