Movies and Virginia
"Reel Virginia" is different from "real Virginia." Places are re-shaped by the plot, or by the techniques of making the film.
in Pocahontas, the locals were delighted to see the early versions of their community in The Turning. The images were bright and colorful, displaying the natural beauty of the area. However, the final version of the film was dramatically different, much darker - reflecting the plot and the director's objectives for the movie, but creating great disappointment among the locals. "Hey, that's not what it looks like..." was one of the more-polite comments about the final version.
Some movies/TV shows filmed in Virginia:
- Best Friends (1982) filmed in Vienna as well as Buffalo (NY)
- Big Brother Jake (early 1990's), a Family Channel television series filmed at the Christian Broadcasting Network studios in Virginia Beach
- The Blue and the Gray (1934) filmed in Appomattox, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Manassas, Richmond
- Brother Rat (1938) filmed at VMI
- Coal Miner's Daughter filmed in Wise County
- Contact (1997) filmed in part at Herndon
- Dave (1993) filmed in part in Richmond
- Deep Impact (1997) filmed in part in Prince William County and Rosslyn (refugee centers at Wilson Blvd. and N. Lynn St.)
- Dirty Dancing (1987) filmed in part at Mountain Lake... and Lake Lure, North Carolina
- Gardens of Stone filmed at Arlington National Cemetery and Fort Myer
- G.I. Jane filmed in part in Richmond
- Hannibal filmed in part in Richmond
- Heart of the Blue Ridge (1915) filmed in the Blue Ridge Mountains (somewhere...), reissued in 1917 as "Savage Instinct" (silent, in black-and-white of course)
- The Jackal (1997), filmed in part in Richmond
- Lassie (1994) filmed in Tazewell County
- Navy Seals filmed at various Tidewater naval bases
- The Last American Hero (1973), also known as "Hard Driver," filmed in part in Martinsville
- The Last Detail (1973), filmed in Newport News, Norfolk, and Richmond
- The Lynchburg Story (1993) filmed in part in Lynchburg and Richmond (documentary)
- Major Payne filmed at The Miller School in Albemarle County
- Mardi Gras (1958) filmed at VMI and New Orleans
- Mission Impossible (1996) filmed in part in McLean
- Misty (1961) filmed at Assateague and Chincoteague
- Morgan Stewart's Coming Home filmed at The Miller School in Albemarle County
- No Way Out (1987) filmed in part in Arlington
- A Perfect Candidate (1996) throughout Virginia on Ollie North's run for the Senate in 1996
- Rules of Engagement (1999) filmed at Vint Hill Farms (with 100 Marine extras...)
- Silence of the Lambs filmed at the FBI Academy in Quantico
- Sommersby (1993) street scenes were filmed in Lexington
- Toy Soldiers (1991) filmed at The Miller School in Albemarle County
- True Colors (1991) Filmed in part at Charlottesville, Richmond (including the John Marshall Hotel, Shockoe Bottom, and the Fan), and elsewhere in Virginia
- The Turning (1992) filmed at Pocahontas ("This previously-unreleased
movie should have stayed that way...")
- Virus (1999) filmed in part in Newport News
- What About Bob? (1991) filmed at Smith Mountain Lake
- Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot (1956) filmed at Williamsburg
- Zelley and Me (1988) filmed in Williamsburg
Links
Economics of Virginia
Virginia Places