A look inside Hollywood and the movies incorporating Outtakes, Cinefile and Production Chart. : ON LOCATION : RoboCop Doesn’t Love the Motor City

You’ve heard of filmmakers shooting day for night, or creating New York streets on Burbank back lots. But Atlanta for Detroit?

A key scene in “RoboCop 3” was shot recently on Atlanta’s landmark Auburn Avenue, the street where Martin Luther King Jr. gave the speech that launched the Freedom March. The church where King preached, and the memorial honoring his life, are also on Auburn, as are such familiar--to Atlantans--structures as the Tabor and Masonic Building/Prince Hall.

Actually, Detroit--which is the setting for the futuristic action-adventure--has yet to play itself in the series. The first movie, released in 1987, was shot in Dallas, and the second, released last year, was filmed in Houston. “RoboCop 3,” which has actor Robert Burke replacing Peter Weller behind the metallic half-mask, required the kind of setting that urban-renewal programs are turning into an endangered species. “They’ve torn out all the old cities,” lamented producer Patrick Crowley from the Atlanta location of the Detroit-set “RoboCop 3.” Crowley said the film company had to go to the Georgia capital to find urban scenes worthy of Detroit’s image. “Atlanta still has (its) old city left,” he said.

The film company says Atlanta’s preserved urban neighborhoods make the city a perfect stand-in for New York and Chicago, where winter weather is harsh and where labor is expensive. “RoboCop 3” is, along with “Free Jack” and “My Cousin Vinny,” one of three major movies currently in production in Atlanta.

“In Atlanta, they see it as part of the landscape,” said Crowley of the inevitable onlookers. “They’re infinitely less (jaded) than Angelenos. There are areas in L.A. where people will go out of their way to stop you from filming.

“But Atlanta is certainly savvy of the fact that they can make some money out of the production.”

Tell that to Detroit.