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Last Holiday

Wayne Wang's remake of the 1950 Alec Guiness comedy opens 13 January in the U.S. ContactMusic.com has a snippet from Wang. The film shot at Barrandov Studios Hostivar stages and on location at the Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary. Wang says the Pupp was 'nice but sparse': 'It was a bit like (the hotel in) The Shining.'

(Personally, I think he's being a little harsh on the Pupp. Interior hotel shots for The Shining were shot at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, where I got married in 1993. I haven't been back since, but the Pupp is looking considerably better than the Stanley did at the time.)

I also visited the set for Last Holiday. Barrandov had recreated Pupp interiors at Hostivar as well as a portion of the facade of the hotel for a balcony shot. Opposite the hotel hung a huge screen backdrop of Karlovy Vary superimposed beneath the Alps. While KV plays itself in the film, the producers take advantage of certain audiences' ignorance of geography to turn it into an alpine ski resort.

posted by Theo @ 8:05 AM