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Location, Location, Location: Movies Filmed in Washington

© Jerri Brooker

The other day I was in a funk. I was a frustrated writer who wanted to do anything but write, so I escaped into a movie, Mad Love, a 1995 flick with Drew Barrymore and Chris O'Donnell.

Suddenly there was beautiful Pacific Northwest footage and the most awesome shots of Seattle filmed from the south down Interstate 5 with the powerful city skyline in the background. The movie was a bit of a downer, but the scenes kept me watching. Show me something to do with Washington and I'm hooked; I could almost pick out the locations as the movie rolled along.

If I can't be somewhere, the next best thing is to experience it from another angle. A movie is a good way to do that if you're astute enough to pick up on the location. Oh, come on. Tell me you haven't been impressed with a movie set when it's right in your backyard, even if the film wasn't especially great?

Washington is a diverse place to film; there's an impressive number of flicks shot all over the state. Mad Love was one I stumbled onto, but there are lots of others movies filmed in our state that you'll recognize.

How many of you watched Lassie on television when you were young? Well, several Lassie movies were filmed here. Remember the movie, Lassie Come Home, with Elizabeth Taylor, filmed in 1945? The backdrop was Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, part of the North Cascades. Lost Horizons, 1970, was also filmed there.

Parts of War Games, 1983, such as the NORAD HQ set, were built in the North Cascades. Sets were also built at Darrington High School and a general store pay phone scene was only five miles from town. The "Oregon" airport was actually Boeing Field and "Goose Island" was none other than our own Anderson Island.

Okay, that's a bit too old for your tastes. Well, how about Agent Cody Banks, 2003? It's not a movie I would choose to see on my own, but I went with some of my favorite people. Sure enough, a Washington State set was the backdrop in a helicopter scene.

Snow Falling on Cedars, 1999, showed some impressive Whidbey Island, Port Townsend and Cathlamet scenery. Anybody that knows Seattle knows Sleepless in Seattle, 1993, was filmed there with scenes at the Pike Place Market, Lake Union and Sea Tac Airport, to name a few.

How about A Guy Thing, 2003? Some scenes were in Seattle, Washington, though the movie was mainly shot in Vancouver, B.C. Then there's Life or Something Like It with Angelina Jolie.