Production on Honeymoon with Harry, the Amazon MGM Studios comedy-drama starring Kevin Costner and Jake Gyllenhaal, has turned the street outside Wesley Hospital into a convincing stretch of Chicago.
Locals who passed by the scene this week described it as completely out of place in the most satisfying way possible. Reddit commenters joked they had stepped into a “wormhole to Chicago.” A Wesley Hospital employee confirmed on Facebook that staff had the chance to go behind the scenes during the shoot. “Filming Honeymoon with Harry. Work there and got to see behind the scenes. Saw Jake Gyllenhaal and Kevin Costner,” Adam Noble wrote.
The Wesley Hospital shoot is one of several Brisbane locations the production has occupied since filming began on 16 April, with sightings of the cast stretching from Fortitude Valley to the CBD and as far north as Noosa.
A movie twenty years in the making
Honeymoon with Harry has been in development since the early 2000s, cycling through various directors and star attachments including Jack Nicholson and Vince Vaughn, then Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper, before the current version came together in August 2025 with Costner and Gyllenhaal confirmed to star.
Movie being filmed near the Wesley Hospital?
by u/claw106 in brisbane
The film follows a rough-around-the-edges man named Todd, played by Gyllenhaal, who ends up sharing an unwanted honeymoon with his late fiancée’s overprotective father Harry, played by Costner, after a life-altering event upends their plans. The two men clash and bicker across an island honeymoon before gradually finding an unexpected bond.
It is an emotional dramedy with a cast that has only grown more impressive since principal photography began, with Rita Ora and Shaggy joining in mid-April alongside Sarah Pidgeon, who plays Harry’s daughter Haley.
The film is directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the duo behind Crazy, Stupid, Love and the television series This Is Us, with a screenplay by Dan Fogelman, who created This Is Us and also serves as a producer. It is distributed by Amazon MGM Studios.
Brisbane’s chameleon role on screen
The production has moved fluidly across Brisbane’s inner suburbs and CBD, using the city’s architecture and streetscapes as stand-ins for locations the story requires.
The Chicago emergency vehicle setup outside Wesley Hospital is the most visually dramatic example, but filming has also taken place at 111 Eagle Street and 66 Eagle Street in the CBD, with building managers at Eagle Street notifying tenants in advance of possible shoot activity in and around their foyers.
The RNA Showgrounds at Bowen Hills is serving as the production’s base of operations for trailers, extras holding, catering and equipment. Filming is also taking place in the Whitsundays for the movie’s island honeymoon sequences.
The directors were matter-of-fact about why Queensland works so well for a story that spans Chicago and the Caribbean. “We’re doing Chicago, the Caribbean and everything in between, all within a day’s reach,” Ficarra and Requa said. “The crew are great and the weather’s even better.”
A boost for Queensland’s growing screen sector
Screen Queensland confirmed the production is estimated to contribute $51 million to the state’s economy and employ 215 people, covering local crew, construction, catering, transport and accommodation suppliers across the shoot. Honeymoon with Harry is supported through the Location Offset and Screen Queensland’s Production Attraction Strategy.
Recent Amazon MGM Studios productions made in Queensland include Balls Up, The Bluff, Subversion, Voltron and the Untitled Mike Thornton Project, making Honeymoon with Harry the latest in a deepening relationship between one of the world’s largest studios and Queensland’s screen production sector.
No release date for the movie has been announced. For more about Screen Queensland’s work attracting major productions to the state, click here.
Published 8-May-2026
