County Offers Wide Variety of Locales for Filmmakers

Because of its picturesque coastline and mix of historic and futuristic-looking locations, some in the tiny film industry here dream that Orange County could one day become Hollywood South.

While that may be far-fetched, film and television directors have for decades ventured into the county to shoot everything from silent movies and Westerns to scenes from action-thrillers and romantic comedies.

In April, sleek futuristic cars lined the runway at John Wayne Airport and the Koll Center office park in Irvine for several scenes from the current action-thriller hit “Demolition Man,” starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes.

In 1990, the Irvine Spectrum, Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley and parts of Anaheim appeared in the Albert Brooks film “Defending Your Life” with Meryl Streep.

Tom Cruise watched a train pull away from the Santa Ana train station in the closing scene from Barry Levinson’s 1988 “Rain Man,” starring Cruise and Dustin Hoffman.

A 46-foot yacht was blown up in Newport Bay in 1987 for the Charles Bronson movie “Assassination,” and Director Francis Ford Coppola filmed a scene from “Rumblefish” behind Newport Elementary School.

Newport Bay as it looked in the 1920s is captured in Buster Keaton’s “College.” In Cecil B. DeMille’s 1923 film “The Ten Commandments,” the Egyptian army chased the Hebrews out of Seal Beach.

“The Two Brothers,” D.W. Griffith’s 1910 silent movie, was set in San Juan Capistrano.

Other movies filmed partly in Orange County include the 1988 film “Beaches,” starring Bette Midler, who appeared at the Balboa Fun Zone and Crystal Cove; and “Memoirs of an Invisible Man,” starring Chevy Chase and Darryl Hannah in a scene at the Santa Ana train station.