Sunday, May 22nd was a glorious day to film Christian Grey’s Audi R8 on the streets in Seattle. The crew began prepping the Pioneer Square area early with the yellow umbrellas and chairs and even its own real hot dog cart. The filming began at the corner of First Avenue and Yesler. There was a woman stunt driver in the driver’s seat with a guy in the passenger seat. I recognized their clothing from previous filming in Vancouver.

They placed a camera right down on the street level on First Avenue at the corner. They also had another camera half way up the block at the Biscuit Box. The R8 started at Cherry Street intersection and came driving south to Yesler. Several times it stopped at the corner for the street level camera. They positioned the camera in the middle of the square and filmed looking northwest towards First Avenue. The R8 did the same route south on First Avenue, turned at Yesler and turned around and went back to Cherry St.

They repositioned the camera on a rolling dolly in the square so it could move sideways while facing south onto Yesler Way. The camera was then able to film the car coming around the corner. It was pretty cool to watch in motion. They used several different types of cameras for the filming of the cars.

The cameras then moved across the street onto Yesler Way to film after it came around the corner and drove up James Street. They also placed a street level camera at the point of James St. and Yesler Way to catch the close up of the front of the car. The second camera on Yesler Way was used so they could film the R8 racing around the corner at full speed, dodging a SUV and speeding up James St. Several times it was going fast enough to hit a small lift in the road causing the R8 to “catch some air” as it flew by. Can’t wait to see the R8 speeding through the streets of Seattle in the movies.

After filming was completed at Pioneer Square they moved the cars and the R8 to the south entrance of the Alaskan Viaduct and ran several passes on the roadway. I was able to view these from the Pike Street Market area and saw two passes without the R8, and then two with it. The R8 followed closely behind another small car and was next to the car carrier with the long white marine shells. They were supposed to do several more passes that day. The filming is to continue several more days in Seattle with more on the streets near Pioneer Square and more on the Alaskan Viaduct Highway.

See if you can spot this quick filming around Pioneer Square.

Fifty Shades Freed Audi R8:

All filming in Seattle can be seen:

Part 1 May 19
Part 2 May 21
Part 3 May 21
Part 4 May 22

Alaskan Viaduct Highway. Rehearsing without they R8. Filming with the film truck.

Alaskan Viaduct Highway Filming with the Audi R8: