Film question: A Russian-made train in the NYC subway: what gives? ("The Code")

R

RickyVernio

Film question: A Russian-made train in the NYC subway: what gives? ("The Code")

This is really puzzling. I'd like to know what the logic behind it was. The movie ("The Code," 2009) is an action film whose action takes place in New York City (Manhattan and Brooklyn) and involves cops, master thieves, and the Russian mafia. Some of the scenery looks pretty authentic. (Some shots in Manhattan, the boardwalk in Coney Island, the shops and buildings in and around Brighton Beach. In the beginning, though, we see a subway train robbery, with two cops chasing the thief afterwords. The train in question (Number 7, Times Square to Flushing) departs from the terminal; then there's the robbery and the chase; the thief climbs out and onto the roof of the train while the train is in motion; changes his clothes; and escapes when the train pulls into the Jackson Avenue station. Yet this is no ordinary NYC subway train. It is an old-fashioned Soviet metro train with New York signs and posters in all the right places. Trains of that kind constituted most of the rolling stock of Soviet metro systems in all big cities across the USSR. Modern subway trains are now used in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but some of the old stock is still in use (or so they tell me) because of its durability. That's fine and dandy, but why would they bother to transport one halfway around the globe to shoot only a handful of frames? Because it was cheaper than ... than what? ... Here's a few screen shots from the movie:

You can see the sign on the column suggesting this is, in fact, the Grand Central Terminal subway platform (and you can see a portion of the train - anyone who's ever been to New York will instantly know it is NOT a NYC train):

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Inside the train. That light overhead is definitely NOT NYC:

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On the roof: those vents on either side: definitely 1970-s, Soviet-made:

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Finally, here's the train pulling into the Jackson Avenue station, complete with the sideview mirror next to the operator's window (definitely not New York - and no city, not even a Russian one, that we know of today):

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What gives? Why? Any ideas, anyone?
 
because it's not actually filmed at a NYC subway station and anyone who is not a New Yorker won't tell the difference?

The scene is actually probably filmed somewhere in Eastern Europe or Russia to take advance of cheaper locations and tax initiatives.
 
I wonder why does your logic tell you that hey moved the whole train to NYC when they could just move a group of people to wherever the train is
 
Okay, and thanks. But I'd like to know a bit more.

For instance, there's a hell of a lot of detail:

1. The preceding shots are of Grand Central Terminal itself seem genuine enough, and there's quite a few of them, and they're not just shots; some acting is included. I.e. they must have fenced off portions of the terminal. That costs money.
2. All those posts on the platform, with signs on them: if filmed in Eastern Europe, how did they ... uh ... recreate those? CGI or mock-up?
3. Overhead signs (locations, trains, etc) - all look pretty authentic.
4. When the train arrives at Vernon-Jackson (side mirror and all), the exit stairs look genuine enough (as do the posts, with those huge rivets and mauve-burgundy paint).
5. Banderas passes through the turnstile, with the Metrocard machines in the background before getting onto the platform.
6. This is silly, but the train cars are pasted all over with NYC ads, signs, warnings, and the Star-Spangled Banner. Doesn't sound like much, but it is a few days' work by a bunch of people.

If all of the above is a mix of mock-up and CGI, it seems elaborate (i.e. costly). And the whole robbery scene is less than five minutes long. How was it worth going all the way to Eastern Europe for? I mean, what, the Mayor and Police Commissioner asked them for 100 million up front, or something? I don't get it.

Funny: it was made 5 years ago, and no one seems to have questioned this since. For a moment I thought I must have missed something, and this was an inside joke of some kind.

Logically speaking:

IF they had to weigh traveling to Eastern Europe (which ain't free either) against actually doing it in New York:

In this day and age, goodness, why not just post a man with a good camera on the platform, film the train-boarding part (7 seconds), turnstile part (3 seconds), the Jackson Avenue arrival (10 seconds), and do the scene inside the car (robbery and all) and on the roof of the car (CGI no matter how you scramble it) at any one of the NYC train yards at night (how expensive can that be)??? - rather than risk some New Yorkers wondering if, having rented modern Russian space rockets, we might be renting old Soviet metro trains now?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 
I wonder which of those two might be more expensive, considering the people they had to move and accommodate. First-class seats, five-star suites. It adds up. I think.
 
IMDB tells us that the film was shot predominantly at Nu Boyana Studios in Bulgaria, with some exteriors done in Brooklyn. The Nu Boyana website shows that they have permanent New York street stages and I'm sure they'd have no difficultly erecting this relatively small station stage for the production. So my guess is that AnonWriter is correct and that this was filmed in Bulgaria, hence why the train isn't 100% authentic.
 
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