Utah travelers and movie fans have a new guide to find the places where Jeremiah Johnson camped, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid hid from the law, and Thelma and Louise made their fateful leap.
The Utah Film Commission and the Utah Office of Tourism announced Wednesday they have launched the Utah Film Trail, a series of physical markers placed around the state — from Brigham City to Monument Valley — to point out the Utah places where well-known movies have been made.
The trail “will take you off the beaten path to discover the settings for made-in-Utah films and television shows you’ve fallen in love with,” Virginia Pearce, the Utah Film Commission’s director, said in a news release.
(Utah Film Commission) One of the markers on the Utah Film Trail, showing a location at Dead Horse Point State Park that was used in the 1991 movie "Thelma & Louise." The trail program was launched by the Utah Film Commission and the Utah Office of Tourism.
The metal markers, designed by the Salt Lake City architecture firm Studio LP and fabricated by Salt Lake City-based Element Shop Works, feature the names of the movies shot in those locations and details about them. They include QR codes that can be scanned to locate more information online. And the markers are designed so a visitor can look through them and imagine how the location looks on a movie screen.
The full list of marker locations is available on the tourism office’s website, at visitutah.com.
Some of the 21 locations on the trail are:
• Two locations from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969): Zion Canyon Village in Springdale, which served as the hideout location for Paul Newman and Robert Redford, and Snow Canyon State Park nearby, where some of the chase scenes were shot.
• Sundance Mountain Resort, where Redford’s mountain man character in “Jeremiah Johnson” (1972) built his cabin.
• Fossil Point at Dead Horse Point State Park, in Grand and San Juan counties, which doubled as the Grand Canyon for the famous climax of “Thelma & Louise” (1991). The park was also used in John Ford’s “Fort Apache” (1948) and for Tom Cruise’s rock-climbing stunt in “Mission: Impossible 2″ (2000).
• Lorin Farr Pool in Ogden, where the fake-drowning scene in “The Sandlot” (1993) was shot.
• Goblin Valley State Park in Emery County, whose hoodoos doubled for the rock-like aliens in the science-fiction comedy “Galaxy Quest” (1999).
(Utah Film Commission) One of the markers on the Utah Film Trail, showing a location at Goblin Valley State Park that was used in the 1999 movie "Galaxy Quest." The trail program was launched by the Utah Film Commission and the Utah Office of Tourism. Visitors can look through the markers to see how the location might look on a movie screen.
• Wendover Airfield, by the Nevada border, where “Con Air” (1997), “Independence Day” (1996) and “Hulk” (2003) were shot, among others.
• Great Salt Lake State Park, particularly around the old Saltair resort, where parts of the cult classic horror movie “Carnival of Souls” (1962) were filmed.
• Bryce Canyon National Park, the backdrop for one of the first movies ever shot in Utah: The silent Tom Mix cowboy movie “The Deadwood Coach” (1924).
The film commission last year marked the centennial of filmmaking in Utah with an exhibit in the Utah Capitol. A smaller version of that exhibit is scheduled to open this spring at the Salt Lake City International Airport, in the Sen. Jake Garn Greeting Room, the commission announced.
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