Super Bowl Ad Filmed on San Diego Ship

One Super Bowl commercial took place on a boat that may have looked familiar to some San Diegans.

Intuit TurboTax’s commercial, featuring a Boston Tea Party backdrop, was filmed on the HMS Surprise.

Mark Montijo with the Maritime Museum said the commercial’s filmmakers rolled into town on Dec. 8 and stayed until Dec. 9.

The museum moved the boat slightly further north along the Harbor, across from the San Diego County Administration Center, and crews filmed mostly at night in the bay.

The crews the company used in their two days of filming were larger than the crews one motion picture used several years ago when they spent five days filming on a similar boat.

“It was a big production, they took it seriously,” said Montijo.

The HMS Surprise started off as its life in 1970 as a replica of the 18th century Royal Navy frigate Rose. The ship has been docked at the Maritime Museum since 2004.

See the full TurboTax ad below.

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