We all love a good workplace drama, especially one that deals with the high-pressure world of finance, so the Netflix movie Fair Play, directed by Chloe Domont, will no doubt find an audience and has already garnered some great reviews after its premiere at Sundance — we break down where the movie was filmed and explain its locations and the reasons why.
The movie had a limited theatrical release and dropped on Netflix on October 6, 2023.
The story follows the turbulent lives of a couple, Emily and Luke, who work in New York at a hedge-fund firm, but their complex relationship becomes contentious when one of them gets promoted at work and the other one doesn’t.
With workplace romances frowned upon, the dynamic between the pair starts to tilt off-kilter. The stress of a joint bank account alone can bring about its own problems, and many of us may have felt the tension over shared finances in a strained partnership.
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As the toxic extent of the relationship begins to erode any real emotional connection between the two, they slowly slip into a pattern of arguments and disruption that continues to build until the situation is out of control and horrific lines are crossed.
Essentially, this is an exploration of the corporate world and the effect that it can have on employees. Many people who watch this film might find themselves involved with that world, and the plot does not shy away from showing the terrible toll that the power struggle between two people can have.
Where was the Netflix film Fair Play filmed – a breakdown of filming locations
Belgrade, Serbia
Despite the New York location, the movie was filmed in Belgrade. Belgrade is the capital of Serbia in Europe and lies on the confluence of the rivers Danube and Sava. The bustling city has a population of around 1.2 million and is one of the oldest cities in Europe, with immense cultural significance.
Chloe Domont would talk about the location in an interview with Netflix’s Tudum and reveals that filming in Belgrade would add to the otherworldly feeling invoked throughout the production.
If you did not look too closely, you would think that the film had been shot in The Big Apple, and it is more common than you think to set your movie in one place and film in another.
Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York was filmed in Italy, Escape From New York was filmed in Atlanta, and American Psycho was filmed in Toronto, so it’s nothing new for filmmakers to seek out the most viable location for their production.
Studio Sets
The Tudum interview would also go on to address that the interiors were all filmed on sets that were specifically built for the movie:
Domont would state, “We built all the interiors on a stage. Our production designer, Steve Summersgill, is an absolute ninja when it comes to building sets. And the two of us were equally meticulous in making sure these spaces feel authentic and lived-in and that the details reflected reality as much as possible — from the way the paint chipped around the radiator to the way the backdrops looked outside the window — everything within the frame was important in selling it.”
To help sell the fantasy, backdrops of New York City were used while filming.
A further incentive may also be from a financial point of view as the Government has a twenty-five percent cash rebate on qualified Serbian spend for feature films, TV series, animation films, documentaries & visual effects, 20% for TV commercials & 30% cash rebate on qualified feature films with a 5 million Euro plus Serbia spend.
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