THE GETAWAY GUIDE

• Where: Milwaukee’s Lake Michigan shoreline

• As seen in: Transformers 3, Bridesmaids

• Learn more: mam.org

The Milwaukee Art Museum has a 130-year history and a massive collection of 25,000 pieces of art, from ancient pottery to 20th-century pop. One of its most famous artworks is part of the museum itself – the 142,000-squarefoot Quadracci Pavilion, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and completed in 2001. The pavilion is topped by the now-iconic Burke Brise Soleil, a vast, movable sunscreen with a wingspan as big as a Boeing 747, which opens and closes daily. The eye-catching brise soleil (that’s French for “sun breaker”) has made its way into several big-budget Hollywood films. For example, the museum was transformed (pardon the pun) into a car museum for billionaire Dylan Gould (played by Patrick “McDreamy” Dempsey) in the billiondollar blockbuster Transformers: Dark of the Moon. In the flick, Sam (Shia LaBeouf) compares the building to the Starship Enterprise (although – spoiler alert! – Dempsey turns out to be one of the bad guys). The museum has also made an appearance in the comedy Bridesmaids (which was set in Milwaukee, although it was mostly filmed elsewhere) as well as on American Idol and even in a Victoria’s Secret commercial.

• Where: Milwaukee

• As seen in: Public Enemies

• Learn more: milwaukeehistory.net

The Milwaukee County Historical Society headquarters along the Milwaukee River in the city’s downtown houses tens of thousands of artifacts and more than a million documents and photos. But it was the building itself – a former bank built in 1913 – that was the attraction when the makers of the crime drama Public Enemies were scoping out the Badger State for filming locations. The 2009 biopic of Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) includes a scene in which the beautifully restored “bank” is held up by a gun-toting Depp and his gang. A good deal of Public Enemies was filmed in Wisconsin, at locales including the Masonic Temple in Oshkosh, the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters (where the real Dillinger escaped an FBI raid after a shootout), and the state Capitol in Madison (which served as a stand-in for FBI headquarters). Scenes were also filmed in Beaver Dam, Darlington, Columbus, and Baraboo. (Eau Claire was scouted, but didn’t make the cut.) A short-lived state tax credit program helped lure the film to the Badger State. Universal Pictures reportedly got a $4.6 million tax credit after spending $5 million in Wisconsin, which left some critics crying robbery.

• Where: Madison

• As seen in: Back to School

• Learn more : wisc.edu

“When I used to dream about going to college, this is how I always pictured it,” Rodney Dangerfield proclaims while walking down UW-Madison’s iconic Bascom Hill in the 1986 flick Back to School. The late comedic genius stars as a wealthy man who decides to (you guessed it) go back to school by enrolling in the same college as his son, Grand Lakes University – in reality, the campus of UW-Madison. Dangerfield and Co. engage in all the college hijinks you would expect in an ’80s comedy: hot tub parties, dance parties, beer parties (where the cops show up not to write underage drinking tickets but to deliver more Miller Lite). According to a 2016 article in Isthmus magazine, the filmmakers scoped out numerous campuses before settling on UW-Madison. “It was clear that this was absolutely the iconic, perfect campus,” cinematographer Thomas Ackerman told the magazine. “There’s hardly a way to frame it, or a direction to point the lens that did not convey ‘the halls of ivy.’ It was perfect for us.” Campus settings that made it into the film include Library Mall, the Memorial Union Terrace, Science Hall, the Red Gym, Helen C. White Hall, Observatory Hill, and more.

• Where: Hayward

• As seen in: Blood Hook

• Learn more: freshwater-fishing.org

Never heard of Blood Hook? Well, you’re in for a treat – if your idea of a “treat” entails watching copious amounts of fake blood spurting from fishermen being murdered by a giant muskie lure on a northern Wisconsin lake. This low-budget horror-comedy from 1986 was filmed on location in Hayward, which is famed as a fishing destination. In fact, Hayward is home to the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum, where you’ll find the World’s Largest Muskie: a four-story fiberglass monster big enough to swallow a bus. This quirky roadside attraction – as well as the lakes and woods around Hayward – are feature prominently in Blood Hook. If a slasher film set against the backdrop of a fishing tournament sounds like the target of mockery on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, it’s for good reason: It was directed by Jim Mallon, who went on to help launch MST3K a few years later at a Minnesota cable station.

If you’re interested in film, now’s the time for a road trip to Madison, where the annual Wisconsin Film Festival runs April 4-11. You’ll have the opportunity to check out more than 150 films from around the world and here at home. Find out more at wifilmfest.org.