If you’re interested in the latest movie from Steven Soderbergh, it’s important to know where it was filmed. Kimi is a cyber-thriller that takes place in Seattle, America’s tech capital.
Zoe Kravitz stars as Angela Childs, a tech worker who works for Amygdala in Seattle. She lives in a loft and spends most of her days monitoring incoming data streams from “Kimi” devices and resolving communication bugs that appear on them. But when she receives a recording that appears to capture a violent sexual assault, she’s forced to go outside her apartment to investigate the account.
A lot of the exterior scenes for Kimi were shot in downtown Seattle. Specifically, the movie’s protest scenes were shot at Westlake Park and Pine Street. According to a memo from the Downtown Seattle Association/Metropolitan Improvement District, “over 1,500 extras” were used in the film’s protests.
Several map sequences and an aerial shot of Capitol Hill and Downtown Seattle can also be found in the trailer for Kimi. The footage of these locations makes it clear that Kimi was filmed in Seattle and not a location like Vancouver that is largely used for underseen scenes.
In a time when many modern films eschew real-life settings in favor of generic trickery, Soderbergh shows that it’s possible to shoot in places that have never been seen on screen before. Even if the final product isn’t perfect, there’s something to be admired in the effort.
