Our favourite movies where Toronto actually plays Toronto

Despite Toronto's title of "Hollywood North," its importance in the annual film festival circuit, and consistent rankings atop the greatest places to live and work for movie crews, the city rarely portrays itself on film. 

Toronto typically acts as an on-screen stand-in for real U.S. cities like New York or Boston, or even fictional urban centres like Gotham City, but movies where the city actually plays itself are few and far between.

That trend is changing, however, and in recent years, Toronto's silver-screen roles have helped thrust the city more prominently into pop culture, while earning revered status among locals who love seeing their favourite landmarks and hangouts immortalized on film.

blogTO staff rounded up our favourite movies where Toronto actually portrays itself on screen, and here are our recommendations for your next locally-themed movie marathon.

Videodrome (1983)

Come for the window into gritty 1980s Toronto, but stay for that classic Cronenberg weirdness. Starring Blondie singer Debbie Harry opposite James Woods, this body horror box-office bomb was just one example of Toronto director David Cronenberg showing love to his hometown in just about the weirdest way possible. - Jack Landau, Managing Editor

The Fly (1986)

It's not EXPLICITLY stated that the film takes place in Toronto, but let's be real: it does. The Liberty Village of the 1980s is the only place where someone — Jeff Goldblum, to be exact — could slowly morph into a fly-man hybrid and people would be like, "what the hell, sure." - Phoebe Knight, Associate Editor

Canadian Bacon (1995)

Thirty years later, this twisted satirical comedy about a breakdown in Canada-U.S. relations is more relevant than ever. What seemed like satire in the peaceful mid-'90s has become hilarious in a whole new way in the tense 2020s, and the on-screen antics of Canadian comedy legend John Candy now come off as a prescient take on U.S. jingoism gone awry. Even if you aren't into complex geopolitics, the CN Tower plays a central role in the plot, and the description of Toronto as "Like Albany, only cleaner" is still a winner decades later. - Jack Landau, Managing Editor

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

There are some movies that are just incredibly "movie," and this is one of them. The visual storytelling and sonic landscape of this comic book/retro video game/indie sleaze version of 2000s Toronto really captured that moment in the city's history. Also, a stacked cast of up-and-comers-turned-A-listers. - Anton Wong, Videographer

Watching Chris Evans send Michael Cera through a backdrop of the NYC skyline (at Casa Loma, no less) to reveal the CN Tower behind it, or Brie Larssen sing a Metric cover at Lee's Palace, is simply as Toronto as it gets. Also, it's not the point of the movie, but all the exterior shots of slushy winter months in the city do the best job of expressing what a Toronto winter feels like better than anything else I've seen. - Phoebe Knight, Associate Editor

Enemy (2013)

Toronto can be a pretty bleak place when you turn the lens away from the touristy areas, and Enemy leans into the city's often oppressive, soulless architecture, turning a movie setting into a background antagonist. The film's ending credits shot — an aerial tracking shot across Toronto's then-construction-pockmarked waterfront — painted in a sickly sepia tone might even be the most visually captivating cinematic representation of the city in Hollywood history. - Jack Landau, Managing Editor

Bao (2018) 

Few movies capture the feeling Toronto brings quite like Pixar's Oscar-winning short film, Bao, born from the genius mind of Domee Shi. The incredible emotional story follows a Chinese-Canadian mother whose homemade bao magically comes to life as she grapples with empty nest syndrome — all without a single word of dialogue. 

Along their journey, snippets of Toronto are woven into the story, from Chinatown's fruit markets and BBQ pork buns to streetcar rides and even a tai chi session in a park with the city skyline in the background. Although it's only eight minutes long, it somehow manages to grasp the essence of Toronto while incorporating deeper themes of cultural identity and family. - Kimia Afshar Mehrabi, Reporter

Turning Red (2022)

Another one of Shi's masterpieces, Turning Red is packed with Toronto touches, from shots of the CN Tower, SkyDome, and Chinatown's Dragon Gate to the TTC streetcars that carry the film's main protagonist, 13-year-old Meilin "Mei" Lee through the city. Often overlooked details even nod to Toronto's culture, including a Vince Carter-inspired jersey worn by one of Mei's classmates. - Kimia Afshar Mehrabi, Reporter

Paying For It (2024)

Toronto arts scene royalty, Sook Yin Lee tells (sort of) the true story of her relationship with Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown, and the film was shot in many of the real locations where the events actually took place, including Sneaky Dee's and Buddha's Vegan Restaurant on Dundas West. - Phoebe Knight, Associate Editor

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (2025)

The most Toronto film to ever exist. I feel like watching this film has become a new, unofficial rite of passage for those who call this city home. I saw someone on Letterboxd comment that this must be what it feels like to live in New York City and see your neighbourhood on the big screen.

And honestly, that's 100 per cent accurate. Like, I'd be lying if I said I didn't geek out when I saw my Canadian Tire store within the first 10 minutes. NTBTSTM makes me proud to call Toronto home. - Aaron Navarro, Senior Manager, Video Production & Operation

What's your favourite movie where Toronto plays itself? Let us know in the comments.