So last weekend the movie adaptation of Stephen King's novella "The Mist" opened.While not filmed there, the story takes place in Bridgton, Maine, where Liz grew up and the last place I lived before moving to Dubai. My brother Daniel still lives there.
It got me thinking, what other movies were either A) set in Maine or B) filmed in Maine?
Then I found Wikipedia's page called Films set in Maine. And it's kind of sad.
Here's the list. Look for a pattern:
- Casper
Charlotte's Web
The Cider House Rules
Darkness Falls
Empire Falls (miniseries)
Stephen King's Cujo
Stephen King's The Dark Half
Stephen King's The Dead Zone
Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne
Stephen King's Dreamcatcher
Stephen King's Graveyard Shift
Stephen King's It
Stephen King's The Mist
Stephen King's Needful Things
Stephen King's Pet Sematary
Stephen King's Pet Sematary Two
Stephen King's A Return to Salem's Lot
Stephen King's Riding the Bullet
Stephen King's Salem's Lot (2004 TV mini-series)
Stephen King's Salem's Lot (1979 TV mini-series)
Stephen King's Secret Window
Stephen King's Storm of the Century
Stephen King's The Tommyknockers
Wow, somewhat skewed towards a favorite local author, no? But hey, if we didn't have Mr. King than what would we have? Just about nothing!
I always thought that Richard Russo's Nobody's Fool was set in Maine, but apparently it's set in North Bath, NY and was filmed in Upstate New York. Huh.
The list did miss a few movies set in Maine, though. Here are the one's I've thought of so far:
The Good Son (filmed in Minnesota)
In the Bedroom (filmed in Maine)
Brad Bird's The Iron Giant (animated in California)
On Golden Pond (filmed on Squam Lake, New Hampshire)
The Spitfire Grill (filmed in Vermont)
Stephen King's The Shawshank Redemption (filmed in Mansfield, Ohio)
The Whales of August (filmed in Maine)
Welcome to Mooseport (filmed in Toronto, Ontario)
Then there are the question marks that I'm not sure of ...
Message in a Bottle was filmed in Maine, but was it set in Maine? I never saw it.
The Man Without a Face - again, filmed in Maine, not sure where it's set. A chick I went to high school with is totally in one shot, though.
Stephen King's Thinner was shot in Maine, but set in Connecticut.
IN TELEVISION
Of course, they're not movies, but you can't forget Jessica Fletcher, Cabot Cove and Howard Cunningham's horrible Maine accent from Murder, She Wrote (filmed in Mendocino, California).
And I guess that old show Dark Shadows was set in fictional Collinsport, Maine.
IN THE FUTURE
Lastly, don't forget my brother's Kiwahkwe: Curse of the Lobster, set in Maine, filmed in Maine, out next summer in Maine (and on DVD)!
