England Pretends To Be Toronto In A Hit Netflix Series But Canadians Won't Be Fooled
Major CGI was involved.
Netflix's Feel Good may have made you believe you were seeing Toronto, Canada on your TV screen, but according to co-writer, co-creator and star Mae Martin, it was actually filmed in England.
A little behind-the-scenes magic with CGI and creative thinking helped transform the streets and woods of England into Martin's hometown of Toronto.
Martin told Narcity that they had originally planned on filming in Canada, but plans changed.
"We were supposed to film in Toronto, I wish we could have, but we filmed in England and tried to make it look like Canada," Martin said.
Creating cottage country through CGI
Feel Good is a semi-autobiographical comedy that follows comedian Mae Martin, named after their IRL counterpart, as they fall in love and come to terms with their past trauma and addictions.
The final season features two episodes fictitiously based in Toronto, from a rehab centre to bar scenes, city walks and even a quick trip to cottage country.
Martin, who was born in Toronto, says that while they tried their best to make scenes in the show look like they were shot in Canada, locals will know the difference.
"I think for Canadians, it will be very obvious that it's not Canada. But in England, people are like, 'wow, Canada is great,'" they said.
In the season finale, Mae and their romantic interest George, played by Charlotte Ritchie, head up to a picturesque cottage set in Northern Ontario, but filmed in the English countryside.
Martin told Narcity that the show found a cottage to shoot the scenes at and "just tried desperately with CGI to make it look like it could be Northern Ontario."
Toronto easter eggs
Although they couldn't film in Canada, Martin still found ways to slip Toronto easter eggs into the show.
They named the show's fictional comedy club after their favourite Toronto bar, the Beaver, a local gay bar on Queen West that recently closed after 14 years of business.
"We called the comedy club in Toronto the Beaver because the Beaver was my favourite bar in Toronto," Martin said. "It sadly closed this year because of COVID."
If Feel Good had filmed in Toronto, Martin told Narcity they'd have a whole list of bucket list of spots to film at in the city.
"I'd want to be at Ontario Place, Medieval Times, the ferry going to Toronto Island — I think that would be romantic, looking back at the skyline," they said. "Kensington Market, I think George will be pretty blown away by the vibe.
"I mean, maybe we could have gone to some of my actual old apartments and filmed. That would have been wicked."