Jeremy Renner, as the Bourne Legacy’s Aaron Cross, in an Alberta lake, posing as Alaska.

The Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada, has added another blockbuster movie to its list of featured backdrop locations, with the Bourne Legacy showcasing the chilling lakes and snowy peaks in the Fortress Mountain area of Kananaskis.

The film, starring Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton, is not the first to be shot in this picturesque region of Alberta. Brokeback Mountain, starring the late Heath Ledger, and Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, were both shot in the Kananaskis region, making the most of the area’s untouched wilderness, soaring mountain peaks and turquoise lakes. 

“The opening scene of Bourne Legacy is a wonderful representation of the Kananaskis region in Alberta,” says Bruce Okabe, CEO of Travel Alberta. “The lead character Aaron Cross, played by Jeremy Renner, emerges from a lake with real shards of ice glistening in his beard, against a back drop of snow-capped fir trees and towering mountains.”

Over the years, many blockbuster movies have been at least partly filmed in the Canadian Rockies, including Unforgiven, Assassination of Jesse James, RV (Robin Williams) and Legends of the Fall.

“The Rockies is an ideal setting for action and adventure films, with the pristine wilderness and solitude making it an outstanding location for film crews wishing to avoid a crowd,” says Bruce.

The Kananaskis region of Alberta was chosen as the setting for Travel Alberta’s branding video, launched as part of the ‘Remember to Breathe’ campaign earlier this year.