When you think of Hollywood, North Texas may not be top of mind — but we’re actually just as star-studded as Tinseltown. Fort Worth has been the backdrop for 15+ movies and TV shows and we rounded up a few of our favorites to give you the behind-the-scenes scoop on just how famous our city is.
The Fort Worth Water Garden set the scene in Logan’s Run | Photo via @vphung320
Logan’s Run
Filmed in 1975, the movie is set in the year 2274 when humanity is confined to living in a domed-utopia run by a computer. The film features the Fort Worth Water Garden when the Sandman discovers that the outside world is not what the computer tells him, and he finds a way into the city through the pools of water.
1883
The Yellowstone prequel 1883 was filmed over the summer (2021) in and around Fort Worth. It follows a family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. The Hollywood cast rolled into the Fort Worth Stockyards where an Old West set was constructed. Bonus: the show just premiered on Paramount+ Sun., Dec. 19.
Necessary Roughness
The sports comedy was filmed in 1991 and follows the Texas State University Fightin’ Armadillos as they form their own football team with no scholarships to help. The Guitar Bar at Billy Bob’s Texas is featured when a fight breaks out between the Fightin’ Armadillos and their rivals, the University of Texas Colts.
Miss Juneteenth
Filmed in 2020, the movie is based on the real Miss Juneteenth pageant that takes place in Fort Worth, where teenage girls vie for a scholarship to a historically Black college or university. The movie was shot in the Southside area of Fort Worth and in Como, a historically Black neighborhood. Bonus: writer and director Channing Godfrey Peoples grew up attending the pageant.
The Cowtown Coliseum has been the backdrop of several productions | Photo via @eternaltourists
Tough Enough
This film follows a struggling country/Western singer from Fort Worth in 1983. The rising star enters an amateur boxing contest at the Cowtown Coliseum, to earn some extra money for his family. He later has to choose between his love for singing or the money he makes fighting.
Pure Country
Country icon George Strait made his acting debut in this 1992 film, which followed a country music star who was tired of the glamorous life. The Cowtown Coliseum and Billy Bob’s Texas were both featured in the film as “Dusty” renewed his passion for music and performing.
Prison Break
Filmed between 2005-2017, the show follows an innocent man that was framed for the murder of the Vice President’s brother and is scheduled to be executed until his younger brother saves him. In Season 3, the abandoned Swift Armour Meat Packing Plant served as a prison-based in Panama. Bonus: a prison façade used for the production still stands on the property.
Never Goin’ Back
This 2018 comedy is about two broke teenage girls who stumble through a series of misadventures as they try to get away for a vacation in Galveston. The film features scenes in downtown Fort Worth + the Buttermilk Cafe. Did you know? The film was written and directed by Dallas’ Augustine Frizzell.
TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium took the spotlight in My All American | Photo by Flintco.com
My All American
Filmed in 2015 at Texas Christian University’s Amon G. Carter Stadium, the film follows a University of Texas safety whose injury leads to a shocking diagnosis and the biggest challenge he will ever face.
Walker, Texas Ranger
This action-packed drama was filmed between 1993-2001 as Walker and his partner battled crime across the state of Texas. The Tarrant County Courthouse was the Rangers’ Headquarters + The White Elephant Saloon in the Stockyards was a place for the Rangers to kick back and have a cold beer.
