Movies Filmed in Maine
As one of the world’s most beautiful places, Maine seems like it should be a natural shooting location for movies. Nearly all of the films based on Stephen King’s novels are set in Maine, as are many other movies. But while the story may take place in Maine, in most cases, the filming itself is done elsewhere — it’s often significantly cheaper for film crews to produce movies in locations like Canada or Australia. As pretty as these alternate locations may be, though, they don’t compare with the real Maine.
Camden - Maine’s most filmed town.
Photo by Terry Ross
Fortunately, every once in a while, a filmmaker decides that nothing but the real Maine will do for the movie. Here are some of the movies where you can get a glimpse of the genuine Maine landscape.
One of the earliest Maine-made movies is Peyton Place, starring Lana Turner, which was filmed in 1957. The film, based on the bestselling book by Grace Metalious, focused on the scandalous secrets of a small New England community. Though the town of Peyton Place is set in New Hampshire, it was filmed in the small and picturesque town of Camden, Maine. The film is today recognized as a classic of American cinema.
2001’s In the Bedroom, starring Sissy Spacek, Marisa Tomei, and Tom Wilkinson, is a more recent Maine-made film. In the Bedroom takes place in Camden, and most of the movie was filmed there — in a memorable shot, you can see the town’s welcoming arch. The film includes quite a few other Maine locations including Rockport, Rockland, Old Orchard Beach, and Wiscassett. Based on a short story by Andre Dubus, In the Bedroom is a dark independent film that deals with parents’ grief over their son’s death. Widely acclaimed by critics, the film won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize.
1999’s The Cider House Rules, based on the John Irving novel and starring Charlize Theron, Michael Caine, and Tobey Maguire, was filmed partly in Maine’s Acadia Park and elsewhere on Mount Desert Island. The movie about a Maine orphanage and one of its orphans deals with major issues like religion and abortion; the film garnered the Academy Award for best movie that year.
And of course, with all the Stephen King movies out there, at least a couple of them had to be filmed in Maine, right? Yes, but not nearly as many as you’d think. Out of the more than 50 Stephen King adaptations, most of which are set in small-town Maine, only a few were actually filmed in Maine. 1989’s classic horror flick, Pet Semetary, was filmed in various parts of Maine, including Acadia, Bangor, and Ellsworth. The 1999 television miniseries, The Storm of the Century, was filmed on Mount Desert Island. Lastly, the 1996 film, Thinner, was made in Camden and several other Maine towns.
Famous Maine locations make cameo appearances in several other well-known films. One of the most familiar is the scene in 1994’s Forrest Gump, when Forrest (played by Tom Hanks) runs across the country to the Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, then turns around to start his journey back.
If you’d like to see what other movies were made in Maine, you can visit: www.meliving.com
Written by Kathy Hawkins on July 6, 2007
Filed Under Maine, Camden, History
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