Debunking Artificial Intelligence’s Hudson Valley Movie Trivia

Artificial intelligence has revolutionized workplaces across the world. It has helped expedite email writing, quicken research, and much more. AI has practically turned into the personal assistant of your dreams.

I’d draw the line at 2 places though – arts and crafts, and trivia.

AI notoriously struggles with creating human faces, hands, and food. Check out some of the strangest fails here: 8 of New York’s Best Regional Dishes Butchered by AI

This week, I thought I’d test its knowledge on movie trivia. There were a few movies I truly was surprised to learn had Hudson Valley ties, so maybe some of this will surprise you.

We’ll give you the movie title and a little summary, and you have to guess if it was actually filmed in the Hudson Valley or if the AI is flat-out wrong. For this experiment, we used Gemini, Google’s AI bot.

Here we go:

Tootsie (1982)

Tootsie stars Dustin Hoffman who plays Michael Dorsey, an actor who is struggling to find work. He decides to disguise himself as a woman and ends up landing a role in a popular TV drama. Things start to get complicated when Dorsey begins to fall in love with his female co-star.

According to Gemini, parts of Tootsie were filmed in Poughkeepsie and Millbrook.

So, was Tootsie actually filmed in the Hudson Valley?

According to both IMDb and MovieLocations, parts of Tootsie were filmed in the Hudson Valley! Just not Poughkeepsie or Millbrook.

The Hurley Mountain Inn in Ulster County was used as the upstate farmhouse that main character Michael Dorsey (dressed as his female disguise Dorothy) and Julie, his love interest, go to visit.

War of the Worlds (2005)

The story follows Tom Cruise as Ray Ferrier who is a divorced father, trying to make his relationship with his 2 kids work. Another average night with the kids turns into a full-on alien-invasion action film as Ferrier works to protect his children.

Gemini told us parts of War of the Worlds were filmed in Beacon, Kingston, and Newburgh. Is that true?

According to Movie Locations, there is a scene involving a ferry that was filmed in the town of Athens, NY, which is in Hudson. However, there is no evidence supporting that any of this movie was filmed in Beacon, Newburgh, or Kingston.

Our Idiot Brother (2011)

This film stars Hudson Valley local Paul Rudd, Emily Mortimer, and Zooey Deschanel. The story follows Rudd’s character, Ned, who has just been released from jail after selling pot to a cop at a farmer’s market. Happy-go-lucky Ned learns secrets about his sister’s lives, asserting his philosophies on how they can better their own.

Gemini believes Our Idiot Brother was filmed around the Hudson Valley, namely Cold Spring. What do you think?

According to IMDb and The Hudson Valley Film Commission, Our Idiot Brother was indeed filmed in Cold Spring! From these photos posted by the Hudson Valley Film Commission, it’s safe to assume the stereotypical farmer’s market scenes were the ones shot in Cold Spring.

Seabiscuit (2003)

Loosely based on real events, Seabiscuit follows the story of how an undersized, hard-to-train racehorse manages to become one of the most decorated competitors in horse racing during the Great Depression. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Toby McGuire, and Chris Cooper.

Gemini shares that parts of the movie were filmed in New Paltz, Poughkeepsie, and Rhinebeck. What do you think?

Spyglass, DreamWorks, Universal

While we can confirm that parts of Seabiscuit were filmed in Saratoga Springs according to IMDb, there’s no information regarding it being filmed in New Paltz, Poughkeepsie, or Rhinebeck.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

The Devil Wears Prada features standout performances from Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs, Emily Blunt as Emily, and Meryl Streep as fashion industry trailblazer Miranda Priestly. The film follows Andy as she aims to advance her journalism career by taking a position as a personal assistant to Miranda. Andy struggles to find her way in the fashion industry until she begins to embrace the culture, at the expense of her personal life and goals.

On 2 separate occasions, Gemini has shared information about The Devil Wears Prada being filmed at the Walkway Over the Hudson. Do you think it’s true?

20th Century Studios, Fox 2000 Pictures, Dune Entertainment

Tsk, tsk, tsk. The Devil Wears Prada was not filmed on the Walkway Over the Hudson. The film came out in 2006, but the Walkway Over the Hudson didn’t break ground until May of 2008, only opening to the public in 2009.

So how did you fair compared to the AI bot?

If you want to brush up on your local movie trivia, check out more here:

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