Sean Heather is used to his Gastown restaurants and bars being used as TV and movie locations.
But the proprietor of the Irish Heather, Salty Tongue Café and Salt Tasting Room is noticing a particular interest in his Cordova Street café, Ranier Provisions, after it was used for one of the scenes in the wildly popular Fifty Shades of Grey movie.
“The critics have obviously had their say and it’s sort of hit and miss, and the thing with the book is a lot of people didn’t like the writing style either, but that’s doesn’t seem to stop it,” Heather said. “It’s a juggernaut.”
Portland’s Heathman Hotel, the real-life location of one of the scenes in the book, has tried to cash in on the phenomenon with packaged tours priced at upwards of $7,000.
But the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver played the Heathman Hotel in the movie (including the elevator scene) and Tourism Vancouver is working to get the word out about that and other locations that were used in the movie.
“We find that anything Hollywood really resonates,” said Amber Sessions, manager of media relations for Tourism Vancouver.
“I’ve received a couple of emails where people are curious to know where different scenes have been filmed and if there are any tours that go there.”
Heather is enjoying his brush with stardom — he reveals that during filming, Fifty Shades lead Jamie Dornan became a regular at the Irish Heather’s tucked-away Shebeen drinking hole — and he’s planning to put up some photographs as a low-key homage to the film shoot.
“I’ve already had multiple contacts from people who want photos taken in the space,” he said.
“On Valentine’s Day of course — if we’d been thinking properly — we could have filled it many times over with people who wanted to be there on Valentine’s Day.”
@jenstden
