This article on manhattan-trend.com focuses on the famous Manhattan cinematic landmark: Central Park. This location is often called the “green heart of New York,” but here we will discuss what made it a true star of world cinema.
According to IMDb data, at the time of writing, this park has appeared in over 530 movies and TV shows, making it the most filmed location in the world – 70 more productions than Venice Beach in California, another top contender. Among the hundreds of films shot here, the romantic comedy “Enchanted” (2007) holds a special place, as Central Park was transformed into a literal fairy tale set. Animated Princess Giselle, finding herself in real-world New York, stages a massive musical number in the park with hundreds of dancers, musicians, and extras, turning the alleys and bridges into a full-fledged character in the film.
About the Film “Enchanted”
In 2007, Disney decided to poke fun at its own tropes – and thus, “Enchanted,” directed by Kevin Lima, was born. The formula is cynically simple: Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) sings with birds and chipmunks in a hand-drawn fairy tale kingdom, and the evil stepmother queen (Susan Sarandon) pushes her into a well that turns out to be a portal to 21st-century New York. The princess finds herself in Times Square in a wedding dress, looking for her prince, but instead finds Robert (Patrick Dempsey), a divorce attorney who doesn’t believe in fairy tales. He begins to dismantle all the Disney clichés from the inside.
The success was incredible! Box office earnings exceeded $340 million. There were three Oscar nominations for Best Original Song (losing to “Falling Slowly” from the movie “Once”) and three wins at the Saturn Awards. But most importantly, for the first time in decades, Disney created a princess who ironized their signature clichés. And audiences loved it. The only problem: the company couldn’t add Giselle to the official Disney Princess lineup. According to a common version, this is due to the character’s image rights being tied to Amy Adams’ physical appearance, which could have required long-term royalty payments.
Central Park in this story is not just a backdrop, but the resolution. This is where Giselle realizes the real world can be just as magical as a cartoon if you look at it correctly. She stages a unique five-minute musical number: hundreds of dancers, an orchestra, rollerbladers, acrobats – all in the middle of real Manhattan, where people don’t usually join in spontaneous songs from strangers. But in Central Park, even this seems to look organic.
The “That’s How You Know” Musical Number
The scene begins at Conservatory Water – a small pond where children have been sailing toy boats since the early 20th century. Giselle tries to explain to a skeptical Robert how to recognize true love and suddenly starts singing. First quietly, then louder, then a steel drum band joins her, followed by mariachi, rollerbladers, stilt acrobats, an orchestra at the bandshell, and boats with musicians on the lake – and within five minutes, all of Central Park is dancing. Director Kevin Lima called it a “military operation,” and he wasn’t exaggerating.
There were 17 days of filming, only seven of which were sunny. 450 participants – 150 professional dancers and 300 extras. Choreographer John O’Connell mapped out a route through the park so the camera could keep up with Giselle. Her route is impressive:
- Conservatory Water – the start.
- Gapstow Bridge – the green Gothic bridge from 1896.
- Central Park Dairy – a Victorian structure from 1870 that once actually sold fresh milk to children.
- Naumberg Bandshell – where the orchestra plays.
- Bow Bridge over the lake.
- Bethesda Terrace with the “Angel of the Waters” fountain from 1868 – the finale.
Amy Adams ran in a very heavy dress. It is rumored that Patrick Dempsey nearly hit cyclists on the Reservoir bridge. Dempsey’s fans interfered with the filming – security had to be called in.
The result – an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz – the same duo who wrote “Pocahontas” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”). At the ceremony, the song was performed by Kristin Chenoweth because Amy Adams declined – she was too nervous. “That’s How You Know” has over 80 million streams on Spotify, and tourists still come to Bethesda Fountain to find the exact spot where Giselle danced in the finale. It’s right there, it hasn’t disappeared – the fountain has stood in the same place since 1868. It’s just that usually, hundreds of people don’t dance there at the same time.
Star Locations
Bethesda Terrace is a two-story arcade with Minton tiles (the same ones used in the British Parliament), designed by architect Calvert Vaux in the 1860s as the “heart” of Central Park. The “Angel of the Waters” fountain was installed in 1868 – this is the first major public sculpture in New York City created by a woman, Emma Stebbins. This is where the finale of “That’s How You Know” takes place, and this is where “Home Alone 2,” “The Avengers,” “John Wick 2,” Milos Forman’s “Hair,” and countless episodes of “Gossip Girl” were filmed.
Bow Bridge – a cast-iron bridge from 1862 over the lake, named for its shape resembling the bow of a ship. Woody Allen filmed “Manhattan” here, the heroes of “The Way We Were” kissed here, and Spider-Man caught villains here in the third part of Sam Raimi’s trilogy. In “Enchanted,” it’s on Bow Bridge where the boats with musicians float – Mexican mariachi, a jazz trio, steel drummers – and it looks absurd but organic.
Gapstow Bridge – a less famous, green Gothic bridge on the northern edge of the Pond, built in 1896. This is where Giselle runs at the start of the number, and it offers the classic view of the Midtown skyscrapers – that very contrast between nature and concrete that makes Manhattan what it is.
Why Central Park is a Great Character
Disney could have shot this scene in a studio with sets – cheaper, more predictable, no rain or Patrick Dempsey fans. But then the film’s main trick wouldn’t have worked: the contrast between Giselle’s cartoon logic and the cynical realism of New York.
Central Park is the only place in Manhattan where these two worlds can coexist without cognitive dissonance. It has 19th-century fountains, Victorian architecture, lakes, and bridges – everything that resembles European fairy tale sets. At the same time, skyscrapers peek out from behind the trees, joggers in headphones run past, and cyclists nearly knock over princesses in puffy dresses. The park allows a fairy tale to exist inside a city that doesn’t recognize fairy tales.
Director Kevin Lima understood this instinctively. When Giselle starts singing at Conservatory Water, passersby first look at her like she’s crazy – a classic Manhattan reaction. Then they gradually join in, because Central Park is a place where people allow themselves to be a little crazy. People play drums, dance salsa, blow giant soap bubbles, and host $200 “Instagrammable” picnics. If Giselle sang on Wall Street (its architectural features are described here), she would be arrested for disturbing the peace. In Central Park, she fits into the general chaos.
There is another level that Disney likely didn’t plan consciously. Central Park is artificial. It was created in the 1850s by architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as an idealized version of nature for a city that had destroyed nature. Every tree, every stone, every stream is designed. It’s a stage set pretending to be a forest. Exactly like Giselle – an animated princess pretending to be a real person in a real city.
Central Park symbolizes the possibility of a fairy tale in an adult world. For New York, the park is 843 acres where the city allows itself to exhale and believe for a second that everything will be okay. “Enchanted” caught this feeling and turned it into a 5-minute musical number, after which tourists still come to Bethesda Fountain looking for magic. And it’s there – if you don’t pay attention to the homeless people sleeping on the benches. And the groups of tourists with selfie sticks are just a minor detail.
That is Manhattan in this film. And what it was like in the films of the second half of the 20th century is told in this article.
