Location...
The Scenery:
One of the greatest attributes of Martin's Day, was the location it was shot
in. The scenery is amazing! Filmed in Canada, Martin's Day follows Steckert
and Martin up through the state of Ontario, showing scenic
highways, biways, towns, forests, beautiful blue skies, tree lined back roads,
and gorgeous lakes. Martin's Day could double as a commercial for Canadian
tourism. The movie really showcases Canada's wonders.
The part that takes the cake is Steckert's old
boyhood cottage on the lake. This is a beautiful two-story white house,
perched right on the bank of a beautiful lake. The house has lots of windows,
and a big balconey that stretches across the front of the house, over the
lake. The first floor of the house is actually a "boat garage,"
where a canoe is stored, in the water; a garage-type door facing the lake
opens, allowing the boat to float out into the lake. Surrounding the house
is a beautiful landscape, my favorite part being a huge rock that young Martin
uses to jump off into the water. Click HERE
to see the house!
I
Wanna Go To The Lake:
The scenes were so amazing and I was so inspired by this movie, that I have
actually planned a trip to go canoeing in Ontario in the summer of 2005. Call
me crazy, but this movie was so good and its scenes so beautiful, something
inside me won't rest until I am the one taking a canoe out onto that very
lake. The
only problem is--how do I find the lake??? The credits aren't specific as
to where exactly Martin's Day is filmed--only a thanks at the end to the Ontario
Film Commission. I have e-mailed the commission and have yet to recieve
a response. Any normal person would let it rest, but I guess I'm not normal.
Finding
The Lake; The Clues:
I took a few hours over Thanksgiving weeekend to pop in the movie in again, but
this time, for the strict purpose of watching and noting every piece of the scenery
in the movie, and listening intently to any and all references of towns, locations
and landmarks. I didn't come up with a lot, but here's what I did get, in chronological
order...
At
the start of the movie, when Steckert is telling Dr. Mennen about the lake, he
refers to it being located "up there." 
When
Martin hi-jacks the prison transport van, he is on Highway 400 North.
The
name on the police vehicle Martin steals is Malver Regional Police.
When
Steck's on the run, towards the beginning of the chase, he blows by a sign that
says 50 North with an arrow to the left and 7 East with an arrow
pointing straight ahead.
Further
along in the journey, Steck and Martin stop to eat at The Halfway
Cafe.
The duo stops at Steck's old girlfriend's house in a town called Lakefield.
Martin's
ex-girlfriend mentions The Belmont Tavern.
After
leaving Steck's old girlfriend's house, Steck asks Martin to find Highway 830.
In
the town where Steckert sends Martin into a store by himself to get soda,
the name of the store is Houston's Rexall Drugs.
And here's the final and most valuable clue in the entire movie: towards the
end of the chase, Lt. Lardner, pointing a map, explains to his crew that Steckert's
train "stopped south of Orrville." Ah-HA! So Orrville, huh?
That's really the last clue in the movie, and the most specific. Click here
to see exactly where Orrville is.
What's
Next:
I have almost given up on searching for the lake! No repsonse from the
Ontario Film Commission yet,
and I have no idea where to look next. I even tried e-mailing the chamber
of commerce for some of the towns surrounding the infamous Orrville, as well
as realtors, and no response. Someone's gotta know!
Can
You Help?
If you have any knowledge of where the lake might be, know anyone who worked
on the film, or even have any new ideas on how to find this information out,
please contact me.
UPDATE March 3rd, 2005: I decided
to make another attempt at contacting the Ontario Film Commission. This time
I found a staff list on their website and e-mailed every employee asking
for help! I also added the names of the Location Manager to the e-mail. I
struck gold! The next day I recieved a nice e-mail from Suzanne Porter at
the commission, saying she'd be happy to look into it. Then, two days later,
she sent me this e-mail:
Hey Randy,
After some extensive digging by my colleague, Marty Dejczak, we think we might have solved the mystery of “The LAKE”!!!!!
Here is an excerpt of an email to Marty from Michael McDonald who was the original location scout on the project. He tracked down the Set Decorator who worked on the project, who now resides in the Maritimes, and he was able to give us these details:
The lake on Martin's Day was actually two locations, one was Lake Joseph up in Muskoka and the other was at the mines in Nefton near Havelock Ontario. He didn't know what that lake was actually called but it was the only lake on the mine property and thus it sounds like it is on private property. Just as an aside it is only one of two places on the face of the earth where materials for the tiles for the space shuttle are to be found. The other is in Italy.
Hope this helps!! We owe all of our thanks to Marty’s hard work!
Suzanne
Porter
Acting Marketing Consultant
----------------
So there it is!!!
After years and years, I now know that the house is on Joseph Lake, in Muskoka,
Ontario, Canada! And I'm going there in June of this year!
Either way, I am going canoeing in Canada this summer. While searching
for this magic lake, I came across an outfit that does guided canoe-tours,
through the lakes and waterways of Canada. It looked pretty neat--the tours
start at three days, and include the canoe, camping (tents, sleeping bags,
etc.), meals, and a professional guide. Not only do you get to navigate through
the beautiful lakes of Ontario, but apparently you can see some amazing wildlife,
including moose...and of course the loons! Check out the camping trip
here.
I'll take plenty of photos on the trip and post them on the website!
Hopefully by then I'll have a better idea where the lake is and be able to
actually see "Martin's House."
UPDATE
April 9th, 2005:
Well,
I've narrowed it down to Joseph Lake--but what now. That's a big lake!!! Click
here to see pictures of the house (from the movie).
UPDATE
June 24th, 2005:
I
am almost ready to go to "The Lake!" Since my last update, I have
discovered MANY clues, and talked to some special people that had roles in
the movie!
First, I found a blurb on the internet about the transportation company used
during the fliming of Martin's Day. I called Hammond
Transportation
in the town of Bracebridge and Sue Campbell, who worked there, was able to
tell me where Richard Harris and the crew stayed during production-- Cleveland's
House on Lake Rosseau. I didn't get many other details, but it was a step
in the right direction!
My biggest score was actually tracking down Roy Krost, the PRODUCER of Martin's
Day! After searching the net for days and days, I couldn't get contact information
for ANYONE who worked on the movie. From the directors, all the way down to
the "key grips" and "gaffers," I came up with nothing!
Then a friend told me about a Hollywood "directory" that had producers'
contacts in it. I ordered an old issue on eBay for ten bucks, and to my surprise,
I found Roy Krost's company's name and number right there in the book!
I called and talked to someone at World Film Services, who called me back
the next day with Mr. Krost's HOME NUMBER! "Holy sh*t!" I thought.
I couldn't believe it. I was so nervous! I called Mr. Krost and he was really
nice. Funny thing was, it seemed like I knew more about the movie than him!
I must have sounded like a little boy talking to Santa Claus! I went on and
on and on about what a great movie Martin's Day was--naming scenes, and quoting
quotes! I'm sure this guy thought I was a borderline "nut job,"
but I didn't care! I was happy just to be able to tell him how much the movie
meant to me! I tried to get as many details out of Mr. Krost as I could, but
didn't get much. The bottom line was, he just didn't remember many details.
After all, the movie was over 20 years old, and he had done hundreds of pieces
of work since then. I did get a few interesting tid bits though--like the
big red barn young Martin hid in had to painted red just for the movie--then
painted back to normal! I asked Mr. Krost which little towns the different
scenes were filmed in and he couldn't recall, but did mention that they used
cities in between Toronto and Lake Joseph, along Highway 400. One sad piece
of news he gave me though, was that the house on the lake was fabricated just
for the movie, and torn down after the production. I couldn't help feeling
really sad knowing I would never be able to visit the actual house--I actually
felt like someone had died--but I was probably better off knowing the real
deal--I sure would've been frustrated if I would've made the whole trip and
NOT found the house, thinking that it was still there and I just couldn't
find it.
UPDATE
January 19th, 2006:
Shame
on me for not updating this website sooner, but I have been soooo busy with
work and my many projects (I work in radio and own my own radio syndication
company).
In July of last year, my girlfriend and I took a flight to Canada, with the
sole purpose of seeing "The Lake."
You can read the story of my adventures, and see the photos HERE!