silver screen sights

compiled by tom giffey

Wisconsin is a long way from Hollywood, but that doesn’t mean that filmmakers haven’t come calling when they need eye-catching settings – from spaceage museums to historic banks to the world’s largest carousel – for their action blockbusters and costume dramas. Here are some real-life Wisconsin locations that have been featured on the big (and small) screen that you should put on your travel bucket list.

• Where: Between Dodgeville and Spring Green

• As seen in: American Gods (STARZ TV series)

• Learn more: thehouseontherock.com

The House on the Rock is Wisconsin’s ultimate roadside attraction: Perched atop a tower of rock along a state highway in rural Iowa County, what began as a unique, secluded home built by the eccentric Alex Jordan turned into a tourist attraction in the 1960s when Jordan began charging visitors a few cents to rubberneck at his creation. The House gradually grew to include room after room of imaginative marvels –gargantuan music machines, a 200-foot sea monster, a room that reaches to infinity over a wooded valley, and what is billed as the world’s largest carousel. Visitors can spend literally hours wandering its hallways, bedazzled by the endless displays. Among the millions who have paid a visit is fantasy author Neil Gaiman, who made the House an important locale in his 2001 novel American Gods. The Starz network TV series based on the novel began its second season in March with an episode titled “House on the Rock,” which was filmed on location last May. The show’s stars, crew, and Gaiman himself descended on the tourist attraction, where the fictional Old Gods gathered to ride on the magical carousel. The real-life House on the Rock was awe-inspiring, even for Hollywood types. “When you read Neil’s description of it in the book, you think it can’t possibly be weirder seeing it in person,” actor Orlando Jones (who plays trickster god Mr. Nancy) told the Star Tribune. “But it far surpasses his description. That’s insane, because I didn’t think that was possible.”

• Where: Milwaukee

• As seen in: Mr. 3000

• Learn more: www.mlb.com/brewers/ballpark

The 42,000-seat retractable-roof stadium is obviously seen on TV frequently as the home to the Milwaukee Brewers (who just opened their season there March 28 against the Cardinals). It also made it to the big screen in the 2004 comedy Mr. 3000, which centered on a former Brewer (played by the late, great Bernie Mac) who has to come out of retirement to preserve his place in the baseball record books. Miller Park’s predecessor, County Stadium, also served as a film set, in this case as a stand-in for the home of the Cleveland Indians in the Charlie Sheen-fronted comedy Major League in 1989 (which also featured real-life Brewer play-by-play announcer Bob Uecker).