10048
The World Trade Center Movie Project

tk

…everyone who’s helping to make The 10048 Project the definitive database of WTC appearances.

When I started this project in 2002, there was nothing like it on the Web. Since then, of course, it’s been copied and imitated — but nothing I’ve seen has come close to the volume of information (and detail) here, thanks primarily to contributions from people like you.

Your kind words (I wish I could reproduce them all here) mean a lot. It’s gratifying to know I’m in such good company.

We have a lot more entries coming; researching all your tips and composing each page is no small task. But for now, I’d like to thank the good people whose contributions have made The 10048 Project was it is… so far:

Bernadette • Robbie Cray • Jack • Paige • Cole Ruffalo • Tommy • Englund • Kai • Cecile • Sheb • Cavvy • Raymond • Charles • Shay • Baby Ramone • John Dickie IV • Milo • David C • Terri • Len • Chee • Henrik • Robert • Jereme Hamel • Dan Urton • Earl Dryden • Charles Chawalko • Kenneth L • Dakes • Tom • Dave • Eccles • Dalgren • Mikel • Dido • Eddie G • Tom Grommell • Don Crafton • Dale • Brian Sterling • Brian Callen • Layla • Sloop John B • Pauline • Eli • Mark • Cheetah • Charles Knight • Lindsey • Derek • Chad • Lawson • Bob Cookston • Dahlia • Dave Lehman • Christopher Fox • John Silk • Mike • Adrian Keenan • Fawley • Anthony Rucker • Jatnna Rodriguez • Paula • William • Nicole Varenkamp • Raphael • Sharam • Kim

Never forget!

Skip down to the list

As I mention in the introduction, I find the practice of editing existing shots of the WTC out of movies (and TV shows, and other media) absolutely deplorable.

The only remotely acceptable reason I can think of for removing images of (or references to) the World Trade Center from popular media is the desire not to “date” the project in question. For example, the short-lived sci-fi show “SeaQuest DSV” was set in the year 2018; in an episode made in 1994 (”An Ocean On Fire,” a.k.a. “Higher Power”), there’s a discussion of global warming, during which one character remarks, “You’re gonna need scuba gear to stand on the observation deck of the World Trade Center.” Immediately, your suspension of disbelief — in a fictional story set in an era after September 11, 2001 — is shattered.

But that’s the only scenario I can think of in which redacting a WTC reference might be acceptable: for artistic reasons, not political ones, or imagined psychological ones. There’s no good reason to erase the WTC from any film or show set in a time when the towers still existed.

So why do it? Are we such big wussies that we need some studio executive to decide that we can’t handle the sight of the towers (thereby cutting into their bottom line — or so they assume)?

As Kevin Pack wrote in late 2001, in Hollywood Patriotism, 2001:

This new world seems to be policed to a point that you would think there is no demographic above the age or 12, even though we hardly live in a world that is rated PG.

Radio stations have lists longer than Robert Downey Jr.’s rap sheet of songs that can’t be played on the radio because it could be seen as “offensive” and more depressed than we already are. … The public can’t hear songs like “New York, New York” by Old Blue Eyes, and movies are having their release dates pushed back because we need to edit out every goddamn shot of the World Trade Center. People don’t want any reminders of the devastating events that have happened and can’t be bogged down with thoughts, feelings, sights, or sounds that could push them over the edge.

“Sidewalks of New York” had its release date pushed back, like many other films, because scenes of the WTC had to be edited out. It is called “Sidewalks of New York” right? The WTC may be rubble now, but when the film was shot it was a tall monument that was a symbol of America and a hallmark of one of the best cities in the world, NYC. So, instead of celebrating what once was, we have to walk on tip toes and edit it from, well, I guess everything. The “Spiderman” trailer and poster were both recalled and most likely scrapped because of shots of, you guessed it, the WTC. Funny how we can’t be shown any images of the WTC in all its glory because it might bring us down, but copies of “Die Hard” are flying off of Blockbuster’s shelves. …

Why is it that we can’t be shown an image ot the WTC but the public will flock to see a movie about Jack the Ripper and watch his blood soaked hands cut out women’s anatomy? …

I go to Blockbuster and see a warning sticker on the cover of “Swordfish” telling me I might find this film offensive since the “events” that took place on 9/11. The only thing I found offensive about the film was John Travolta’s hideously bad haircut …

And, as I’m very fond of saying, “You wouldn’t cut Grandpa out of the family pictures just because he was dead, would you?” Cutting Grandpa out of the family photo album wouldn’t serve to spare the feelings of the survivors; it would only serve to dishonor the deceased.

Or, as Rita Kempley put it:

If we erase the towers from our art, we erase it from our memories. It’s right out of Forrest Gump and Zelig. We’re destroying our own history, never a wise idea.

“Right out of Forrest Gump and Zelig“… and 1984, for that matter.

That said, here’s our list of movies, TV shows, and other media in which the World Trade Center once existed, but was erased, digitally or otherwise — usually on orders from a bunch of shortsighted suits who must think very little of American resiliency:

Movies

• Kissing Jessica Stein

• Men in Black II (WTC switched to Chrysler Building)

• National Lampoon’s European Vacation

• Serendipity

• Sidewalks of New York (poster also altered)

• The Time Machine (2002)

• Zoolander

See also:

• Spider-Man

Also worth noting:

• Nose Bleed, a.k.a. Nosebleed, a Renny Harlin-directed comedy-actioner starring Jackie Chan as a window washer at the World Trade Center who thwarts a terrorist plot to blow up the twin towers (!). The project was shelved before it even reached the pre-production stage.

Television

• Law & Order: Criminal Intent (WTC edited out of opening credits before series debut on October 7, 2001)

See also:

• Sex and the City

• The Sopranos

Music

See:

• Coup: Party Music

• Dream Theater: Live Scenes from New York

Video & Computer Games

Excerpted from Wikipedia:

• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty: released as scheduled in November 2001 despite the plot centering around terrorists in New York City and a scene in which a giant battleship crashes into Federal Hall; however, a scene in which Arsenal Gear, a futuristic mobile fortress, destroys the Statue of Liberty and half of Manhattan was removed, as was live-action footage of the Twin Towers originally slated to be used in the ending.

Screen capture from Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002. This image was sent to me; as I can’t read Japanese, I have no idea of the original source.

• Microsoft removed the World Trade Center from Microsoft Flight Simulator beginning with the 2002 edition. Also, Microsoft removed Crash Damage from the games. That meant that when a plane crashed, it did not catch alight. [JR notes: And in a most stunning move, Microsoft also issued a patch for Flight Simulator 2000, so players themselves could remove the WTC from the New York skyline!]

• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (2000), depicting an alternate history where the Soviet Union launches an invasion of the United States, changed its box art after the attacks. The original art was of the New York skyline on fire and ruined Twin Towers behind a Soviet soldier who was wearing an eyepiece with crosshairs on the American flag. The release of its 2001 expansion pack, Command & Conquer: Yuri’s Revenge, was postponed because of this. Controversial in-game levels, inluding ones where you had to destroy the Pentagon and attack the World Trade Center area, were not changed, however the landmarks and level names like “Operation: Big Apple” were no longer mentioned in walkthroughs on the game’s website.

The World Trade Center should, because of its importance, become a living representation of man’s belief in humanity, his need for individual dignity, his belief in the cooperation of men, and through this cooperation his ability to find greatness.

 
The goal of 10048: The World Trade Center Movie Project is simple: To commemorate New York’s World Trade Center by compiling a canonical list of films in which the twin towers appear.

Why? Because no matter how many times I see footage of the towers falling, or overviews of the naked 16 acres where these monoliths once stood, they’ll never really be gone. Not to me, anyway.

Like a lot of people, I used to think the towers looked out of place, dominating the New York City skyline. When the WTC opened in the early 1970s, I wasn’t even a teenager, nor had I fallen in love with New York… yet. What bugged me most about the towers was that they had taken the title of NYC’s tallest building away from the Empire State Building.

I was 35 before I finally caved in and visited NYC for the first time. And I fell completely, hopelessly in love with the city. I quickly became very fond of the Trade Center, too, as the towers served as my abiding landmark. (New York City isn’t at all difficult to navigate — unless you’re in the Village, and then first-timers will wish they faced a simpler task… like trying to navigate their way out of the hedge maze in The Shining.)

My first and only visit to the WTC itself was in 1999. It was a windy day, so the observation deck on the roof was closed — but I was quite happy pressing my face against the floor-to-ceiling glass on the 107th floor.

It felt like flying.

The last time I saw the towers was in July, 2001. I took an Australian friend on her first cross-country tour of the U.S., from California to New York and back. After a week in NYC, we drove up to Yonkers and spent the night so we could tour a bit of Washington Irving territory before heading southward. It was sunset by the time we drove down the New Jersey side of the Hudson; across the water, the New York skyline positively gleamed in a breathtaking orange glow. When most of the skyscrapers had disappeared beneath the horizon and all I could see were the towers themselves, I told my companion: “Take a good look out the back — we’re not going to see that sight again for a very long time.”

Less than two months later, I knew we would never see that sight again, ever.

Ever since September 11, 2001, I find myself taking in a little extra gasp of air every time I spot the towers while watching a movie… or TV show, or music video, or commercial. I don’t know if it has the same effect on you, but to me, an unexpected glimpse at the towers, in all their glory, is actually quite comforting.

Maybe these glimpses into the past allow me to relive a split-second of memory when everything seemed okay, before our world changed forever. Maybe I just need proof, repeatedly, that the towers did once stand. Or maybe it’s like what they say about people who are long gone — that they’re really very much still alive, as long as someone remembers them as they were in life. I think that goes for things as well — buildings included, as they indeed have their own “life,” their own energy.

And, as we all know too well now, the World Trade Center towers, whether you loved them or hated the sight of them, will never again be remembered as just a couple of buildings. They symbolize so many different things now, to so many different people.

If you, as I, want to remember the towers as they were — whatever your own personal reasons may be — I invite you to help me compile this list.

With your help, and as I re-screen these movies again, I’ll start adding brief notes to each title indicating exactly when and where to see the towers, in specific shots of each film.

The “rules” are simple: A movie qualifies if you can see the World Trade Center in it. The film doesn’t have to feature the towers — just an overview of the city in which you can spot the towers, or even a brief shot of the WTC at the far end of a street, qualifies.

I don’t want movies from which shots of the World Trade Center have been cut, or the towers digitally removed. Not only do these films not qualify as WTC movies, but I personally find the practice of “erasing” the towers from existing footage deplorable. You wouldn’t cut Grandpa out of the family pictures just because he was dead, would you?

P.S. Why “10048″? Because the World Trade Center had its very own Zip code. Actually, it had two — 10047 and 10048, but I knew of 10048 first (and I like the way “one-double-oh-four-eight” rolls off the tongue). Not that there’s anything wrong with 10047…