At The Movies: Hollywood’s love affair with Beaufort

Hollywood has visited Beaufort quite often over the years with Beaufort’s movie reputation dating back to the 1970s. Both Hollywood and its stars fell in love with our town, with some even relocating here after productions finished, and some coming back time and time again to visit and to make even more films.

Fast forward to present day where more than 16 motion pictures and lots of tv productions have been filmed in the Beaufort area, thanks to the beauty, historic appearance and appeal of our little town, and Hollywood’s love affair with it.

Movies filmed in the Beaufort SC range from Oscar-winning pieces like Forrest Gump and Oscar-nominated flicks like The Prince of Tides to the recent release of hometown gems like Stars Fell On Alabama.

Check out our list of movies filmed in Beaufort, showcasing the link between the actors that came to town and fell in love with it, and the link between Hollywood and its affection towards our great city of Beaufort.

The Great Santini

It all started in the late 1970s with The Great Santini. The 1979 drama was written and directed by Lewis John Carlino and was based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Beaufort’s most beloved author, Pat Conroy, who had based it on his relationship with his own father, whom the Great Santini is named after.

The film stars Robert Duvall, Blythe Danner, and Michael O’Keefe, and tells the story of a U.S. Marine Corps officer whose success as a pilot contrasts with his shortcomings as a husband and father. Many local scenes are very noticeable when you watch the movie. Filmed at downtown’s Tidalholm on Laurens Street, the film also used Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, downtown and downtown’s Point Neighborhood

Blythe Danner would come back to Beaufort to film two more movies that you will read about here, and Duvall stopped back in town for another film as well.

Forrest Gump

Very few movies filmed in town will stick out like 1994’s Forrest Gump. It’s considered one of the all-time best film and it was filmed all over Beaufort; and watching it just makes you feel right at home.

When Paramount Pictures swept into town in August of 1993, everyone was excited that a new movie was filming with Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Robin Wright and a modestly known newer actor named Gary Sinise. Forrest Gump went on to win the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Hanks, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects and Best Film Editing.

Today, whenever you tell someone about Beaufort SC, you can just tell them, “remember the movie Forrest Gump…well that’s Beaufort,” and you will most likely be answered with a nod of understanding.

One could almost say that if it weren’t for Beaufort SC, there wouldn’t have been a Forrest Gump film because so many locals were used in the film and so many local spots were used for locations. See some local Gump filming locations.

Gary Sinise came back to Beaufort for a concert in September of 2012 as the bassist in his very own Lt. Dan Band and performed in downtown’s Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park in front of thousands of fans to raise money for his charity work with veterans in the Wounded Warrior Project.

The Big Chill

On the heels of the success of The Great Santini in the late 1970s, The Big Chill was the next production to come to town in 1983. The comedy-drama film directed by Lawrence Kasdan, and had what turned out to be a star-studded cast of established A-list actors and a few who would use the popularity of the film as their own stepping stone to stardom.

The cast insluded Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams. The plot focuses on a group of baby boomers who attended college together and reunited after 15 years when one of their friends passed away.

The film was set on the grounds of Beaufort’s famous Tidalholm and features plenty of local scenes that you will recognize when watching the film including Beaufort Middle School and Bay Street right in the middle of downtown.

Tom Berenger liked Beaufort so much, he bought a house and moved here and married his former wife, Lisa Williams, who is from Beaufort, on the lawn of Tidalholm. His family was instrumental in the creation of the Boys & Girls Club of Beaufort. Frequently seen all around town enjoying local life in Beaufort, Berenger went on to star in dozens more movies and won a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for the film Platoon.

The Prince of Tides
Filming of The Prince of Tides came along in 1991. The romantic drama received 7 Oscar nominations and was produced and directed by Barbra Streisand; and was based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Pat Conroy, who also co-write the screenplay. The movie starred Streisand and Nick Nolte, along with Blythe Danner, George Carlin and Streisand’s son, Jason Gould.

It was set in a beautiful historic house in the Old Point neighborhood in historic downtown Beaufort, right at the food of the Woods Memorial Bridge.

You’ll notice many notable local scenes while watching the film, and the boat featured in the movie, The Tiderunner, was photographed by dozens and dozens of folks as it sat in a marsh on St. Helena Island before it was dismantled after decay.

Fripp and St. Helena Islands are featured in the movie. The beach house in the movie is located on Fripp Island and the beach scenes were also filmed on Fripp; and you will see the Beaufort River in the opening scene of the movie where the camera glides high in the air over the marsh.

Full Metal Jacket

In 1987, the local military was at the forefront again as Full Metal Jacket was released. The story followed a platoon of U.S. Marines through their boot camp training here at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, primarily focusing on two privates who struggle under their abusive drill instructor. The movie starred Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lee Ermey and Adam Baldwin.

While filming the boot camp part of the movie, Modine and the others were made to endure the rigors of actual USMC training, including having Ermey yell at them for up to 10 hours a day. To ensure the reactions to Ermey were as authentic as possible, Ermey and the recruits did not rehearse together.

Fun movie fact: Adam Baldwin’s character, Animal Mother was written as a combat-hungry Marine who takes pride in killing enemy soldiers. Arnold Schwarzenegger was first considered for the role, but he turned it down in favor of The Running Man.

G.I. Jane

1997 brought another war drama film to Beaufort with G.I. Jane. The movie was directed by Ridley Scott and starred Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen, and Anne Bancroft. The film tells the fictional story of the first woman to undergo training in the U.S. Navy SEALs.

Beaufort got a small part in the film as only the survival camp scenes for the movie were filmed on both Harbor and Hunting Islands.

The War
In 1990, production of the movie The War came to Beaufort.

The film starred Kevin Costner, a youngster named Elijah Wood and popular actress Mare Winningham. The film was a a coming of age tale set in Mississippi in the 1970s and featured a sprawling live oak tree (in which a large tree house was built for the film) on the outskirts of Beaufort that is still there today and draws plenty of visitors from far and wide.

The Jungle Book

The maritime forests on our sea islands make for fantastic jungle scenes and you can see that yet again with Fripp Island taking center state in the 1994 film by Disney, The Jungle Book.

The second film adaptation by Disney of the classic book by Rudyard Kipling, it was the first live-action adaptation of the 1967 Disney animated film of the same title.

The film starred Jason Scott Lee, Cary Elwes, Lena Headey, Sam Neill, John Cleese…and a bunch of exotic animals. Elephants, tigers and several other animals were brought to Fripp Island to complete the illusion that Fripp was actually a jungle in India.

Something To Talk About

1994 also gave locals here in Beaufort something to talk about when Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid, Robert Duval, Gena Rowlands and Kyra Sedgewick came to town to film a comedy/drama movie…Something To Talk About.

The USCB Center for the Arts building was used for the college scenes. A restaurant at 822 Bay Street, where Q on Bay is today, was used for a scene and many locals were put into the diningroom. Also, the Beaufort Branch of the Beaufort County Library on downtown’s Scott Street was used for some indoor scenes.

Last Dance

1995 brought Sharon Stone, Rob Morrow, Randy Quaid and Peter Gallagher to town to film Last Dance, a movie about a woman on death row.

Several scenes were shot at The Castle on Craven Street in downtown Beaufort as well as some scenes at Hunting Island State Park and a prison down the road in Ridgeland was used extensively in the production.

Taking the place of Savannah, GA for a bit of the movie, the Castle on downtown’s Craven Street was again used in scenes as the site of the film’s wedding scene.

Fun Fact: It is said that to enhance the color of the grass on the lawn at The Castle, the production crew sprayed green paint all over it.

Stars Fell On Alabama

2019 brought another romantic comedy to Beaufort with the filming of Stars Fell On Alabama. The movie was directed by frequent Beaufort visitor and sometimes resident, V.W. Scheich, and his Rareform Pictures, and starred Ciara Hanna and James Maslow with music and an appearance by Taylor Hicks.

The film has recognizable parts of Beaufort all over it from start to finish. Scenes in the movie include Bay Street and downtown Beaufort, parts of Port Royal and Bluffton and Beaufort High School. The Beaufort Inn was renamed the Willow Valley Inn for the production and scenes were also shot in its beautiful outdoor Tabby Garden. Just released in January 2021, you can check it out here.

Other movies filmed in the Beaufort area include: