Focus Features

Jessica Lange in Frances

Frances
Year: 1982
Director: Graeme Clifford
Jessica Lange was Oscar nominated for her performance as doomed 30s screen star Frances Farmer, most famous for her tragic decline into mental illness. Farmer grew up in Seattle, and director Graeme Clifford's film featured such city landmarks as the Paramount Theatre and Roosevelt Hotel.

Trouble in Mind
Year: 1985
Director: Alan Rudolph
Los Angeles Alan Rudolph adopted Seattle as his home, and in this surreal noir delirium, he re-imagines it as Rain City, a defeated metropolis saturated with sadness. The Monorail, King Street Station and the Seattle Asian Art Museum are some of the backdrops for the poignant happenings involving the love triangle of ex-con Kris Kristofferson, lover Lori Singer and her boyfriend Keith Carradine.

House of Games
Year: 1987
Director: David Mamet
Mamet's first film as a director, this typically serpentine tale of the relationship that develops between psychiatrist Lindsay Crouse and con man Joe Mantegna alludes to Mamet's hometown of Chicago, but was actually shot in Seattle. Some of the action is set in the city's Downtown, and the climactic scene where Crouse confronts Mantegna as he is about to leave town takes place at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The Fabulous Baker Boys
Year: 1989
Director: Steve Kloves
Real-life siblings Jeff and Beau Bridges appeared for the first time together on screen to play brothers who take their piano duet act around clubs in Seattle, and hire sultry singer Michelle Pfeiffer to increase their appeal. In order to avoid the inclement Northwestern weather, director Steve Kloves shot mostly in L.A, but memorably used Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square and a handful more city locations as backdrops for the film's action.

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
Year: 1992
Director: Curtis Hanson
Curtis Hanson's movie about every mother's worst nightmare — the evil nanny who turns your child against you and systemically destroys your life — was primarily set in nearby Tacoma, Washington, but a significant portion of the action took place in Seattle. Hanson shot in the Downtown, Fremont and Magnolia neighborhoods as well as in Volunteer Park.

Singles
Year: 1992
Director: Cameron Crowe
Just three years after setting Say Anything in Seattle, former Rolling Stone journalist Cameron Crowe returned there for Singles, a film that captured a moment in time when, at the very height of grunge, it was the most musically important city in the world. Crowe shot in many of the hipper parts of town (what could be hipper than Jimi Hendrix's grave in Greenwood Memorial Park?) however the iconic image on the poster — of Bridget Fonda staring adoringly at longhaired rocker Matt Dillon as they sit together on a bench — was shot in Pioneer Square.

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Jessica Lange in Frances

Frances
Year: 1982
Director: Graeme Clifford
Jessica Lange was Oscar nominated for her performance as doomed 30s screen star Frances Farmer, most famous for her tragic decline into mental illness. Farmer grew up in Seattle, and director Graeme Clifford's film featured such city landmarks as the Paramount Theatre and Roosevelt Hotel.

Trouble in Mind
Year: 1985
Director: Alan Rudolph
Los Angeles Alan Rudolph adopted Seattle as his home, and in this surreal noir delirium, he re-imagines it as Rain City, a defeated metropolis saturated with sadness. The Monorail, King Street Station and the Seattle Asian Art Museum are some of the backdrops for the poignant happenings involving the love triangle of ex-con Kris Kristofferson, lover Lori Singer and her boyfriend Keith Carradine.

House of Games
Year: 1987
Director: David Mamet
Mamet's first film as a director, this typically serpentine tale of the relationship that develops between psychiatrist Lindsay Crouse and con man Joe Mantegna alludes to Mamet's hometown of Chicago, but was actually shot in Seattle. Some of the action is set in the city's Downtown, and the climactic scene where Crouse confronts Mantegna as he is about to leave town takes place at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The Fabulous Baker Boys
Year: 1989
Director: Steve Kloves
Real-life siblings Jeff and Beau Bridges appeared for the first time together on screen to play brothers who take their piano duet act around clubs in Seattle, and hire sultry singer Michelle Pfeiffer to increase their appeal. In order to avoid the inclement Northwestern weather, director Steve Kloves shot mostly in L.A, but memorably used Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square and a handful more city locations as backdrops for the film's action.

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
Year: 1992
Director: Curtis Hanson
Curtis Hanson's movie about every mother's worst nightmare — the evil nanny who turns your child against you and systemically destroys your life — was primarily set in nearby Tacoma, Washington, but a significant portion of the action took place in Seattle. Hanson shot in the Downtown, Fremont and Magnolia neighborhoods as well as in Volunteer Park.

Singles
Year: 1992
Director: Cameron Crowe
Just three years after setting Say Anything in Seattle, former Rolling Stone journalist Cameron Crowe returned there for Singles, a film that captured a moment in time when, at the very height of grunge, it was the most musically important city in the world. Crowe shot in many of the hipper parts of town (what could be hipper than Jimi Hendrix's grave in Greenwood Memorial Park?) however the iconic image on the poster — of Bridget Fonda staring adoringly at longhaired rocker Matt Dillon as they sit together on a bench — was shot in Pioneer Square.

Sleepless in Seattle
Year: 1993
Director: Nora Ephron
In Nora Ephron's all-conquering romcom, Tom Hanks played Sam, the sensitive widower and single father who lives in a houseboat on Westlake Avenue North, a location that has since become a tourist attraction for the legions of fans who visit the city to pay homage and see the movie's real locations. Ephron shot mostly in Seattle, and even the airplane scenes were filmed in sales prototypes at the Boeing plant in nearby Renton, Washington.

Little Buddha
Year: 1993
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
In Bernardo Bertolucci's spiritual tale, a group of Buddhist monks come to Seattle in search of the reincarnation of their late teacher, who they come to believe may be a young boy living there, Jesse Conrad. Bertolucci shot in Sakaya Monastery on Northwest 83rd Street, as well as on the monorail, at the Seattle Art Museum and in the Queen Anne neighborhood of the city.

Disclosure
Year: 1994
Director: Barry Levinson
Levinson's adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel about a sexual harassment case brought against an employee (Michael Douglas) by his scheming boss (Demi Moore), a former lover out to ruin his marriage and career, set the action in Seattle and the surrounding area, The computer company, DigiCom, that Douglas and Moore both work for is based in an historic building in Pioneer Square, and Douglas rides the Washington State Ferry across the Puget Sound to his home on Bainbridge Island.

10 Things I Hate About You
Year: 1998
Director: Gil Junger
This smart, modern day take on the Bard transposed Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew to a high school in Tacoma, Washington, where Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles played the warring lovers. The antagonistic couple play paintball at Seattle's Gasworks Park, Ledger goes to the Buckaroo Tavern biker bar in the Fremont neighborhood, and the high school prom was filmed both at the Century Ballroom and the Paramount Theatre.