In this post I will share the idea of a route through the places Where was Leap Year filmed? (Leap Year or also titled “You had to be you” in Spain). This movie is one that was recommended to me both by my Instagram as a roadtrip idea to develop in a post.
Before continuing I want to confess that I had not seen this movie before (I finish seeing it these days, although it was filmed in 2010). As several named me this roadmovie (especially for its landscapes of Ireland), I have finally removed this pending movie buff from my list. Therefore, this post is to share with you my investigation of the places where the film was filmed, the map I have prepared, the suggested itinerary for a future trip, and above all to spread the desire to do so (because the landscapes of Ireland are beautiful).
In fact I am developing a series of posts on movie routes which can become a good travel plan (starting with the first post with the Cinema Paradiso movie route).
The film Leap Year and Ireland
In the film “Leap-year» (Leap Year) there is a romantic story between an American (*don’t say American because Americans are from many countries :P) who unexpectedly travels to Ireland (character from Anna Brady interpreted by Amy Adams) and an Irishman (character from Declan interpreted by matthew goode). In her first steps through the country, Anna unexpectedly meets Daclan and they both embark on a roadtrip through typically Irish places and landscapes towards Dublin.
In the blog I’m not going to talk so much about the history of the film (I’ll just say that it’s an unsophisticated romantic comedy based on the predictable script). I want to talk mainly about how they show the places in Ireland in relation to the proposed route through the places where Leap Year was filmed. I think at that point the film reflects Ireland very well: its changing climate, its rustic and green landscapes, the gray skies, the always unexpected rain. In fact, what it shows is a beautiful visual version of Ireland that inspires a lot to get to know the country.
About the history and places where Leap Year was filmed
With regard to the places where Leap Year was filmed and fidelity to history, it must be said that the order of the roadtrip and the places shown in the film have nothing to do with the order of the filming sites. If the route proposed by the film’s script followed the actual filming sites, it would be a rather unlikely itinerary in terms of reaching Dublin. Even even crazy because of how tangled it is. As we will see on the map, the places where Leap Year was filmed are very well selected for their beauty, attractiveness and for being emblematic sites of the country.
If in the film the story of the roadtrip begins on the coast of Ireland in front of Wales, continuing to Dublin, the filming locations and the route that we will see as a proposal in this post have nothing to do with the order of the trip in the story in Yes. As is often the case in so many shoots, the filming scenarios are chosen based on other narrative elements to enhance each scene, beyond the logic of a real journey.
An example of a location in the movie and the actual location on the set
An example: at the beginning of the film and in that of confusing the script a bit (without these mishaps there would be no film and the protagonist would not meet her love) the plane to Dublin is diverted to Wales by a storm. Our protagonist manages to sail from Wales to Ireland (something that is not possible to do in an easy way) to land on a beach. This beach in the film is mentioned as being in the Dingle area. The truth is that the landscapes of Dingle and the Dingle Peninsula never appear in the film. And the scene of the landing on the beach was shot somewhere on the coast of County Wicklow, while the first pub that the protagonist steps on is filmed in a village in the Aran Islands.
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The route through the places where Leap Year was filmed
This is the itinerary for the filming sites that I propose to do in a trip following the places of the film:
Dublin Airport > Dublin > Cardboard House > Enniskerry > Wicklow Coast > Glendalough (Wicklow National Park) > Rock of Dunamase > Doo Lough Lake (County Mayo) > Rossaveel (only to continue by ferry to the Aran Islands) > Dun Aonghasa (inishmore)
Extension and map of the route.
The route proposed by the main filming sites is also an excuse to travel the country from east to west and cross it from coast to coast. Total it will be about 539 km, and by car it will be about eight hours of continuous driving. In addition to the points suggested along the way, we will pass near cities and towns of interest that are also worth visiting, so we could well extend this route. Just to name an example, we will pass very close to Galwayor from there we might as well make a detour to the Cliff of Moher.
The main places where Leap Year was filmed
*Spoiler Alert: Some details of the film’s script are mentioned in the following descriptions.
Dublin
In Dublin, mainly scenes were shot in two emblematic places. One is the temple bar area (Ireland’s most famous pub area). There is also a scene (among the most romantic in the film) that was shot in Saint Stephen’s Green, a very nice park that is in the heart of the city. Specifically, in the scene you can see a very picturesque bridge in the large lake that is in the center of the park. In the following photo you can see the park entrance:
Cardboard House Hotel
The Cardboard House Hotel it is the place where Jeremy (her boyfriend until then) proposes to her. These scenes are shot at the hotel entrance (which is not in Dublin but in County Kildare).
