Maps of Movies
The Shape of Water (2017)
Where The Shape of Water says it takes place, and where it was really shot.
Set in 1962 Baltimore, but every place was shot in Ontario, Canada: Toronto and Hamilton.
View on the map
Scenes and places
The secret government laboratory (1962)
Elisa, who is mute and communicates through sign language, cleans the lab at night. She discovers the captured creature held there, a humanoid amphibian, and begins visiting him in secret.
Set in Occam Aerospace Research Center, Baltimore — The secret government laboratory in Baltimore where Elisa works as a janitor.
A fictional 1962 Cold War research facility; the film was shot in Ontario, Canada, not in Baltimore.
Filmed at John Andrews Building, University of Toronto Scarborough — Exterior of the lab; some interiors were built on a studio set. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there:
Elisa and Giles's flat above the cinema (1962)
Elisa's only friends are her closeted neighbour Giles, an advertising illustrator, and her coworker Zelda. Her flat later becomes the hiding place for the creature, kept in her bathtub.
Set in Elisa and Giles's apartment above a movie theatre — The neighbouring flats where Elisa and her friend Giles live.
A set rather than a real building.
Filmed at Cinespace Film Studios, Toronto — The apartment set was built at Cinespace Studios. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there:
The Orpheum cinema (1962)
The cinema below the flats is part of Elisa and Giles's everyday world. Its facade and interior were filmed in two different Toronto buildings.
Set in Orpheum Theatre, Baltimore — The old cinema beneath the two flats.
Two Toronto theatres stand in for one Baltimore cinema.
Filmed at Massey Hall, Toronto — Exterior of the cinema. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there:
Filmed at Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, Toronto — Interior of the cinema. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there:
Giles's old advertising agency (1962)
Giles, an advertising illustrator, fails a work assignment. This failure is one of the things that leaves him ready to help Elisa free the creature.
Set in Giles's former advertising agency — The advertising office where Giles tries to get work.
Hamilton City Hall stands in for the office building.
Filmed at Hamilton City Hall — Reported as the building used for the agency (a single blog). Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there:
The diner that turns Giles away (1962)
Giles is rejected by a local restaurant manager whom he discovers is both racist and homophobic. After this he reluctantly agrees to help Elisa.
Set in The restaurant — The restaurant where Giles is rejected.
Toronto's Lakeview Restaurant, open since the 1930s on Dundas Street West.
Filmed at Lakeview Restaurant, Toronto — Listed among the film's shooting locations; which scene it is comes from one blog. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there:
The Soviet handlers' meeting (1962)
Hoffstetler, a Soviet spy, is ordered by his handlers to kill the creature and told he will be extracted from the US in two days. Strickland follows him to the meeting.
Set in Hoffstetler's meeting with his handlers — Where the scientist Hoffstetler meets his Soviet handlers.
Hamilton, Ontario supplies both the apartment exterior and the meeting yard.
The canal by the docks (1962)
Elisa plans to release the creature into a nearby canal when heavy rain allows access to the ocean. The scenes are set at a canal and docks.
Set in The canal — The canal Elisa plans to use to release the creature to the ocean.
An unnamed canal in the story; the shoot used the Keating Channel area in Toronto.
Filmed at Keating Channel, Toronto — Docks and canal scenes (single blog); point is the channel, not the exact shooting spot. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there:
Characters
- Elisa — A mute cleaner at a secret government lab who communicates through sign language.
- Giles — Her closeted neighbour, an advertising illustrator.
- Strickland — The colonel who captured the creature and brought it to the lab.