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Discover Five of The Best Movies Filmed in Austin
Austin may be known for its music, but the diverse and electric town loves movies too, and a number of famous ones have been filmed there. The movies shot in Austin range from teenage horror to office humor, and here are five of the most well-known films to come out of the Texas town.
Office Space
The greatest office story ever told showcases several real Austin landmarks. Chances are you won’t see Jennifer Aniston there, but you can see the inside of fictional Chotchkie’s Restaurant at Austin’s Alligator Grill, a New Orleans style restaurant and local favorite. If you so desire, you can also live in Peter’s apartment complex. Thankfully, the real name of the complex is The Trails of Walnut Creek and not the movie’s moniker.
Fun Fact: People actually work in the Initech building. It houses Supportkids, an organization focusing on child support.
Road Trip
Although most of the movie was filmed in Atlanta and Athens, Ga., Austin is the destination of the group of college guys in this story of undergrad humor and insanity. After mistakenly sending his long-distance girlfriend the wrong video tape, Josh must travel from the University of Ithaca to the University of Austin and intercept the tape.
Fun Fact: With the exception of the University of Tennessee, where the guys visit a fraternity, all of the schools are fictional plays on real colleges. The real schools are Ithaca University and, of course, the University of Texas in Austin. Beth, another character, also travels to the University of Boston, which is the made-up version of Boston College and Boston University.
Dazed and Confused
The cult classic about the last day of school in a 1970s Texas high school was shot in and around Austin. Dazed’s R.E. Lee High School is actually Austin’s Bedicheck Middle School, and the scenes in the infamous Emporium were filmed in what is now the Violet Crown Shopping Center and the Top Notch Restaurant.
Fun Fact: Altogether, the word “man” is uttered more than 200 times in the movie.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Both the 1974 original and the 2003 remake were filmed in Austin. The Family House was moved from its location in Quick Hill to Kingsland, Texas in 1998. Of course, the legendary gas station is isolated out of town, but it is still in business in Bastrop County. The cemetery scenes were filmed just northwest of Austin in Leander.
Fun Fact: TCM and Psycho share the same inspiration: Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein.
Varsity Blues
The story of a high school football team and its reluctant quarterback in Texas was primarily filmed in Coupland, Georgetown and Elgin, Texas, all of which are within 30 miles of Austin. The school used in the movie is actually a middle school in Elgin, and the football scenes were shot in Geogetown.
Fun Fact: The strip club scene was filmed at Top Notch, the same location used in Dazed and Confused.
