Marin Serves as Key Backdrop in New Woody Allen Film 'Blue Jasmine'

As many of his films do, Woody Allen's latest movie, Blue Jasmine, which opens at theaters in New York and Los Angeles on July 26, boasts a star-studded ensemble cast. It includes Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Louis C.K., Bobby Cannavale, Peter Sarsgaard, Sally Hawkins and Andrew Dice Clay. 

But for residents of Marin and San Francisco, the backdrop of the film – from Escalle Winery in Larkspur and a pair of homes in Belvedere and Tiburon to neighborhoods like Chinatown and South Park – plays a starring role.

Blanchett's protagonist, a glamorous New York housewife, moves to San Francisco to live with her sister after it's revealed that her husband is a crook and that she is penniless. She doesn't exactly fit with her sister's less-glamorous lifestyle. 

The Belvedere home plays host to a cocktail party where Blanchett's character, Jasmine (aka Jeanette), meets the man who might change her fortunes, while the Escalle property, a former brick production facility that Frenchman Jean Escalle turned into a winery around 1890, is the setting for an estate sale the pair visits. The Tiburon home, located on a bayfront street in the Paradise Cay neighborhood, is the would-be couple's new home.

While the cast and crew were filming in Marin 11 months ago, Allen and his family were spotted enjoying a quiet lunch at Left Bank Brasserie in Larkspur after he wrapped up for the day of shooting nearby at the Escalle Winery property.

The Tiburon Ark newspaper snapped pictures of Blanchett, Louis C.K. and Allen in Belvedere as they arrived at the private residence where they were filming.

The film is also set in the Mission and Marina districts of San Francisco, with Chinatown, South Park, South Van Ness Ave. and 48th Ave. and Rivera avenues in the Sunset district also making an appearance.