Why shot in Maine?


If the film takes place on the Outer Banks of the Carolinas, why was it shot in Maine?
Many of the scenes sure look like Maine, and the credits at the end thank the Sate of Maine.

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This is coming straight from the movie's website: http://message-bottle.warnerbros.com:


In stark contrast to Theresa's world, Garret lives on a small island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where the town's inhabitants exist on the bounty and recreational opportunities provided by the sea. The beautiful coastline of Maine was chosen as a stand-in for the chain of islands off the North Carolina coast, utilizing various cities near the maritime town of Bath, including New Harbor, Boothbay Harbor and Popham Beach. In addition to the picturesque locations, the towns offered locals renowned for their boat building expertise.

Among the Maine locations, Beecroft discovered a small beachfront home in Popham Beach, which was extensively renovated to become Garret's home. The house, with its isolation, reinforces Garret's separation from society while the ever-present water behind the dwelling is a constant reminder of his passion.

Chet's Diner (where the loner Garret breakfasts each morning) is actually Shaw's Wharf in New Harbor, Maine. The diner was remodeled to become a ruddy, raw environment where men, who make their life from the sea, feel comfortable socializing and eating before heading out for their catch of the day. This site, as with the house in Popham Beach, was optimal because of its proximity to the water and its natural relation to its surroundings.

"Garret, in contrast to Theresa, lives in a flat, open, simple world -- a horizontal environment," says Beecroft. "That's why he can't survive in an urban, vertical city like Theresa's. Garret needs simplicity in his life, which is why he has such a tough time on his trip to Chicago -- it's too busy, too complex for his simple, clear spirit."

The complications of filming on open water in a variety of weather conditions challenged the filmmakers. "We tried to control what we could in terms of shooting on smooth waters, but some scenes simply had to be shot on the open sea," explains Mandoki. The unpredictability of the weather was one of the biggest obstacles that the production had to overcome.

At the end of the filming in Los Angeles, the filmmakers minimized their meteorological aggravation by recreating a major storm sequence in a water tank on the backlot at Universal. The company enlisted a jet engine, several massive fans, rain grid and a handful of wave runners to photograph two large sailboats in the midst of a treacherous and windy ocean storm.

"These are the types of scenes that Hollywood does best," says Wilson, "and I think that we have successfully created this illusion of a storm. When creative people are challenged and put their heads together, the result is often amazing. It's a little heady -- we could actually outdo Mother Nature and always remain in complete control."


By these commments, I'm guessing they couldn't find any adequate places in North Carolina to film what they were looking for specifically. I hope this helps. You can always go the the website and read more about it and the production, it's all quite interesting, I think. Have a nice day!


~Denise :o)

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What I don't get is why the movie changed where Theresa works. It is a minor minor complaint but it still is kind of annoying that they couldn't keep Boston as the place she works.

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Quoting...What I don't get is why the movie changed where Theresa works. It is a minor minor complaint but it still is kind of annoying that they couldn't keep Boston as the place she works...End Quote



This is what I was thinkin'...

People from Boston has a very distinctive accent and since Robin Wright doesn't have a Boston accent... maybe she couldn't fake a good one...or maybe she felt couldn't...(or didn't wanna)... keep a fake accent going the whole time of filming. In Chicago they don't really have an apparent accent.

It was kinda funny when Garrett says Theresa sounds like she's from up north... when she basically sounded no different from him...cause he certainly didn't sound like he was from the carolinas. That line would have definitely worked better if she had a boston accent...or some other north eastern accent.

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In Chicago they don't really have an apparent accent.

How much time have you spent in Chicago?

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I live in the south...so I haven't spent time there...but I have a friend from Chicago...she was born and raised there...and she doesn't have an accent.

Oprah has lived there...what seems like... for-ever...and she doesn't have an accent. I'm a fan of Marty Casey's...and he doesn't really have an accent...

And... Robin Wright played this character from Chicago...and SHE didn't have an accent.

But...EveryOne knows when a person is from Boston...there's no hiding it...their accent is ThicK...and veeery distinctive. BiG difference in Chicago's "accent"...and the very famous Boston accent. Haven't you noticed?

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People actually from Chicago do really have an accent, trust me, maybe not as prominent as Boston but there is definitely a Chicago accent, to hear it you only need to listen to Dennis Franz from NYPD Blue.

Anytime I have been to the south i.e. South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi etc. everyone has commented on my accent and I was born and raised in Michigan so it just all depends on who you are talking to and where they are from.

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A Chicago accented person does not say "Chi-caw-go", they say "Chi-CAH-go".

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I don't know why the movie was shot in Maine, but as a frequent visitor of that state, all I can say is I believe that Maine has the most beautiful coastline in the east. I've been to half of the states in our wonderful country, and of everything I've seen, Maine's coastline is right up there with the best. For anyone who hasn't been there, I highly recommend it, esp. the Cape Elizabeth area. I feel peaceful just thinking of the ocean there.

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This movie lost me right away because of it being filmed in Maine. I love Maine and North Carolina, but can't get past how different the scenery is in both of these locals. I think the setting was very important to the story line and characters, especially in Garrett's case. The location was very important and needed to be as close to North Carolina as possible. There is no place like Maine and it was painfully obvious that is was filmed in the Northeast in particular Maine right away! There are even scenes where you can see Lobsterman hauling traps. The islands and lighthouses just scream the Maine coastline.

I am sure this was very disappointing to the North Carolina coastal inhabitants.

I suppose some people don't find this very important, but what if the producers tried to pass off San Francisco as Chicago? It just doesn't work.

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It annoyed me so much that I couldn't enjoy the movie. I love both places but I felt like my intelligence was being insulted because the two coasts are so very different.

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in the commmentary the director talks about the location saying that he searched the eastern seaboards of the Carolina's and because of some recent hurricanes that had hit there, the coast looked a little ..i guess u could say depressing,and so he then found a small island in Virginia and had plans to do it there but then because of the people and there religon, they declined use of the island because of the kissing scenes and because of the few scenes with beer. So then i think it was the cinematographer that had mentioned work he had done in maine on the movie Head Above Water and they decided to film the movie there.

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First of all, MOST movies are not filmed in the location they are actually portraying...surprised you'd even think about that.
As for the changing of Theresa's home from Boston, the only thing I can see as a reason is so Garrett can have that line, "I don't go inland". Don't blame him, either. The coast is where it's at, baby.

- J.

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Well, if "The coast is where it's at, baby," then I'm glad I'm from "inland." We don't spout such inanities.

Oh, and people from "inland" do have an accent. It's called "midwestern," and it is why most of your top newscasters are from there. Everyone else can understand them.

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Feel free to stay inland.

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Anyone who's been to the North Carolina Outer Banks (or anywhere on the NC Coast) knows there are no rocks. I live in Raleigh and have a place at the beach, but I've never been to Main (yet). Yet when the first scene on the supposed Outer Banks started off my first reaction was that this was filmed somewhere in Maine due to the rocks. So if they needed to shoot it in Maine, why not just make it Maine in the movie instead of trying to make believe it was North Carolina?

And also, they shouldn't have put license plates on the front of cars since NC only has them in the rear.

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mick, deadre, and tatertot, I could not agree with you more. Trying to pass the Maine coast off as North Carolina killed this movie for me. Either shoot the movie in a location that looks somewhat like NC (any state coast south of Connecticut), OR change the location in the movie. But trying to pass the rocky coast of Maine off as NC, is like trying to pass off Texas as Japan.

The same thing was done in the beach scene of The Notebook. They tried to pass a California beach off as South Carolina.

It blows my mind that they go to painstaking detail to see what a traffic light looked like in the 1930's and put this in the movie (the Notebook), but can't get something as simple as a beach correct.

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and so he then found a small island in Virginia and had plans to do it there but then because of the people and there religon, they declined use of the island because of the kissing scenes and because of the few scenes with beer.


There Religon? We're Christians, you make it sound like we have some kind of weird religion. The town is called Tangier Island and it is an island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, and some of the towns people were pissed off because of the decision of the town not to have it there. But, whatever, it wouldn't have made me rich so it didn't matter to me.lol. The reason they didn't want it was because of the drinking, sex, and other adult natured themes. Some of the Tangier people are die hard Christians and belived that God wouldn't want this. Although I belive it may have helped the tourist issues the place has or lack there of. It really would have helped only a handful of people finacially while the movie was being made. So we got to preserve our "stuck in time" way of life. I would have liked to have seen my home town forever preserved on film though. It would have been an interesting story to tell people. I can tell them how Tangier turned down Hollywood though.lol Tangier Forever, Baby!!

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"Cats are like Baptists. You know they raise hell; you just can't catch them at it." —Jim Stafford

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Well--I was living in Maine at the time--and I don't know why--but all of your answers sound very convincing. My wife and I happened to be walking downtown in Portland on the day that they were shooting a scene inside an apartment. The area was roped off so we stood behind the ropes with a few dozen other onlookers. Just as we were about to leave, Mr. Cosner came out and got into a black SUV. As he walked past--he smiled and waved to my wife, Margaret--which, of course, made her day. The actress that was with him,however,didn't even look my way. Humm.

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I didn't see the begining of the movie...but Boston would make a lot more sense...otherwise a bottle would have a tough time floating from north Caarolina to Chicago.
Still tough but easier for the bottle to get to Boston!

As for accents, she could live and work in boston and be from somewhere else.
i did not like the ending, but at least it was not predictable.
E

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I suggest you watch the beginning of the movie. She found the bottle while vacationing and jogging on Martha's Vineyard. Bottle didn't find its way to Chicago, except by airplane in her carry-on.

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I think its too reasons:

1) Popham Beach and the Maine beaches in general are really beautiful.
2) It's really cold up there a lot of the time, so its not as crowded, but since you can't see "cold" in a movie, there would be some great times to shoot when its still beautiful but not as crowded.

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The bottle didn't float to Chicago, genius. You might want to watch the movie again.

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This is a really freakin old thread, but I thought i'd point out that half the time a movie is set in Maine, it's filmed somewhere else, like the Carolinas LOL so I guess it was kind of like a trade off. I totally get the dissapointment though, because I remember watching Stephen King movies set in Maine but filmed in other places and having HORRENDOUS fake Maine accents. Yuck.

Also, people from Chicago have VERY distinct accents..I'd have to say that the Maine, Boston and Midwestern Accents of Illinoise, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, etc are all among the most ANNOYING accents ever. I'm from Maine and I don't personally have the accent. I slip up occasionally on some words and pronounce them differently but thank god I don't have the accent my dad and grandfather have.

Basicly, the only reason a lot of us back home went and saw this movie was BECAUSE it was filmed in Maine. We all frequented a lot of the areas they filmed in and knew the extras so we wanted to see if we could point it all out in the movie.

It was the same with Mel Gibson's Man without a face. It wasn't the BEST movie, but we knew people in it and it had been filmed in the surrounding areas.

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See this under 'trivia' --
The producers originally planned to film on Tangier Island, Virginia, USA, but some members of the town council objected to the drinking, cursing and sex in the movie and demanded script revisions in exchange for shooting permission. Warner Brothers then tried Martha's Vineyard near Chilmark, Massachusetts, USA, but the Chilmark Conservation Commission turned down a request to build a temporary 3,000-square-foot house on stilts in the dunes near Chilmark Pond.
Can you believe it!

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I remember when scenes were being filmed at night in Portland and streets were shut down for this. Great flick!

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It is a glaring flaw that the Maine shooting locations look nothing like The Outer Banks, NC, where the story takes place. But, in the producers’ defense, they tried to shoot in a couple places further south (including Virginia), but couldn’t get permits and so had to settle for Maine (Bath, New Harbor, Phippsburg & Portland). Yet the coastal scenery isn’t much of a focus, so it’s not that big of a deal. If it really bugs you, just imagine that Garrett throws the bottles into the ocean in Maine and Theresa finds the initial message while vacationing in Nova Scotia; problem solved.

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