In 2008, seven years after the original South Korean version, ‘My Sassy Girl’ was remade and released direct to DVD. It starred Jesse Bradford and Elisha Cuthbert, more so famous for her role as Jack Bauer’s daughter in the TV series ‘24’. The romantic drama followed Charlie Bellow, a polite, kind-hearted young man, hoping that one day he would secure a managerial position with the Tiller King agricultural company, where his father worked as a maintenance mechanic. When he starts business school in New York City, he hears news that his cousin has suddenly died. His friend suggests that they play a game in which they say whether they would sleep with any of the women they see while sitting in the park, which is where Charlie sees Jordan Roark for the first time, but leaves to meet his grieving aunt who wants to set him up with someone.

Film Poster: My Sassy Girl

On the subway platform, Charlie sees Jordan drunkenly leaning over the guard rail and saves her from being hit by an oncoming train. Taking responsibility for the drunken, blacked-out girl, he sobers her up and begins a relationship with her over several weeks. While becoming fascinated with Jordan, he soon comes face-to-face with her volatile personality and learns more about her past through wild, drunken dates. Among other things, Jordan tells Charlie that her fiancé recently left her, tells a Tiller King representative she is pregnant with Charlie's child, sabotages Charlie's job interview with another Tiller King representative, and gives a piano recital where she asks him to bring her a single red rose and pushes him into the sea and then saves him. Despite this, Charlie begins to fall in love with Jordan but clashes with her father, who believes Charlie is responsible for her erratic behaviour. “My interest in this film lay in the location of the Roark residence,” exclaimed Mark, creator of otsoNY.com. “At the time, my knowledge and awareness of Manhattan streets particular those in residential areas was extremely limited, and although I had access to some onset photographs of the two main actors outside the property, it still wasn’t clear to me that it was located on the Upper East Side.” The actual location of the property in question was on East 78th Street between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue. “The filmmakers used two properties on East 78th Street,” explained Mark. “Number 4 was used as the Roark home and number 7 as the Jordan Roark’s father’s office.”

Elisha Cuthbert on the set of My Sassy Girl

Elisha Cuthbert on the set of My Sassy Girl

The Townhouse at 5 East 78th Street featured in My Sassy Girl

The Townhouse at 5 East 78th Street featured in My Sassy Girl

The Townhouse at 5 East 78th Street featured in My Sassy Girl

Another location used in the film was Central Park with scenes taking place at the Cherry Hill, Woolman Rink, Pine Bank Arch and The Mall. “The Central Park scene that most fascinated me was the one where the main characters exchanged unopened love letters, of which were buried in a time capsule, and would be opened at the same place on the same day of the following year,” says Mark. “The location of this scene took place in the South West corner between rock formations. To this day, I don’t think there was ever the actual leaning tree where the timescale was buried!”

Click HERE for a full list of film locations from My Sassy Girl

In the next article of this series, Mark talks about the film, ‘Who’s That Girl’, and the 4 story-building at 330 Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side.