Famed Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki shot “La Vie Boheme” in Paris using mostly Finnish actors (but in French). He wanted to shoot a scene in a Paris metro s

Famed Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki shot “La Vie Boheme” in Paris using mostly Finnish actors (but in French). He wanted to shoot a scene in a Paris metro station but the costs were exorbitant. (As the linked article says, this facility is used by big budget films; Aki is indie.) In the directors cut he shows the solution: He shot in front of an old garage in the rough part of Paris suburbs where the film is set, and did optical tricks to make it look like a train station. For example, on the garage were cast shadows from what look like train windows (seen behind the actors as they talk in a romantic goodbye scene) but were in actuality holes cut from cardboard, Aki had people shining lights through them and others moving the cardboard so the shadows would move as the “train” left the “station.” I found a description online, drawn from an event with the actress involved in the scene: “In once scene, there is a departure from a train station, a long goodbye. But it was too expensive to really film at the train station! Instead, they improvised: clouds of steam were provided by the staff chef boiling water in every available pot and pan. Meanwhile, shadow heads and hats in a cut-out panel sliding across the wall signals a departing train. Bizzarely enough, it works…”