Need A Modern Post Apocalyptic Sh*thole? Go To Pittsburgh!

By George 'El Guapo' Roush on August 7, 2008

I'm sure this doesn't amuse the city of Pittsburgh but I'm sure laughing. While I still think Los Angeles looks like a post apocalyptic wasteland, I guess it doesn't hold a candle to Pittsburgh if you want a city that's wallowing in its own bile. According to USA Today:

"It's a beautiful place in fall with the colors changing," Hillcoat says. "But in winter, it can be very bleak. There are city blocks that are abandoned. The woods can be brutal. We didn't want to go the CGI world."

The film, which stars Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron and 11-year-old Kodi Smit-McPhee, also was shot in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans and on Mount St. Helens in Washington state for scenes of devastation.

Hillcoat found abandoned coal fields, a deserted amusement park and an 8-mile stretch of closed freeway as locations.

"It's tangible, the misery and hopelessness and the bleakness," Mortensen says. "It gives you much more to work with if you're filming in that world instead of a green screen.

Well, we all know New Orleans looks like a wasteland, and I've never been to Mount St. Helens, so I'll take their word for it. But I'm just laughing at how they're saying Pittsburgh is the perfect dump if you want to film a world that looks like it was ravaged by disease and nuclear fallout.

And I'm sure the fine people of Pittsburgh don't appreciate being told they live in a city filled with misery, hopelessness and bleakness. Although if you've watched the last 15 seasons of the Pittsburgh Pirates it may not be that far off of a description.

Click HERE to read the rest of the article.

Click on the picture below to see five more photos of The Road, courtesy of USA Today. Because unlike some other blog movie websites, we actually don't mind you linking to the original source material.


Pittsburgh fans can e-mail: george@latinoreview.com That's if they're not too busy lighting torches to burn down John Hillcoat's house.

Source:USA Today

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  Comments

• Learn to Spell Thu Aug 07 at 21:45 EST

  The Pittsburgh of which you speak is spelled with an "h".

  Author: Richard | Permalink

• What about the South Bronx? Thu Aug 07 at 19:44 EST

  I live in the HuntsPoint section of the South Bronx. Go further down to the industrial area and you may never return! I'm talking about abandoned factories, wearhouses, homeless people, and furless rats and stray dogs, no shit! There are also sewage plants along with a jail in the middle of the river, but don't forget beautiful Barretto Point Park, its actually nice, brand new. But people don't really go there because of the area its in. By the way, The Road is my favorite book.

  Author: Jonathan | Permalink

• lived there, it's true Thu Aug 07 at 15:35 EST

  I lived in Pittsburgh for 8 years and the place is a dump. Major roadways are falling apart. The phone system used rotary phones and not touch tone phones up until the late 90's. No 911 service in some areas until after 2000. Houses look like they are made of 20 different building materials and are falling apart. The place is depressing. Pittsburgh has been in the top 5 cities for losing residents for the past 10 years. No-body under 30 wants to live there. I dated a girl who moved from PA and she said the reason she moved was because she couldnt date there. All the men over 25 were either drunks or lived with their mothers.

  Author: Lance | Permalink

• Pittsburgh = The End Times Thu Aug 07 at 13:08 EST

  Ha! I went to the University of Pittsburgh and spent many a liquor-fueled night wandering South Oakland's (the "college neighborhood") cracked dilapitdated streets. Schenley Park in the dead of night is the epitome of a post-apocalyptic world, complete with roving cannibals! Souf Oakland 4 life!

  Author: Kofi Outlaw | Permalink

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