Sarah’s story and personality comprise the entirely of the Labyrinth. Her fantasy creates and sustains it, and the conflicts within the story reflect the conflicts and change within herself. We could basically put the entire site under this section.
The Labyrinth is Sarah’s coming-of-age story, and you can check out our blog post, Puberty and Fertility Themes in The Labyrinth, for more on this.
Anyway, Sarah is a budding thespian, practicing for open air festivals and performances with her dog Merlin. She’s the prototypical teen/pre-teen: grumpy, pouty, a little spoiled, and a lot short on real life experience. Her mantra starts as “it’s not fair!” but this is replaced by a wise acceptance of what it means to grow up and mature.
Jennifer Connelly, aged 15, plays Sarah.
#1 by Fernando Varela on April 5, 2010 - 10:28 am
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I have searched the web for the exact location in which the opening park scene was shot, some say it is NY, other say it is hampstead heath in London.
I have serious plans to visit the spot as the Labyrinth was a landmark in the formation of my personal aesthetics perception, and as far as I know it is the only “real” location in the movie. Of course it may have changed with the years, but I would not care.
Any help on this direction will be greatly appreciated.
Any ehlp about this
#2 by Hogbrain on April 5, 2010 - 12:10 pm
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Hi Fernando,
I’m sorry to say that I don’t have any new information. I did some looking, and the two location spots are Upper Nyack, NY, and Hampstead Heath, like you say. The city scenes immediately following the park are in New York, I’m pretty sure, but other than that I don’t know. This labyrinth site seemed to have a bit more information:
http://www.fast-rewind.com/locations_labyrinth.htm
#3 by Paul on August 1, 2010 - 10:55 am
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This shouldn’t be too difficult a problem to solve. I am astonished that no one has reported the real location, given the amount of years since the films release. If it is Hampstead Heath though, it shouldn’t been too diffcult to find the exact spot, as there is a very distinct looking bridge in the background. I might take a look down there myself in the next few months and see if anyone there can shed some light on the subject. I will come back and report – with photos – if indeed it is the correct location.
#4 by Emma on August 2, 2010 - 5:54 pm
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It’s definitely in the UK, if you watch the Anniversary edition with the commentary on (sad, I know), Brain Froud says the park is in the UK.
There’s over 25 ponds/lakes in Hampstead Heath, so it could be there.
#5 by Emma on August 2, 2010 - 6:14 pm
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OK, just checked it out!
I’m going with Hampstead Heath. Jim Henson lived in Hampstead and the creature workshop was in Hampstead too. Plus Wikipedia says it was filmed there
And my other post should have said Brian not Brain – Doh!
#6 by Leo on August 25, 2010 - 7:24 pm
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hi everyone!
i’m from brazil… but i’m in london right now!
do you have news about the exact spot?
i just have more 4 days in UK and i`d love to go there and see it!!!
#7 by JarethFan on November 10, 2010 - 8:31 pm
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Sarah has an attitude problem. I never got why she’s so mad at her parents. Her mom is a tad self-absorbed (maybe) but they seem nice otherwise. She sure is beautiful, though. And Jennifer Connelly did great work in this movie. Some of her reads (“There’s nothing to talk about!” “What a horrible place this is!!”) are just perfect !
But I can understand why she hates Toby. Jeez what a brat; all he does is cry! I’d totally wish him away and then elope with Jareth.
#8 by Melissa on November 21, 2010 - 3:23 pm
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I love Labyrinth so much that I customized a modern American Girl doll to be a 12-year old version of Sarah
I’m still working on her collection (she has a couple Wizard of Oz toys and Jareth and Hoggle toys) and my own prequel story.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6JKEn7_3eYzwGlwsNLbh7Q?feat=directlink
#9 by Ameera on February 12, 2011 - 8:16 am
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sarah looks perfect
#10 by Sarah on February 18, 2011 - 6:35 pm
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I cant believe in all of my 20some years watching this movie and being a Londoner I never knew it was Hampstead Heath…
My American fiancee is going to be in heaven when I find the spot and take him there! (Even if it takes me months – I will find it!)
#11 by Roybatty on February 19, 2011 - 10:20 am
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The park when the film starts is the actual memorial park of uper Nyack. When Sarah is running to her house you can see the Uper Nyack village hall. But I dont know where is the Sarah´s house.
#12 by Fernando on March 14, 2011 - 3:54 pm
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Thank you ery much to all! Hogbrain, Emma, Sarah, and Roybatty.
All of your answers have been quite useful. I will take this info and then work it out in Google Earth. I should be able to figure out the form of the pond and the bridges from an aerial view.
Gosh it will be great to visit the location one of this days! I´ll tell you when it happens.
#13 by Samantha on May 2, 2011 - 9:22 am
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The opening shots are, in fact, in Nyack, NY including Sarah’s running scenes from Memorial Park to her house. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that the house was just a shell built for the purposes of the movie only. The rest of the movie was filmed on sets in Hampstead Heath.
#14 by Junior on May 4, 2011 - 11:07 am
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Here is what little I found out about scenes of Sarah running late home:
1- Crossing street in front of Village Hall in Upper Nyack, NY (Castle Heights Ave)
2- Running on Piermont Ave, downtown Piermont.
3- Crossing the blue house’s front lawn (Unknown location)
4- Running between little houses and towards their backyards (Unknown location)
5- Sarah arrives home: Its clearly a shell built set, probably in England.
Please share if you know locations 3 and 4.
#15 by fred on June 24, 2011 - 5:31 pm
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I heard that the house IS a real house in Nyack, which belonged to a producer or someone that had something to do with the film. I was told by a woman from Nyack that it’s located somewhere along N. Broadway, maybe in the area of Castle Heights, or Old Mountain (streets).
#16 by TheTreviOwl on August 4, 2011 - 8:52 pm
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I’ve finally found the park Labyrinth was filmed in.
It’s West Wycombe Park in England… you can check out my blog where I have the exact location and some pictures from my visit there.
TheTreviOwl.
#17 by Rowan on August 18, 2011 - 9:08 am
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This is the link to the person that found the park http://thetreviowl.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/the-search-for-the-labyrinth-park-i-found-it/
The park was def not Memorial Park in Nyack, that park wishes it was that pretty. In the 80′s when Labyrinth was filmed Memorial Park was full of crack vials.
#18 by Heather on August 19, 2011 - 5:51 pm
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The unknown location in post 14 is on Piermont Avenue in Grandview. The little houses toward the backyard is Nyack. (I was 10 at the time and watched them film it!)
#19 by Junior on September 15, 2011 - 9:04 am
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Locations 3 and 4 are NOT in Nyack. I found them and those houses still look just like in the movie. I’ll try to find a way to post the pictures.
Now we have all the locations!
#20 by Junior on September 17, 2011 - 10:53 am
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Here’s my blog where you can find all the filming locations that appear at the beginning of the movie:
http://labyrinthlocations.blogspot.com/
A big THANKS to “The TriviOwl” for finding the park.
“Should you need us…”
#21 by KP on March 11, 2012 - 8:08 am
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Awesome find Junior#20. It’s a little disappointing though to see that it isn’t as homely and nice as the movie makes it out to look. I might consider visiting the areas personally myself now that there’s info.
Jennifer Connelly playing Sarah was just perfect. She was too cute in this movie. Unfortunately, I realized this too late after having seen this movie so many times and never noticed it before.