By Beverly Lewis

Director, Placer-Lake Tahoe Film Office

In the Sierra Nevada it takes more than a President, a Governor, or a Godfather, to make a film unique.  It’s often the setting that steals the show.  

Filmmakers have flocked to the Sierra Nevada for locations since 1925 when Charlie Chaplin shot parts of “The Gold Rush” in Kyburz (El Dorado County) and Truckee (Nevada County); and Erich Von Stroheim opened his epic “Greed”, filming gold miners at work in Iowa Hill (Placer County).

These films shot here because the locations were historically accurate to the film’s script.  Over the decades other filmmakers have chosen the widely divergent terrain of the Sierra Nevada to double for many other parts of the world – partly because it’s been less expensive to shoot closer to Hollywood than actually going to the far points of the globe (though recent tax credits and incentives have lured Hollywood overseas and to other states, at the expense of California jobs and income).

Who would have thought there was anything tropical about this magnificent California mountain range?  In recent years producers, directors, and location managers have discovered locations in this most unlikely of places to shoot tropical scenes for “Anna and the King of Siam” (featuring Jodie Foster and Chow Young Fat), matching Thailand; “George of the Jungle” ( with Brendan Fraser), matching African jungles; and “Dragonfly” (starring Kevin Costner), substituting for Venezuela.  In fact the same week “Dragonfly” was shooting some of their Venezuelan scenes (check out the bus crash and rescue) in Placer County, a TV movie was only a mile away shooting a gold mine that was supposed to be in Alaska! 

Other films shot in the Sierra that have matched for other locales include:

• “American President” (Camp David scenes)
• “True Lies” (Austria – starring a future Governor of California)
• “A Place in the Sun” (New England)
• “Unforgiven” (Montana)

This long tradition of filmmaking has always captured the interest of local citizens.  How unlikely is it to be passing by and see John Travolta shooting a film in your own backyard (“Phenomenon” in Auburn, Placer County)?  Or watching a car literally drive off the state’s highest bridge near Foresthill (Placer County), while a stuntman, standing in for actor Vin Diesel, parachutes to safety in “XXX.”  Incidentally, that stuntman, Tim Rigby, took home top honors that year for best aerial stunt at the Stuntman Awards.  How often can you see Robert Redford directing scenes (“The Horse Whisperer” in Amador County); or watch Al Pacino, as the new Don, dance with his daughter on the shores of Lake Tahoe in “The Godfather II”; shiver with admiration as actress Tilda Swinton repeatedly dives into the icy waters of Lake Tahoe to put keys into the pocket of a drowned man in “The Deep End”; or notice Meg Ryan jogging down a mountain road at Lake Tahoe in “City of Angels” ?

It’s not just stars to be seen when movies roll into town but often 100-200 crew people hauling, adjusting, tuning, reviewing, painting, holding, coiling, timing, rehearsing, writing, driving, and waiting for everything to be just right so the actors can begin a scene.  And when production companies are in town, they’re buying a lot - basically anything that they haven’t been able to bring with them including fuel, fabric, stationery supplies, heavy equipment, furniture rentals, flowers, lumber, clothing, tools, antiques, gifts, lodging, groceries, hiring locals, restaurants – the list goes on and on.  Local merchants truly appreciate the film companies’ contributions to the regional economy.

Next time you see a film try to figure out where it is shot.  And if you need help figuring it out, stay to the end of the credits – that’s usually where communities are thanked for being there and helping out.  You might be surprised to find a Sierra Nevada location you know.