List of foreign films shot in the Philippines explained

Numerous foreign films have been shot in the Philippines either partly or entirely, with the locations either representing itself or standing in for another location. This article presents a partial list of films which have used shooting locations in the Philippines sorted by year. The list exclude co-produced films with involvement of Philippine production companies.

List

Films primarily shot in the Philippines

Year	Title	Director/s	Actors	Filming location/s in the Philippines	Film setting (if not in the Philippines)	Country of origin of production companies	Note
1958	Cavalry Command	Eddie Romero	John Agar	Vigan, Ilocos Sur		United States, Philippines
1979	Apocalypse Now	Francis Ford Coppola	Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest	Baler Bay (Baler, Aurora), Baler (Aurora), Pagsanjan (Laguna), Iba (Zambales), Pagsanjan River (Pagsanjan, Laguna), Laguna, Metro Manila	South Vietnam	United States		^[1]
1984	Missing in Action	Joseph Zito	Chuck Norris	Quezon, Laguna, Cavite	Vietnam	United States
1986	Platoon	Oliver Stone	Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Keith David, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Forest Whitaker, Johnny Depp	Mount Makiling, Laguna, Cavite, Villamor Air Base near Manila	Vietnam	United States, United Kingdom		^[2] ^[3]
1990		Aaron Norris	Chuck Norris, John P. Ryan, Billy Drago, Richard Jaeckel	Clark Air Force Base, Metro Manila, Tagaytay (Cavite)	South America	United States	Although the film is set principally in South America, most of the scenes set in the fictional South American country of San Carlos and rural Colombia were shot in Tagaytay, Philippines. This explains the visibility of the Taal Volcano in some scenes.	^[4]
1999	Brokedown Palace	Jonathan Kaplan	Claire Danes, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Pullman, Lim Kay Tong	Coconut Palace (Pasay City, Metro Manila), Sanctuary Fabella (Manila, Metro Manila), Cotton Club (Pasay City, Metro Manila), Manila Hotel (Manila, Metro Manila), Manila Rendezvous (Manila, Metro Manila), Manila (Metro Manila)	Thailand	United States	Since Thailand refused the shooting of the movie in their place due to its critical view on the Thai legal system, the production was filmed most in the Philippines where it depicts Thailand instead. Ultimately, Claire Danes was banned permanently in Manila by the city council after finishing filming for remarks made about the city in Vogue and Premier.
2008	Romantic Island	Kang Chul-woo	Lee Sun-kyun	Boracay Islands (Malay, Aklan), Binondo, Manila (Metro Manila)		South Korea		^[5]
2013	Metro Manila	Sean Ellis	Jake Macapagal, John Arcilla, Althea Vega, Erin Panlilio	Manila (Metro Manila)		United Kingdom	Although Filipino language was a secondary and was shot primarily in Metro Manila, the film involved wasn't a co-production with a Philippine-based studio.	^[6]
2016	Master	Cho Ui-seok	Lee Byung-hun, Gang Dong-won and Kim Woo-bin	Binondo, Intramuros, Bulacan, Cebu		South Korea		^[7]
2016	Showdown in Manila	Mark Dacascos	Alexander Nevsky, Casper Van Dien, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Tia Carrere	Manila (Metro Manila)		United States		^[8]
2018	When the Storm Fades	Sean Devlin	Ryan Beil, Alicia Boco, Marissa Cabalja, Kayla Lorette	Leyte		Canada		^[9]
2020	The Golden Holiday	Bong-han Kim	Do-won Kwak, Dae-Myung Kim, Hee-won Kim, Kim Sang-Ho	Manila		South Korea		^[10]

Films partially shot in the Philippines

Year	Title	Director/s	Actors	Filming location/s in the Philippines	Film setting (if not in the Philippines)	Country of origin of production companies	Note
1982	The Year of Living Dangerously	Peter Weir	Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hunt, Bembol Roco	Quiapo (Manila), Banaue Rice Terraces	Jakarta, Indonesia	Australia, United States	Originally set to be filmed in Jakarta, but permission to film in Indonesia was denied, so the film was shot in the Philippines as a stand-in for Jakarta and Indonesia. However, the film was banned temporarily in Indonesia until 2000.	^[11]
1989	Born on the Fourth of July	Oliver Stone	Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J. Barry, Jerry Levine, Frank Whaley, Willem Dafoe		Vietnam	United States	Stone was unable to shot to Vietnam due to US-Vietnam relations were almost deteriorated. However, it went filming to the Philippines again like Platoon did, but was shot partially, where the location was unknown for the jungle scene as a setting.
1995	Closer to Home	Joseph Nobile		Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Pasay City, Metro Manila), Talisay (Batangas), Alaminos (Laguna), Batangas City (Batangas), Candelaria (Quezon), Lucban (Quezon), Rosario, San Juan, Taal Lake (Batangas), Tagaytay Ridge (Tagaytay City, Cavite), BLTB Bus Terminal (Pasay City, Metro Manila), South Expressway (Metro Manila)		United States	^[12]
1999	Man on the Moon	Milos Forman	Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Courtney Love, Paul Giamatti	Baguio City		United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, United States	Andy Kaufman, finds out his diagnosis with cancer, he travels to the Philippines and went to the hospital from Baguio to treat his health. The film was shot partially in Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.
2000	Thirteen Days	Roger Donaldson	Kevin Costner		Cuba	United States	The air base scene was taken at Clark Air Base, Philippines, a former American facility, which substituted for NAS Key West, Florida, where the actual RF-8As of Light Photographic Squadron SIX TWO (VFP-62) launched from on their Cuban overflight missions.
2006		Dong-hoon Choi	Cho Seung-woo, Yun-shik Baek, Kim Hye-su, Hae-Jin Yoo	Subic (Zambales)		South Korea		^[13]
2009	I Come with the Rain	Anh Hung Tran	Josh Hartnett, Nu Yên-Khê Tran, Lee Byung-hun, Takuya Kimura	Compostela Valley (Mindanao), Davao City (Mindanao), Diwalwal (Monkayo, Compostela Valley, Mindanao)		France, Hong Kong, Ireland, United Kingdom		^[14]
2009	Mammoth	Lukas Moodysson	Gael García Bernal, Michelle Williams	Morong (Bataan), Sabang (Bataan), Subic (Zambales)		Sweden, Denmark, Germany
2009		Atsushi Muroga	Ryôko Kobayashi, Kazuki Katô, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Shinichiro Ishikawa	Metro Manila Skyway (Metro Manila), North Luzon Expressway (Bulacan), South Luzon Expressway (Laguna), Manila–Cavite Expressway (Cavite)		Japan	For the expressway racing scene.
2012	The Bourne Legacy	Tony Gilroy	Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Scott Glenn	El Nido (Palawan), Manila (Metro Manila), Jones Bridge (Binondo, Manila, Metro Manila), Taft Avenue MRT station (Pasay City, Metro Manila), Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard (Manila, Metro Manila)		United States		^[15] ^[16]
2013	No Breathing	Jo Yong-sun	Seo In-guk, Lee Jong-suk, Kwon Yuri	Davao		South Korea	The film was shot partially in Davao City where the overseas field training scenes.
2014	Rupan sansei (Lupin the 3rd)	Ryûhei Kitamura	Shun Oguri, Jerry Yan, Tetsuji Tamayama, Gô Ayano	Metro Manila		Japan
2015	American Ultra	Nima Nourizadeh	Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Connie Britton, Walton Goggins, John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman, Tony Hale	Manila		United States
2017	A Prayer Before Dawn	Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire	Joe Cole, Cherry Miko, Vithaya Pansringarm, Panya Yimmumphai	Cebu City		United Kingdom, United States, France
2017	Bluebeard	Lee Soo-yeon	Cho Jin-woong, Kim Dae-myung	Metro Manila		South Korea	The film was shot partially in Ninoy Aquino International Airport at the end of the film, where the Korean teenager met his mother (portrayed by Marie-Joelle Afarti), who was Filipina.
2017	xXx: Return of Xander Cage	D. J. Caruso	Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Kris Wu, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, Nina Dobrev, Toni Collette, Ariadna Gutiérrez, Hermione Corfield, Samuel L. Jackson	Caramoan (province of Camarines Sur, Philippines)		United States
2018		Anthony Russo, Joe Russo	Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans	Banaue Rice Terraces (Ifugao)	Planet 0259-S	United States	End-credit scene where Thanos, the antagonist, retreats to an alien planet. The scene involved was subcontracted to Thailand-based Indochina Productions.	^[17] ^[18]

See also

• List of Philippine co-produced films and television series

External links

• Most Popular Titles With Location Matching "Philippines" , Internet Movie Database.

• Hollywood in the Philippines, New Straits Times, December 11, 1990, p. 21.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2015-05-23. 10 International Films Set in the Philippines. 2021-12-14. When In Manila. en-US.
2. Web site: Platoon (1986) Movie Filming Locations - The 80s Movies Rewind. 2021-12-14. www.fast-rewind.com.
3. Web site: Chuyaco. Joy Jonette. Made-in-Phl Hollywood films. 2021-12-14. Philstar.com.
4. Web site: Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection Film Philippines. 2021-12-15. www.filmphilippines.com.
5. Web site: 2020-03-03. 7 International Films Shot in the Philippines. 2021-12-14. ZenRooms Blogs. en-US.
6. News: Bunoan . Vladimir . Why UK director made 'Metro Manila' . 20 October 2021 . ABS-CBN News . 7 October 2013.
7. Web site: August 29, 2019. Anri. Ichimura . 10 International Films Shot in the Philippines. 2021-12-14. Esquiremag.ph.
8. News: 10 International Films Shot in the Philippines . 20 October 2021 . Esquire . 29 August 2019.
9. Web site: 2018-09-27. Improvisers shine in Sean Devlin's When the Storm Fades. 2021-12-14. The Georgia Straight. en.
10. News: Biong . Ian . South Korean film ‘The Golden Holiday’ starring Mon Confiado to premiere this December . 20 October 2021 . Philippine Daily Inquirer . 12 December 2020 . en . Viva International Pictures announced that the film, described as “A Korean blockbuster shot entirely in the Philippines,” / In Manila, Byung-su finds Yong-bae in prison for murder, and hears about the case surrounding ‘Yamashita’s Gold.’.
11. Web site: FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Year of Living Dangerously. 2021-12-15. Cineaste Magazine. en-US.
12. News: Philippine Star: Away from Home . Philippine Star . 30 September 2023 . en.
13. Web site: Bennett. Melissa. 2016-05-30. Tazza: The High Rollers is an award winning film from 2006. 2021-12-15. Casino Online Reviews. en-US.
14. Web site: Elley. Derek. 2009-10-23. I Come With the Rain. 2021-12-15. Variety. en-US.
15. Web site: Manila streets closed for Bourne . MB.com . August 2, 2012.
16. News: 'Bourne Legacy' movie starts filming in the heart of Manila . Marinel R. . Cruz . . January 11, 2012 . July 19, 2012.
17. News: Yes, that 'Avengers: Infinity War' scene is in PH . 20 October 2021 . ABS-CBN News . 26 April 2018 . en.
18. News: Where in the Philippines was a scene from ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ shot? . 20 October 2021 . Philippine Daily Inquirer . 27 April 2018 . en.