7 Famous Movies Shot In Mexico

A few months ago the newest Bond movie “Spectre” was shot in Mexico City and thought it raised a few eyebrows, the truth of it is that, director Sam Mendes chose the city and particularly portrayed a “Day of the Dead” parade for the opening sequence of the movie because he wanted the audience to be drawn to a very rich environment where “everywhere you look there is detail, there is color and life” as you can see on James Bond 007 Youtube Vlog.

That being said, you may not be aware that probably way too many of your all time favorite movies have been shot in Mexico, such as Titanic, Rambo II and even Pearl Harbour. With that in mind, we thought it would be cool to make a list of famous movies shot in Mexico within the last 15 years, here are our picks:

• Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 (2003-2004)

Thought they were released as two independent movies, Kill Bill 1 and 2 were shot as one. Director Quentin Tarantino decided to shoot the film´s main locations between L.A., Japan, China and Mexico. The final sequence where The Bride (played brilliantly by Uma Thurman) meets Bill (played by the late David Carradine) was shot in Costa Careyes, in the Costalegre (Happy Coast) region between hot vacation spots Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo on the pacific coast.

• Che (2008)

This biopic by Oscar Winning director Steven Soderbergh about the argentinian revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara (played by Benicio del Toro) was shot in many as many locations as Spain, Argentina, Bolivia, Puerto Rico and the mexican state of Campeche in the northern end of the Yucatan Peninsula.

• The Mexican (2001)

This part road movie, part thriller, part romantic comedia staring Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt tells the story of an Antique mexican gun known as “The Mexican” and after some trouble the pistol gets back to where it belongs and our two main carachters live happily forever after. Director Gore Verbinski chose Real del Catorce in the state of San Luis Potosí as the main location for the flick, thought some scenes where shot in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

• Once Upon A Time In Mexico (2003)

Director Robert Rodriguez´ “El Mariachi” Trilogy ends with this flick staring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Johnny Deep. It was shot in 7 weeks in centarl Mexico´s “Magical Towns” of San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato. Fun Fact: Sheldon Jeffrey Sands (Johnny Depp´s character) favorite food is Cochinita Pibil and he orders the yucatecan dish over and over again through the course of the movie.

• Planet Terror (2007)

Robert Rodriguez chose Mexico once again for his action horror science fiction movie, in the director´s exploitation movie double feature Grindhouse with pal Quentin Tarantino. This extremely amusing movie includes a stripper with a shotgun leg, zombie attacks, massive amounts of blood and insane action shots. The remaining humans find peace and relief when they scape the zombie apocalypse in the turquoise beaches of Tulum, Riviera Maya.

• Nacho Libre (2006)

This hilarious film staring Jack Black and mexican actress Ana de la Reguera tells the story of Ignacio a.k.a Nacho, a fryar that was raised in an orphanage in Oaxaca who decides to pursue his dream of becoming a “luchador” in order to provide good food for the children he deeply cares about. The struggle with wrestling, keeping his identity secret, his feelings for Sister Encarnación; it all adds to the funny mix. The film ends with a panoramic shot of Ignacio, Sister Encarnación and the children visiting the famous archaeological site of Monte Albán.

• Elysium (2013)

This sci-fi action thriller starting Matt Damon and Diego Luna is placed in a very polluted planet Earth and the space habitat Elysium. Off course the final mision is to get to Elysium where everybody is healthy and wealthy. We won´t tell you much of this but that the movie was shot between Vancouver but probably a 70% was filmed in different areas of Mexico City.

These are some of our favorite movies and we can´t wait until the new Bond movie is out so we can see ourselves how the great feast of the Day of the Dead was portrayed as well as our beloved Mexico City´s historial center. So maybe next time you visit Mexico you may be walking and even staying at what was once the set of a Hollywood movie.