Valley Girl is a remake of that 1983 musical movie with Nicholas Cage directed by Clay Weiner. This 2020 remake was directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg in association with Paramount Pictures and MGM under the Orion Pictures brand.
The movie follows Julie Richman, the stereotypical California Valley Girl —hence the name— who falls in love with a punk. The movie, like many from the covid pandemic got hit and the theatrical release was very limited.
Today, we will take a look at the filming locations for this movie that takes inspiration from the original 1983 flick. We are going to take a trip to sunny California and explore Valley Girl’s filming locations.
Valley Girl Filming Locations
This remake takes place in Califonia, and why wouldn’t it? The movie is about a love story in California between a pink peppy girl and a dark punk with a feisty and rowdy lifestyle. Shot between May and July 2017 the movie fell behind in post-production, then got hit by the covid pandemic and saw a very limited theatrical release due to lockdowns.
This movie was filmed entirely on location in LaLa Land, we’re talking about Los Angeles, Encino, and Van Nuys. Vibrant places are the Mecca of cinema today.
Los Angeles, California
When you think of movies, you think of Los Angeles, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Boulevard, and all those areas. You think of the Hollywood Stars Walk, the Chinese Theater, and many more. And that’s exactly where the cast and crew take us, to the bright, sunny side of Los Angeles.
In a movie like this one you don’t see the poor side of Los Angeles, the beggars, the tent cities, and the crime rates, none of that because this movie takes us to a fantasy world where Los Angeles is posh and cool.
In fact, Valley Girl is a movie far removed from the social realities and challenges that people have to go through, and that includes stuff like poverty, gridlock, and burglaries. Still, that doesn’t make Los Angeles any less attractive and any less a magnet for worldwide tourism.
Also Read: I Came By Filming Locations: Why Were Those Locations Chosen?
Van Nuys High School, Los Angeles
Located at 6535 Cedros Avenue, is a public high school that opened up its doors in 1914, it was at the time the only school in the San Fernando Valley, and it makes sense that our lead protagonist goes to school there.
Many famous celebrities studied in Van Nuys High School, from singer and songwriter Paula Abdul, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Academy Award-winner Robert Redford, journo Ted Robbins, Major General of the Army John K. Singlaub, and actress Natalie Wood.
But that’s not all, because Van Nuys High School has been a longstanding filming location for all sorts of movies, not just Valley Girl; I’m talking about classics like Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Stephen King’s horror movies Sleepwalkers and Christine, Class Act with Kid ‘n Play, Kim Basinger’s My Stepmother is an Alien, music videos like Vitamin C’s “Graduation Song and series like the CBS spinoff to The Big Bang Theory “Young Sheldon” or HBO’s Winning Time.
Encino, Los Angeles, California
Encino is one iconic neighborhood in Los Angeles. Located in the San Fernando Valley, it is here where most of the romance action between our lead protagonist and her male romantic interest takes place. Encino is your quintessential Los Angeles middle-class neighborhood.
Filled with healthcare facilities, long sidewalks, beaches, lots of oak wood trees —Encino means “oak”—, strip malls, restaurants and parks, Encino is the kind of place where Californians, and mainly middle class Californians from Los Angeles like to kick things out a bit.
It’s the birthplace and stepping stone city for the career of many celebrities like the late talk show host Johnny Carson, Steve Allen, singer and songwriter Marc Anthony, rapper and actor Ice Cube, and actress Lisa Kudrow, and is the place where people like John Travolta, Richard Pryor, and Slash.
No Valley Girl remake could possibly be done in any other place than in the San Fernando Valley of California and the surrounding metropolitan Los Angeles area, home to the Valley Girl cultural stereotype, the Hollywood lifestyle, and the quintessential cultural staple of the cinematographic patrimony that the film industry represents.
Also Read: Empire Strikes Back Filming Locations: Where Was the Adventure Movie Shot?
