The Best Movie Filmed in Your State

Tim Burton’s fanciful movie “Big Fish” was primarily filmed around Montgomery, Alabama. One of the episodic movie’s tales revolves around the fictional town of Spectre, which was built on a private island outside of Millbrook especially for the film. While the town has fallen into disarray (much like in the film) it still stands today.

“Into the Wild” is based on the true story of 24-year-old Christopher McCandless, who sold his possessions and traveled to live in the Alaskan wilderness. The movie was filmed in the state, and star Emile Hirsch told /FILM in an interview that he traveled to the actual abandoned bus which is portrayed in the film and that McCandless stayed in.

Sergio Leone’s Western epic “Once Upon a Time in the West” partially takes place in the town of Flagstone, Arizona. While Flagstone is a fictional location, Arizona’s Monument Valley is of course real and serves as a beautiful backdrop for much of Leone’s masterpiece.

Billy Bob Thornton filmed his indie hit “Sling Blade” in Benton, Arkansas, for a reported budget of $1 million. Many of the specific locations within Benton are no longer there or have been changed significantly since the 1996 production.

California is the most popular shooting location for American movies, yet not all of the films shot there look like they were shot in the state. “Pulp Fiction” does. The movie was filmed in and around Los Angeles, though some of its more signature settings, such as Jack Rabbit Slim’s, were sets built specifically for the production.

Terrence Malick’s 1973 debut film established the director as a major cinematic talent. Among the movie’s exceptional traits is its portrayal of America’s expanse — intended to be South Dakota and Montana. Filming was actually done in Colorado, primarily the southeast region of the state.

Alfred Hitchcock filmed parts of his 1951 thriller “Strangers on a Train” — including his recurring cameo — in Danbury, Connecticut. Danbury is renamed “Metcalf” in the film, and the train station that’s portrayed — then Danbury Union Station — is now the Danbury Railroad Museum.

“Dead Poets Society” stars Robin Williams as an English teacher who inspires students at an exclusive preparatory school in Vermont. The movie was actually filmed in Delaware and used the St. Andrew’s School in Middletown as its prep school.

Numerous scenes of “Cool Hand Luke,” starring Paul Newman as a rebellious prisoner in a Southern prison, were shot in and around Jacksonville, Florida. None of these scenes actually featured Newman, however, but rather his stunt double.

The recently released “Black Panther” was a huge success at the box office, becoming the third highest grossing superhero movie of all time, when adjusting for inflation. Much of the Marvel movie was shot in South Korea as well as Atlanta, Georgia. Among the landmarks that can be seen in the movie are Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, Atlanta City Hall, and Atlanta Air Recovery and Storage in Griffin.

Steven Spielberg’s visually stunning “Jurassic Park” takes place on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, which is described as sitting off the coast of Costa Rica. In reality, much of the movie was filmed in Hawaii. Filming took place in various locations on the islands of Kaua’i, O’ahu, and Maui.

“Pale Rider” follows an enigmatic preacher — played by Clint Eastwood — as he protects a California village from a ruthless mining company. Some of the movie was indeed filmed in the Golden State, but much of it was shot in Idaho’s Sawtooth National Recreation Area.

Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” holds a 94% positive rating from both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. And though “Gotham” is a nickname for New York City, Nolan’s film was shot in his hometown of Chicago, which the director referred to as “a really cinematic city” in 2008.

This movie, about a cycling enthusiast’s pursuit of his love interest, was shot nearly entirely in Bloomington, Indiana. The movie’s screenplay was written by Indiana University alum Steve Tesich, and the film included many student extras from the school, as well as a cameo by then-University President John Ryan.

David Lynch stepped away from his trademark dreamlike filmmaking style to create 1999’s “The Straight Story” — a Disney-distributed movie about a 73-year-old Iowan who travels across state lines on a lawnmower to visit his ill and estranged brother. Lynch filmed in numerous areas of Iowa — in line with the nomadic nature of the film — including in Laurens, Clermont, and Lansing.

“Paper Moon” tells the story of a Depression era conman who teams up with a young girl to trick residents of the Midwest out of their money. The film’s production was based in Hays, Kansas, with some scenes being filmed in St. Joseph and Wilson.

The Loretta Lynn biopic maintained an air of authenticity in telling the story of the country legend from Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, by filming in her home state. Locations included Blackey, Eolia, Flatgap, and Bottom Fork, where a replica of Lynn’s childhood home was built. The house, unfortunately, has since burned down.

“Twelve Years a Slave,” the movie based on the memoir of Solomon Northup, a free man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery, was filmed throughout Louisiana. Even scenes meant to appear as taking place in areas such as Saratoga, New York, or Washington D.C. were shot in the state.

“Forrest Gump” is one of the most popular films of all time; it won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. One of the most memorable moments in the movie is when Tom Hanks’s Forrest runs an uncompromising marathon across the United States. He concludes his run at Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, Maine.

David Fincher’s popular 2010 drama chronicling the founding of Facebook by its CEO Mark Zuckerberg — played in the film by Jesse Eisenberg — features numerous scenes shot in Massachusetts due to the role of Harvard University in the movie. The filmmakers also used Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus in Baltimore as a stand-in for Harvard, though spotting when and where may be difficult for those not familiar with the schools.

“The Departed” won both Best Picture at the 2007 Academy Awards and Best Director for Martin Scorsese. The movie tells the story of an undercover cop in South Boston, and Scorsese took to shooting much of the film in Massachusetts locations such as Boston, Quincy, and Lynn.

Otto Preminger’s 1959 courtroom drama was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The movie was filmed in Marquette County, Michigan, and even used local residents as extras.

Director Sam Raimi directed this 1998 crime drama after his cult classic “Army of Darkness” and before he tackled “Spider-Man.” The film is set in Minnesota, and that’s also where much of it was shot. Shooting locations include Delano, St. Paul, and Golden Valley.

Director Michael Mann’s “The Insider,” about a chemist’s efforts to expose the secrets of the tobacco industry via an interview on “60 Minutes,” was an international shoot, with filming taking place in the Bahamas, Israel, and the U.S. Among the American locations was the coastal city Pascagoula, Mississippi, where the courtroom scenes were shot.

“Gone Girl” takes place in the fictional town of North Carthage, Missouri, and the majority of the film was shot on location in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. According to director David Fincher, this is the town that writer Gillian Flynn had in mind when she originally wrote the book.

Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic tells the story of the Torrance family, lead by father Jack, as they spend a winter in the Colorado Rockies at the Overlook Hotel. To capture the family’s journey to the isolated hotel, footage was actually shot along the shore of Saint Mary Lake in Montana’s Glacier National Park. Many of the film’s interior shots were done on a stage in England.

While Nebraska is far from the most popular location for filmmaking, it would have been foolish for the team behind the 2013 black and white flick “Nebraska” to shoot anywhere else. Among the various cities and towns used in the movie are Lincoln, Hooper, Osmond, Stanton, and Plainview.

Jacques Tourneur’s “Out of the Past” is a shadowy classic of the film noir genre. Produced by RKO Radio Pictures, much of the movie’s filming took place in California, though it also includes footage shot in Reno.

“On Golden Pond” — which earned Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda Academy Awards — was filmed on New Hampshire’s Squam Lake. Visitors to the lake can still view from the water the original house that appears in the movie.

Director Elia Kazan’s gritty drama “On the Waterfront” is about corruption on the New Jersey waterfront in the 1950s. The movie was shot in Hoboken, where screenwriter Budd Schulberg walked the streets with star Marlon Brando to get a feel for the longshoremen’s lives.

Billy Wilder’s “Ace in the Hole” about a journalist who takes a job writing for an Albuquerque newspaper was partially filmed in Los Angeles and partially in New Mexico. Albuquerque can be seen in the film, as well as the New Mexican desert.

Much of Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” — considered one of the greatest films of all time — was shot on location around New York City. The Corleone home, where the famous wedding scene was filmed, is portrayed as if it were in Long Island. It actually existed on Staten Island.

A significant portion of Hal Ashby’s movie about a simple gardener named Chance was filmed at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. The estate — now open to the public — was built in the 1890s for the Vanderbilt family.

Filming for “Fargo” took place in locations in both North Dakota and Minnesota. Superfans of the Coen Brothers movie may be disappointed to learn that many of the movie’s prominent locations are no longer around, including the “Welcome to Brainerd” Paul Bunyan statue, which was built for the film and dismantled right after.

“The Shawshank Redemption” is a fan favorite, with 98% of audiences giving it a positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie — much of which takes place within a prison — was primarily filmed in Ohio, specifically in the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. A 25-year anniversary celebration was held at that site in 2019.

John Ford based the visual style of his 1940 film “The Grapes of Wrath” on famous Great Depression-era photographs taken in Oklahoma. To increase the movie’s authenticity, he also sent a camera crew to film along Route 66. Among the locations featured in the film are McAlester and Sayre, Oklahoma.

Based on a novel by Stephen King, “Stand By Me” takes place in the writer’s often-used fictional town of Castle Rock. While in his books King often refers to the town as being located in Maine, in “Stand By Me” it was placed in Oregon, where much of its filming took place. Many of the movie’s locations are in Brownsville, where official “Historic Oregon Film Trail” plaques have since been erected.

“The Silence of the Lambs” was shot in multiple states, with most of the filming taking place around Pittsburgh. Notable Pennsylvania locations in the film include the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Allegheny County Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum. Perhaps the most interesting location — the frightening torture house of serial killer Buffalo Bill — is located in Layton, Pennsylvania.

Filming of Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” — which boasts a cast of Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, and Francis McDormand among others — took place in different locations across Rhode Island, and the crew’s primary base was in Newport.

The first half of Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” follows the training of Marines on South Carolina’s Parris Island. The majority of this footage was actually shot on a military base in England. Filming of the Marines’ graduation, however, did take place on Parris Island (where actor Lee Ermey had served as a real life drill instructor) using footage of an actual Marine Corps graduation.

“North by Northwest,” which stars Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, is considered to be among Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest thrillers. The movie is remembered in part for its depicting South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore. And, while the sculpture used in the movie’s climax is a Rushmore reproduction that was built in Hollywood, the actual South Dakota landmark was used in establishing shots.

Robert Altman’s sprawling country music epic “Nashville” — which was shot primarily in its titular city — has exceptional ratings from critics and audiences. It earned many detractors in 1975 Nashville, however, including many country musicians who were offended by the movie’s satirical content.

“The Last Picture Show” is a coming-of-age film set in a small and isolated West Texas town named Anarene. The actual town used in the film, however, is Archer City, located in North Texas. Other Texas locations seen in the movie include Olney, Wichita Falls, and Holliday.

“Stagecoach” is one of the most famous and beloved collaborations between director John Ford and actor John Wayne. The movie makes use of the iconic Monument Valley on the Arizona-Utah border. Ford would return to shoot in the valley numerous times throughout his career.

Exterior shots for Tim Burton’s late ’80s comedy “Beetlejuice” were filmed in the village of East Corinth, Vermont. The house seen in the movie was a fake residence, though the town’s school that is shown at the end of the movie was actually East Corinth’s Mason Hall.

Ben Affleck’s 2012 film about a CIA operation to rescue American hostages from Iran in 1979 won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Part of the movie’s success is due to its realism. In addition to other aspects, the filmmakers were able to shoot in the actual CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

“The Deer Hunter” explores the effects of service in the Vietnam War on a group of friends from the blue collar, industrial town of Clairton, Pennsylvania. Other shooting locations included areas in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh. The movie’s famous deer hunting scene, however, was shot in Washington state’s North Cascades National Park.

Charles Laughton shot much of his lone directorial effort on sets located in California. Other parts of this expressionistic slice of Americana he filmed on the Ohio River in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle.

The 1989 baseball comedy was primarily shot in Wisconsin, where filmmakers made use of Milwaukee County Stadium as a stand-in for Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. Milwaukee native Bob Uecker also appears in the movie, though the story is about the Cleveland Indians.

Director Quentin Tarantino was drawn to Wyoming for its snowy vistas located near Jackson Hole. Other filming locations for “Django Unchained” include California and Louisiana.