Oscars ‘Daily Bite’: Nominated film ‘Brooklyn’ shot mostly in Montreal

The title of best picture nominee “Brooklyn” should rightly be “Montreal.”

The little movie that could — which has made the long and successful journey from Sundance Film Festival indie darling to Oscar contender — was primarily shot in the Canadian metropolis of Montreal. For the 1950s-set drama about an Irish immigrant who finds love in her new hometown, only two production days were spent in Brooklyn — one to create the brownstone exterior shots and another for shooting at Coney Island.

It’s not the first time another location has convincingly stood in for the famed New York City borough. Director Elia Kazan’s request to film his Oscar-winning 1945 drama “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” on location was rejected by the studio, but he managed to make a 20th Century Fox soundstage resemble the real thing.

Speaking of the real thing, “Brooklyn” marks the first time that Ireland-raised best actress nominee Saoirse Ronan gets to use her Irish accent on the screen.