{"id":48263,"date":"2014-11-04T20:56:11","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T00:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/?p=48263"},"modified":"2016-04-21T15:24:16","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T19:24:16","slug":"movie-sites-to-see-on-a-cruise-alaska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/2014\/11\/04\/movie-sites-to-see-on-a-cruise-alaska\/","title":{"rendered":"Movie Sites to see on a Cruise to Alaska"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019re cruising the Inside Passage, the Gulf of Alaska, or taking an Alaska Cruise Tour<\/a> to Denali National Park, you\u2019re 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<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, a number of movie titles filmed in Alaska make references to themes like \u201cfrozen,\u201d \u201cice,\u201d \u201cwhite\u201d (as in snow), \u201cwild,\u201d and \u201cwolf.\u201d You may recognize downtown Anchorage in \u201cThe Frozen Ground\u201d (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.<\/p>\n

\"Movie<\/picture><\/a>

Chugach Mountains<\/p><\/div>\n

The Denali National Park region is the setting for \u201cInto the Wild\u201d (2007), based on Jon Krakauer\u2019s 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. \u201cWhite Fang\u201d (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\u2019s Inside Passage. Wolves also co-starred in the nature film \u201cNever Cry Wolf\u201d (1983), which was set in the Canadian Arctic but partially filmed in Nome, Alaska.<\/p>\n

\"Movie<\/picture><\/a>

Movie Sites to see on a Cruise to Alaska. Photo Courtesy of Denali National Park<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cBig Miracle\u201d (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.<\/p>\n

\"Movie<\/picture><\/a>

Movie Sites to see on a Cruise to Alaska. Seward Alaska<\/p><\/div>\n

White snow and lots of it figures in \u201cThe Big White\u201d (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.<\/p>\n

The snowy Alaskan landscape also served as a striking backdrop for the thriller \u201cRunaway Train\u201d (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.<\/p>\n

The action movie \u201cOn Deadly Ground\u201d (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 \u2013 and at the Alaskan State Capitol in Juneau, where Seagal tried his hand at speech-making.<\/p>\n

\"Movie<\/picture><\/a>

Movie Sites to see on a Cruise to Alaska. Alaska waters<\/p><\/div>\n

Other well-known films that featured Alaskan-filmed shots include \u201cStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country\u201d (1991), \u201cThe Thing\u201d (1982), and \u201cCall of the Yukon\u201d (1938).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

These include \u201cThe Grey\u201d (2011), a Liam Neeson action movie; \u201cInsomnia\u201d (2002), starring Al Pacino as a visiting LA police detective who can\u2019t sleep during the 24-hour summer \u201cdaylight\u201d in a small Alaskan fishing town; \u201cAlaska\u201d (1996), about two children searching for their father in the wilderness and befriending a polar bear; \u201cThe Edge\u201d (1997), a thriller starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin; and \u201cMystery, Alaska\u201d (1999), a comedy about an amateur ice hockey team.<\/p>\n

All that can be forgiven \u2013 parts of British Columbia do look a lot like Alaska. But to show how times have changed, the classic \u201cNorth to Alaska\u201d (1960), starring John Wayne and set in the late 19th-century Alaska Gold Rush in far northern Nome, was filmed in\u2026California.<\/p>\n

Alaska cruises are often sold out, so it\u2019s 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<\/a>. Visit www.CruiseExperts.com<\/a> or call 1-888-804-CRUISE (2784).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Movie Sites to see on a Cruise to Alaska<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":48317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,49,36,30],"tags":[695,304,126,305],"class_list":["post-48263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alaska","category-bucket-list","category-general","category-informative","tag-alaska","tag-alaska-cruise-tour","tag-cruiseexperts-com","tag-perfect-alaska-itinerary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}