Hollywood Loves Kauai

• Print
• E-mail
• Add to My Trips

Back to KauaiHawaii: Hollywood Loves Kauai

More than 50 major Hollywood productions have been shot on Kauai since the studios discovered the island's spectacular natural beauty. Here are just a few:

The lush, tropical mountain waterfall and awe-inspiring peaks seen in the Jurassic Park films (1993, 1997, and 2001) were not filmed on an island off Costa Rica, but on Kauai at Manawaiopu Falls, Mount Waialeale, and other scenic areas.

Kauai's verdant rainforests formed a fantastic backdrop for Harrison Ford in both Raiders of the Lost Ark (1983) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

A pilot and his passenger are forced to land on the classical tropical island, believed to be in French Polynesia, in Six Days, Seven Nights (1998); actually, Ivan Reitman filmed Harrison Ford and Anne Heche for 11 weeks on Kauai's spectacular shores.

Mitzi Gaynor sang "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" on Lumahai Beach in South Pacific (1958).

Jessica Lange, Jeff Bridges, and Charles Grodin tangled with Hollywood's most famous gorilla in Honopu Valley, in the remake of King Kong (1976).

Elvis Presley married costar Joan Blackman near the Wailua River in Blue Hawaii (1961).

Beautiful Kee Beach, on the North Shore, masqueraded as Australia in the mini-series The Thornbirds (1983), starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward.

Kauai appeared as the backdrop for Outbreak, the 1994 thriller about the spread of a deadly virus on a remote tropical island, starring Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman also appeared with Robin Williams and Julia Roberts in Hook (1991), in which Kauai appeared as Never-Never Land.

James Caan, Nicholas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Pat Morita shared laughs on Kauai (which appeared as itself) in Honeymoon in Vegas (1992).

If you are a film buff, you can get more movie trivia about Kauai and the movies in Chris Cook's book, The Kauai Movie Book, published by Mutual Publishing, Honolulu. Or log onto www.filmkauai.com, the Kauai Film Commission's website, which has lots of facts about films on the Garden Isle. You can also visit these and other Kauai locations that made it to the silver screen, plus locations from such TV classics as Fantasy Island and Gilligan's Island, with Hawaii Movie Tours (tel. 800/628-8432 or 808/822-1192; www.hawaiimovietour.com). Tickets are $95 for adults and $76 for children 11 and under; lunch is included.