Which movies were filmed in Iowa?
The magic of Hollywood is that oftentimes movies aren't filmed anywhere near where they purport to be taking place. California may be home to Hollywood, but so many of your favorite films were set against backdrops far removed from the glitterati of the West Coast.
With huge studios like Warner Bros., MGM, and RKO Pictures churning out film after film during the heyday of the silver screen, California made a name for itself as the cornerstone for all things movies. As the industry has continued to shift, however, that has begun to change.
From the need for more rural settings to a director's desire to get everything as historically accurate as possible, not to mention the attractive tax incentives offered by states outside of California, crews are increasingly enticed to look elsewhere when filming. More and more, shoots take place in the most unexpected places in a quest to entertain, and sometimes, to make film history. Have you ever wondered where the Cullen house in the "Twilight" movies actually is? (The answer is Oregon.) How about the location of where the wasteland astronauts trekked in "Planet of the Apes" from 1968? (Answer: Arizona.)
With that in mind, Stacker compiled a list of movies filmed in Iowa using data from Movie Locations. Additional information about each film was collected from IMDb. Some films may have been omitted due to data dissimilarities and lack of corresponding information found on IMDb.
About Schmidt (2002)
- Director: Alexander Payne
- IMDb user rating: 7.2 (132K reviews)
- Runtime: 125 minutes
- Genres: Drama
- Cast: Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, and Dermot Mulroney
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
- Director: Clint Eastwood
- IMDb user rating: 7.6 (86K reviews)
- Runtime: 135 minutes
- Genres: Drama and Romance
- Cast: Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, and Annie Corley
Children of the Corn (1984)
- Director: Fritz Kiersch
- IMDb user rating: 5.6 (56K reviews)
- Runtime: 92 minutes
- Genres: Horror and Thriller
- Cast: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, and R.G. Armstrong
Field of Dreams (1989)
- Director: Phil Alden Robinson
- IMDb user rating: 7.5 (125K reviews)
- Runtime: 107 minutes
- Genres: Drama, Family, and Fantasy
- Cast: Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, and Ray Liotta
Starman (1984)
- Director: John Carpenter
- IMDb user rating: 7.0 (50K reviews)
- Runtime: 115 minutes
- Genres: Romance and Sci-Fi
- Cast: Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, and Charles Martin Smith
The Straight Story (1999)
- Director: David Lynch
- IMDb user rating: 8.0 (95K reviews)
- Runtime: 112 minutes
- Genres: Biography and Drama
- Cast: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, and Jane Galloway Heitz
Twister (1996)
- Director: Jan de Bont
- IMDb user rating: 6.5 (207K reviews)
- Runtime: 113 minutes
- Genres: Action, Adventure, and Thriller
- Cast: Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, and Cary Elwes
Union Pacific (1939)
- Director: Cecil B. DeMille
- IMDb user rating: 7.1 (3.3K reviews)
- Runtime: 135 minutes
- Genres: Drama and Western
- Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, and Akim Tamiroff
This story features data reporting by Karim Noorani, writing by Olivia Monahan, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 48 states.
