Filming Somewhere in Time: How Chicago Welcomed (Back) Hollywood in 1979

Watch the cast and crew of Somewhere In Time gush over Chicago's hospitality.

Christopher Reeve overlooks Chicago in 1979

As we learned in Somewhere in Time: Behind the Scenes, most of the 1980 romantic fantasy Somewhere in Time was shot on Michigan's Mackinac Island.

But three scenes were filmed in Chicago.

At the beginning of the movie, we watch Richard Collier (Christopher Reeve):

1. Working in his apartment

2. Driving on Lake Shore Drive

3. Researching the past in a library

Christopher Reeve sits at a typewriter

Christopher Reeve in a car on Lake Shore Drive

Christopher Reeve in a library

These shots, along with those on Mackinac Island, were filmed in the summer of 1979, a time when Chicago was just beginning to reopen its doors to Hollywood.

Chicago and Movies, Daley and Byrne

You'll recall from Somewhere in Time: Behind the Scenes that Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley (1955-1976) notoriously guarded the kind of movies that could be filmed in Chicago. Only movies Daley could take his family to see were allowed to be shot on location here.

But after Daley's tenure, when Jane Byrne was elected mayor (1979-1983), this policy changed. For Byrne, any movie that wanted to film in and around Chicago should do so.

After all, the city would be collecting the monetary rewards. [Cha-ching!]

As a result, Byrne established an office to assist Hollywood production companies. And she worked with the Illinois state film office to lure filmmakers here.

Read the first few paragraphs of this article to learn more about Chicago and movies, and Daley and Byrne:

Courier Post (Oct. 22, 1981)

Hollywood in 1979 Chicago

Embedded below is a clip from Hollywood Comes to Chicago (1979), a rare documentary short that sheds light on this "new" period in Chicago's movie history.

In the clip, the cast and crew of Somewhere in Time recall Chicago being an easy and welcoming place to set up shop—in part because of the efforts of the Illinois film office and its director Lucy Salinger.

You can watch the full documentary short below, which runs for about 7 minutes.

It also features John Landis since The Blues Brothers was shooting here at the same time as Somewhere in Time.