Welcome back to another edition of Airport Cinema. In this issue we look at Washington Dulles Airport.
Washington Dulles International Airport in Popular Culture
Fans of the film series Die Hard may recognise the name of this airport as the location to the film’s second installment. While Bruce Willis’ John McClane spends a large portion of the film here, filming actually took place at two different airports, Stapleton International Airport in Denver and Los Angeles International Airport in California.
The airport is also used throughout the film series ‘Airport’. The original film in the series is set at the fictional Lincoln International Airport near Chicago. It follows an airport manager who is trying to keep the airport open during a snowstorm, while there is also a plot to bomb a plane. The film pays close attention to the day to day running of an airport. Washing Dulles International was considered an easy airport to film in, as it is relatively quiet, but also busy enough to still look like a functioning airport rather than a film set. It features, at some point, in all four installments of the disaster film franchise: ‘Airport ’75, Airport ’77, Airport ’79 and ‘The Concorde… Airport ’79’. The first film in the franchise was nominated for ten academy awards, unfortunately though not for Best Airport.
The airport also featured as a filming location for the films ‘Body of Lies’, ‘In The Line Of Fire’ and ‘Lorenzo’s Oil’.
About Washington Dulles International Airport
The airport is named after John Foster Dulles, the 52nd U.S Secretary of State. It opened in 1962, three years after the death of Dulles. The airport is a well known landmark for its unique design. It is one of three airports in the larger Washington area and serves more than 24 million passengers a year.
