My Life in Ruins Filmed at the Acropolis

My Big Fat Greek Wedding Star on Location in Athens, Greece

Apr 25, 2009

For the first time ever, Greek authorities have allowed a movie, My Life in Ruins, to be filmed at the Acropolis, the most important landmark of ancient Greece.

Nia Vardalos, star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding convinced the Greek government to allow film crews into the Acropolis to shoot My Life in Ruins, using the actual ruins as a movie set for the first time. Shot there are several scenes in the comedy about a tour guide and her unruly group of American tourists in Greece.

Greek authorities decided to make an exception to their ban on commercial use of ancient sites, following Vardalos’ personal appeal, and after reading the script of My Life in Ruins to be sure the site was being represented accurately. They relied on the advice of a group of archaeologists to be sure of historical authenticity, and set guidelines for this and other ruins that assured that no additional fake props would be used.

Most Famous Sight in Greece

Using the Acropolis for a movie set not only makes the movie more authentic, but gives movie-goers a look at the most famous site in Greece, and one of the most important sights of all Europe. The most prominent building on the Acropolis is the Parthenon, built under the reign of Pericles during Athens’ Golden Age in the 400s BC. In 2007, the Acropolis complex was named the pre-eminent monument on the European Cultural Heritage list of monuments.

Greece Popular Movie Setting

While the Greek Islands have been popular setting for movies ever since Boy on a Dolphin was shot there in 1957, scenes involving ancient sites have been shot either at ruins elsewhere or on studio stage sets created to simulate the classical ruins. The most recent film to bring wide attention to Greece was the 2008 hit musical Mamma Mia!, which brought overnight fame to two little-known islands in the Northern Sporades, Skopelos and Skiathos. Movie fans were captivated by the islands where Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan dance on Kastani beach.

Starring along with Nia Vardalos and Richard Dreyfus is Alexis Georgoulis, popular in Greece for his role in a television series here. He plays the part of the bus driver – the love interest for the tour guide, Georgia, played by Vardalos. Along with the Acropolis, the film was shot at other locations in Greece, and in Alicante, in Spain.

My Life in Ruins has been chosen to end the Tribeca Film Festival, with its premier at the closing night, May 2. It opens in theaters in America on June 5. Vardalos, who wrote the scripts for this and for My Big Fat Greek Wedding (for which she received an Oscar script nomination), is of Greek-American descent.

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