Maps of Movies

Bridge of Spies (2015)

Where Bridge of Spies says it takes place, and where it was really shot.

The Berlin Wall in this film was built in Poland. The bridge, though, is the real one.

Scenes and places

A Soviet spy is arrested in 1957 New York (1957)

Rudolf Abel is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. Insurance lawyer James Donovan is appointed to defend him, and he decides to give Abel a real defense.

Set in Brooklyn, New York — In 1957 New York City, Rudolf Abel is arrested and charged with spying for the Soviet Union. Google Maps · Apple Maps

The film's New York is largely Brooklyn: Brooklyn Heights, where the real Abel lived, and the cobbled streets of DUMBO.

Filmed at Brooklyn Heights: Henry Street and Love Lane — Day and night scenes shot on this corner, dressed with vintage cars and rain machines; the coordinate is the neighborhood's. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Filmed at DUMBO, Anchorage Street — Crews dressed this Brooklyn street to look like the 1960s; the coordinate is the DUMBO district's. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Donovan defends Abel in court (1957)

Donovan mounts the best defense he can and refuses to help the CIA. Abel is convicted, but Donovan persuades the judge to spare his life, arguing he might be useful in a future prisoner exchange.

Set in A New York courtroom — The trial and appeal of Abel; the plot summary names no building.

Two real New York courthouses stand in for the trial: a Brooklyn appellate court and a Queens hallway.

Filmed at NYS Appellate Division courthouse, Brooklyn — Filmed on Monroe Place and Pierrepont Street, September 29. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The U-2 pilot is shot down (1960)

In 1960, CIA U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the USSR. He is captured and sentenced to ten years' confinement.

Set in Soviet airspace — Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the USSR; the plot gives no exact place.

An Air Force base in California stands in for the U-2 flight scenes; the Soviet Union itself was not filmed.

Filmed at Beale Air Force Base, Marysville, California — Filmed here in mid-December; the source does not name the scene. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Donovan lands in Berlin as the Wall goes up (1961)

The CIA unofficially asks Donovan to go to Berlin to negotiate a swap. He arrives just as the Wall is going up.

Set in Berlin — Donovan arrives in Berlin just as the Berlin Wall is going up. Google Maps · Apple Maps

Tempelhof, in the middle of Berlin, was both the film's setting and a real filming location for this scene.

Filmed at Former Tempelhof Airport, Berlin — Shot for the scene of Donovan descending from a historic C-54 Skymaster. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Negotiating in East Berlin (1961)

Donovan crosses into East Berlin and meets a KGB officer, then Vogel. The East Germans want to swap Abel for a student, Frederic Pryor, so Donovan insists both Pryor and Powers be swapped for Abel, and bluffs that there is no deal without both.

Set in East Berlin — Donovan crosses into East Berlin, meets a KGB officer at the Soviet Embassy, and is directed to the lawyer Vogel. Google Maps · Apple Maps

The east side of the Wall was largely built in the streets of Wrocław, Poland, with the Berlin memorial as a second site.

Filmed at Ulica Kurkowa, Wrocław — Wrocław doubled for East Berlin in the Wall-building sequences; the street is named by the Polish Wikipedia only. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Filmed at Kurkowa 36, Wrocław — A building on the same street, listed as used for postwar Berlin street scenes in November 2014 by the Polish Wikipedia. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Filmed at Ulica Miernicza, Wrocław — A street in the Wrocław 'Bermuda Triangle' district listed for the film by the Polish Wikipedia; which scene is not stated. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Filmed at Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial — Named among filming locations; the source does not say which scene. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The swap on Glienicke Bridge (1962)

The exchange is set for Glienicke Bridge, with Pryor to be released at Checkpoint Charlie at the same time. Tension builds as Pryor fails to arrive.

Set in Glienicke Bridge — The exchange of Powers and Abel is to take place at the Glienicke Bridge, with Pryor to be released at Checkpoint Charlie. Google Maps · Apple Maps

The bridge spans the Havel between Berlin and Potsdam, and the film shot on the real one.

Filmed at Glienicke Bridge, Berlin / Potsdam — The real bridge, closed to traffic over the last weekend of November 2014 for the exchange scene. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Filmed at Wall Street, Manhattan — Manhattan street scenes (scene not named in the source) Google Maps · Apple Maps

Filmed at Marquardt Palace, Potsdam — Scene not named in the source Google Maps · Apple Maps

Characters

• James B. Donovan — An insurance lawyer appointed to defend a Soviet spy, later asked to negotiate a prisoner exchange.
• Rudolf Abel — A Soviet spy arrested in New York in 1957.
• Francis Gary Powers — A CIA U-2 pilot shot down over the USSR in 1960.
• Vogel — An East German lawyer who represents the GDR Attorney General.