On Californication when Anthony Kiedis (the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) sings: “Well, everybody’s been there, and I don’t mean on vacation…” it’s profoundly true.
It’s the exact same thing with New York City: you know how many movies and TV shows have been set in NYC? (Like for real NYC not like, Toronto cosplaying as New York City.)
We’ll all been to New York City even if we never took a flight to The Big Apple.
Like LA and like NYC we’ve all visited The Hospital for the Mind on Mount Coquitlam.
Located about an hour from Vancouver, any movie or TV show that’s been shot in B.C. in the last 30 years has used this super creepy setting.
If you’ve watched The X Files, Supernatural, Arrow, Smallville, Prison Break, Riverdale and movies like Watchmen, The Butterfly Effect and Final Destination 2 you know this super disturbing mental hospital building.
X-Files constantly used this location; shooting 13 episodes there between 1993 and 1996.
It’s the laboratory where Ryan Reynolds becomes Deadpool in the first movie.
IMDb has an entire list of productions that have used this hospital. Later renamed Riverview Hospital.
Starting in the ‘80s and into the ‘90s as mental health medical responses evolved deinstitutionalization became popular, emptying many of the hospital’s buildings.
Making it an ideal location for many of B.C.’s film and TV productions.
Only…one slight and rather eerie issue.
This mental hospital opened in 1913. So, you know that’s not good. Patients were subjected to shock therapy treatments, insulin-induced comas and hydrotherapy (hours of being exposed to or blasted with hot or cold water.).
If you grew up in the ‘80s you’re already thinking this joint is haunted.
And it gets worse…like Stephen King — night terrors inducing worse: the hospital grounds are either built on or at the edge of an Indian burial ground.
100% it’s haunted: Guaranteed.
I knew all this casually. I’m certain if you grew up in Vancouver you’d hear frightfully fun urban legends around campfires.
Deadpool returned to the abandoned mental hospital in 2…this time the location was dressed up as an orphanage owned by the Essex Corporation, labeled as a “Mutant Re-education Center.”
You can see the hospital here in this scene…
I bring this up as I had adult beverages with a Dude who worked on Deadpool 2…he helped with the Wade Wilson pizza face makeup, applied blood etc.
Deadpool was shooting in a wing at this Overlook Hotel like hospital. Between takes, Dude touched up Ryan Reynolds’ makeup: he was in full Deadpool suit.
Josh Brolin as Cable, also in full costume, was sitting nearby.
Reynolds shares with Brolin the petrifying history of this abandoned mental hospital. Brolin listens then concludes: we got time. Wanna check it out?
Ryan turns to Make-Up-Dude and says…you coming?
So Deadpool and Cable wander down this dark corridor…the first couple of doors were locked.
Eventually they came to the large and open room…maybe it used to be the dining room, maybe it was something else.
No sooner do they enter the room then all 3 instantly feel the temperature drop, it’s noticeably cold.
And suddenly, they feel a dark and ominous spirit in the room.
Ryan Reynolds is like nope: “We’re getting the fuck outta here.” (The way Dude told the story that sounds like a direct quote.)
They turned and basically power walked back to the set with all the people around and all the bright lights.
Dude said to me: I’d never seen Ryan so serious. He then laughed. I suspect partly because it was funny and partly to dispel the lingering dark spirits.
I put my drink down…a bit hard, some of it sloshed out of the cup. So what happened?!!
He shrugged. We never talked about it for the rest of the shoot. (pause) But that place is haunted.
I knew it!
I’ve no way to verify this story. However, I fully believe all of it.
The nightmarish mental hospital is haunted, something evil lurks in the corridors…those are not all shadows and Deadpool and Cable encountered something that frightened them.
I believe all of it.
Deadpool 3: Deadpool & Wolverine opens this week.
I hope the ghoulish hospital is not in this movie.
More Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool fun:
Attached is a Throwback Thursday Podcast from 2022 with Alex Mallari Jr.
I spoke to the actor on Wednesday, January 26, 2022 about The Adam Project. Alex played the bad guy in The Adam Project: a Ryan Reynolds movie streaming on Netflix.
(Check it out; lots of sci-fi fun and the kid in the movie is gold! Highly recommended!)
I half-seriously asked Alex since he’s from Scarborough and Ryan Reynolds is from Vancouver…was there any Canadian trash talking going on between takes?
Alex laughed and admitted: “No, I don’t think we’ve ever given Reynolds the proper Scarborough welcome.” Amazing!
Alex is a Scarborough Superstar. You can enjoy that retro My Summer Lair episode.
Less Ryan Reynolds and more Deadpool?
The co-creator of Deadpool writer Fabian Nicieza visited My Summer Lair at the end of 2020. I shared this hospital story with Fabian and he had an interesting response.
After Deadpool, we talked about his murder-mystery novel Suburban Dicks. The follow up book is The Self-Made Widow. I hope he continues to write more of these. He’s got an outstanding detective and he writes about New Jersey so well.
If you’re seeking a Summer read, there’s 2 remarkable recommendations.
Two dope Thursday Throwbacks…
If you’re in the mood for Ryan Reynolds check out the Alex conversation.
If you’re craving Deadpool, Fabian is your go-to-guy.
Can Only Swim In The Shallow End Of The Deadpool…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
That Time Deadpool & Cable Went Full Scooby-Doo