Splash News Arnold_Schwarzenegger_on_set_ - H 2016

SNL alum Taran Killam was worried: He needed Vancouver to double as Miami for his comedy Why We’re Killing Gunther. “Our script is quite international, so we were worried about finding looks that wouldn’t read Pacific Northwest,” says Killam, who also is starring alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Cobie Smulders. “The Surrey Operations Centre building is this beau­tiful, brand­-new, blue-­glass building that we were able to double for Miami, and it ended up being one of my favorite locations of the entire shoot.”

Killam and other Canadian production players see the collapse of their dollar against the American greenback and generous tax breaks as helping draw Hollywood projects north for the convenience of filming amid a diverse array of streetscapes and landscapes. According to the Association of Provincial Funding Agencies, the total volume of foreign location and service production in Canada in 2015 jumped 42.4 per­cent to $2.6 billion, way up from the $1.9 billion in 2010. THR takes a look at how Hollywood North is making movie magic.