See the History of Film in Solano County

Some of the Behind the Scenes Action

Listen to Paul Thomas Anderson speak on how he directed The Master (2012) or watch ILM break down the visual effects for BumbleBee (2018)

Solano County Film History

From small older productions in the 1900s to commercials, photoshoots and feature films, Solano County offers a wide array of vistas and locations for any project you can imagine. Contact Film Mare Island for larger features.

Solano County’s film history began way back in 1914 with the production of the silent film Cameo Kirby, starring Dustin Farnum, in eastern Solano County, near Rio Vista. In 1949 parts of All The King’s Men were also shot in Rio Vista and in Fairfield. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1950 and also earned Oscars for Best Actor, Broderick Crawford and Best Supporting Actress, Mercedes McCambridge.

The 1980’s also brought some feature films to the area when Clint Eastwood’s Honkytonk Man was shot in the tiny community of Bird’s Landing. Howard the Duck and Tucker: The Man and His Dream, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Jeff Bridges, were also partly shot in Solano County.

But it was not until the formation of a county film office and the closure of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo in 1996 that the motion picture industry finally took off in the county. Since then, no fewer than a dozen major motion pictures have been filmed entirely or in part in Solano County.

It is easy to see why Mare Island is popular with the entertainment industry. Along with its many unique locations, the island also contains several large industrial buildings, left behind by the Navy, that production companies have easily been able to convert to sound stages for their projects. Motion pictures filmed on Mare Island include the underwater thriller Sphere, which Warner Bros. spent more than a year (and and estimated $20 million) filming; Eddie Murphy’s Metro; and the Robin Williams’ films Flubber, Jack, What Dreams May Come, and Patch Adams.

And now with the establishment of the Film Mare Island Studios in 2016, Mare Island has been home to Paramount Television's 13 Reasons Why and Paramount Picture's feature Bumblebee. Those two projects spent more than $41 million in Solano County.

Vallejo’s Six Flags Discovery Kingdom theme park has also recently become a popular filming location. Parts of both Twisted, staring Ashley Judd and Samuel L. Jackson, and the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore feature Fifty First Dates were filmed at the park.

While feature films and television will always generate the most attention, there are many other areas in Solano County that are attractive to the entertainment industry for smaller projects. Many automobile commercials have been filmed on the county’s curving country roads and agricultural areas throughout Solano County have been used in countless print advertising projects.

Solano County Feature Films

• Cameo Kirby (1914)

• Jim Bludso (1917)

• Devil's Cargo (1924)

• Cock-Eyed World (1928)

• Destination Tokyo (1943)

• All the King's Men (1949)

• The All-American Boy (1973)

• Killer Elite (1975)

• Honkytonk Man (1981)

• Impulse (1984)

• Howard the Duck (1986)

• Eye of the Sparrow (Television) (1987)

• Tucker, The Man & His Dream (1988)

• The Presidio (1988)

• Bird (1988)

• Witchtrap (1989)

• Down Periscope (1995)

• OP Center (Television) (1995)

• Jack (1996)

• Flubber (1996)

• Metro (1996)

• Air Force One (1997)

• Sphere (1997)

• What Dreams May Come (1997)

• Patch Adams (1997)

• The General's Daughter (1998)

• Golden Dreams (2000)

• Yamashita's Treasure (2001)

• Twisted (2002)

• The Zodiac (2003)

• 50 First Dates (2003)

• Mythbusters (Television Series) (2003-2015)

• Darwin Awards (2005)

• Zodiac (2006)

• The Master (2012)

• 13 Reasons Why (Television Series), (Seasons 1 - 4, 2016 - 2019)

• Bumblebee (2017)

• Mythbusters Jr. (Television Series)(2019)