The 1991 romantic comedy Doc Hollywood is set in a small town in South Carolina, but it was filmed in different places. The movie stars Michael J. Fox as a doctor who crashes his fancy sports car in a small Southern town while on his way to an important job interview in Los Angeles.
The film includes jokes about the difference between big cities and small towns, but it also has a lot of heart and tells a touching love story. Fox played a doctor who is arrogant at first, but by the end of the movie, he becomes a likable hero.
One of the best parts of Doc Hollywood is how the location helps tell the story. The fictional town of Grady, South Carolina, has a lot of charm, and the moss-covered streets and old-fashioned feel of the town help show the appeal of small-town life.
This movie came out a few years after Fox’s string of hits in the 1980s, and playing Dr. Stone showed his growth as an actor, showing a side of him that his other roles didn’t have. Doc Hollywood is considered one of Fox’s most underrated performances, and it surprises viewers with its humor and how it uses the filming locations.
Most of Doc Hollywood Was Filmed In Micanopy & McIntosh, Florida
Even though the movie is set in the fictional town of Grady, South Carolina, most of the filming took place in the Florida towns of Micanopy and McIntosh.
According to the AFI’s behind-the-scenes look at the film, the makers of Doc Hollywood spent $12 million to make the towns look right for the movie, but it was clear that Micanopy and McIntosh were chosen for their already charming look.
Filming in Florida wasn’t rare in the late ’80s and early ’90s, but Doc Hollywood had specific needs that Florida could easily provide. Movies shot in Florida often use the state’s unique atmosphere and plants, and the small-town feel of South Carolina could be recreated by towns in north Florida like Micanopy and McIntosh.
Where was the Romantic Comedy Doc Hollywood?While the movie never says exactly where in South Carolina the story takes place, the look of the towns in Florida fits the coastal lowland area of South Carolina well. Luckily for the filmmakers, the coastal lowlands of South Carolina and North Florida look similar, and the movie does a great job making Florida stand in for South Carolina.
Doc Hollywood Also Shot In Los Angeles
The AFI also notes that the remaining parts of the movie were filmed in Los Angeles. This served two purposes: while most of the movie’s scenes in the town were filmed in Florida, the interior scenes were shot on sets in Hollywood.
This is a common practice in filmmaking, but the movie also used a few locations in Los Angeles to show a contrast with the small town of Grady. The ending of Doc Hollywood used Los Angeles to show just how different the two places were and to highlight how much Dr. Stone had changed by the end of the film.