For scenic mountain backdrops, rugged coastlines, glaciers, snow-covered terrain, photogenic wildlife, and frontier atmosphere, Alaska offers filmmakers everything but cacti and winter sunshine. And with the help of friendly tax incentives, the Last Frontier has become something of a Hollywood North, luring stars like Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Drew Barrymore, and Steven Seagal to its shores. Whether you’re cruising the Inside Passage, the Gulf of Alaska, or taking an Alaska Cruise Tour to Denali National Park, you’re likely to come across locations that look familiar from the big screen. Here are some prime movie locales to check out while on a cruise to Alaska:
Not surprisingly, a number of movie titles filmed in Alaska make references to themes like “frozen,” “ice,” “white” (as in snow), “wild,” and “wolf.” You may recognize downtown Anchorage in “The Frozen Ground” (2013), which starred Cage and Cusack in a tale of the hunt for an Alaskan serial killer. Key shots were filmed at the intersection of Fourth and C streets, and backdrops included spectacular footage of the nearby Chugach Mountains and the Knik River.
Chugach Mountains
The Denali National Park region is the setting for “Into the Wild” (2007), based on Jon Krakauer’s best-selling book. Starring Emile Hirsch, it told the mysterious story of Christopher McCandless, who wandered into the Alaskan wilderness and never came out. The film was partially shot in Cantwell, Alaska, near Denali. “White Fang” (1991), based on the Jack London novel and starring Ethan Hawke and Jed the Wolfdog, took good advantage of the beautiful setting of Haines, Alaska, at the far northern end of Alaska’s Inside Passage. Wolves also co-starred in the nature film “Never Cry Wolf” (1983), which was set in the Canadian Arctic but partially filmed in Nome, Alaska.
Movie Sites to see on a Cruise to Alaska. Photo Courtesy of Denali National Park
“Big Miracle” (2012), starring Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, and Ted Danson, continued the wildlife theme by dramatizing the 1988 rescue of two grey whales trapped in the ice near Pt. Barrow, Alaska. The movie was actually shot in Seward, a port stop on many Alaska cruises.
Movie Sites to see on a Cruise to Alaska. Seward Alaska
White snow and lots of it figures in “The Big White” (2005), a dark comedy starring Holly Hunter and the late Robin Williams, which was shot during winter at the White Pass Summit on the old Gold Rush trail. White Pass is the end point of the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, a must-do shore excursion out of Skagway.
The snowy Alaskan landscape also served as a striking backdrop for the thriller “Runaway Train” (1985), about two escaped prisoners who are trapped on an unstoppable train. Filmed in and around Whittier, Alaska, it starred Jon Voight and Eric Roberts.
The action movie “On Deadly Ground” (1994) found Steven Seagal confronting the bad guys after an oil-rig fire in pristine Alaskan waters. Seagal wreaked havoc on corrupt oilmen throughout the small town of Valdez. Other scenes were set at the Worthington Glacier — one of the most accessible glaciers in the state, 28 miles north of Valdez along the scenic Richardson Highway – and at the Alaskan State Capitol in Juneau, where Seagal tried his hand at speech-making.
Movie Sites to see on a Cruise to Alaska. Alaska waters
Other well-known films that featured Alaskan-filmed shots include “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991), “The Thing” (1982), and “Call of the Yukon” (1938).
As you cruise the Inside Passage past British Columbia, Canada, you can also contemplate well-known movies that were supposedly set in Alaska but were actually filmed in western Canada.
These include “The Grey” (2011), a Liam Neeson action movie; “Insomnia” (2002), starring Al Pacino as a visiting LA police detective who can’t sleep during the 24-hour summer “daylight” in a small Alaskan fishing town; “Alaska” (1996), about two children searching for their father in the wilderness and befriending a polar bear; “The Edge” (1997), a thriller starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin; and “Mystery, Alaska” (1999), a comedy about an amateur ice hockey team.
All that can be forgiven – parts of British Columbia do look a lot like Alaska. But to show how times have changed, the classic “North to Alaska” (1960), starring John Wayne and set in the late 19th-century Alaska Gold Rush in far northern Nome, was filmed in…California.
Alaska cruises are often sold out, so it’s not too early to book your 2015 cruise to Alaska now! The travel advisors at CruiseExperts.com are ready to assist you in picking your perfect Alaska itinerary. Visit www.CruiseExperts.com or call 1-888-804-CRUISE (2784).