Fontainebleau Miami Beach

Fontainebleau Miami Beach is a landmark hotel at 4441 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, opened in 1954 and designed by Morris Lapidus in the Miami Modern style. With its sweeping curved façade, grand public spaces, and long association with celebrity culture, it became one of the most recognisable resort hotels in Florida and one of the best-known screen locations in Miami Beach.

Fontainebleau Miami Beach appears in A Hole in the Head (1959), The Bellboy (1960), Goldfinger (1964), Scarface (1983), Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988), The Bodyguard (1992), The Specialist (1994), and The Sopranos (1999–2007).

In A Hole in the Head (1959), the Fontainebleau pool is shown during the party scene attended by Tony Manetta. This makes it one of the earliest major feature films to use the hotel.

In The Bellboy (1960), Fontainebleau Miami Beach is the main setting of the film. Jerry Lewis plays Stanley, a silent bellboy working at the hotel, and the film uses the lobby, guest areas, and wider resort environment throughout. More than simply appearing in the background, the hotel functions as the film’s central location.

In Goldfinger (1964), Fontainebleau Miami Beach is used as James Bond’s Miami hotel. It appears in the sweeping aerial shot after the opening credits, and it is also the hotel where Jill Masterson is murdered by Oddjob. The hotel is one of the defining Miami locations in the film.

In Scarface (1983), Fontainebleau Miami Beach appears in the scene where Manny flirts with a woman and gets slapped. The hotel is not the main setting of the film, but it is used as part of its upscale Miami backdrop.

In Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988), Fontainebleau Miami Beach is one of the film’s primary hotel settings, with many scenes shot there as the characters stay at the resort during the story.

In The Bodyguard (1992), Fontainebleau Miami Beach is used for the benefit concert scene where Rachel Marron performs “I Will Always Love You.” The hotel’s stage and resort setting are directly tied to one of the film’s best-known musical moments.

In The Specialist (1994), Fontainebleau Miami Beach appears during several Miami Beach scenes involving Ray Quick and May Munro. After May fakes her death and Ray discovers she is still alive, the two go to the hotel and spend the night together. May later leaves Ray and encounters Ned Trent in the lobby. The hotel is also tied to the film’s final explosion sequence, where the villains are inside a hotel room rigged by Ray. When the explosives go off, the entire room breaks loose from the building and falls into the sea. This is a piece of movie geography rather than a realistic use of the actual hotel, as Fontainebleau Miami Beach does not stand over the ocean in a way that would allow a room to fall directly into the water like this.

In The Sopranos (2002), Fontainebleau Miami Beach appears in “Calling All Cars”, episode 11 of season 4. Tony Soprano stays at the hotel during a trip to Florida to visit Beansie Gaeta. After waking from a dream, Tony goes into the bathroom, turns on the red light, then steps out onto the balcony and looks across the Miami Beach view. The scene uses the hotel as part of Tony’s Florida trip, away from New Jersey but still surrounded by the same anxiety, dreams and unresolved violence that follow him throughout the series.

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