Which movies are set in Knoxville or East Tennessee? | Know Your Knox

Nashville's status as the home of country music has been immortalized in both film (Robert's Altman's 1975 "Nashville") and television (the series "Nashville" ran from 2012 to 2018). Memphis blues, meanwhile, features heavily in films such as "Walk the Line," "Hustle & Flow" and "Elvis."

Knoxville, despite its many charms, has not achieved that level of cinematic distinction.

But plenty of TV shows and films have been shot in the Scruffy City, with top producers such as Discovery and Jupiter Entertainment calling Knoxville home. The city is consistently named one of the best places to live and work as a filmmaker by MovieMaker magazine.

Relatively few films and TV shows have actually been set here, however.

"The pool is pretty small," said John Morton, an audio-visual archivist for the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection at Knox County Public Library. "If people are interested in filming in the mountains, Knoxville offers the ability to stand in for something else ... (but) if you want hillbilly culture or tropes of Southern life, that's not really Knoxville."

James Agee's autobiographical tale leads the list

The best-known film set in Knoxville might be “A Death in the Family” by James Agee, since the novel and subsequent film and TV adaptations all were set here. The story is based on Agee's own family history in 1915, when his father went out of town to see his own father, who had suffered a heart attack. During the return trip, Agee's father was killed in a car crash.

Agee won a Pulitzer Prize in 1958 for the novel, which was adapted into a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tad Mosel, “All the Way Home.” A film by the same name, which used both the original novel and Mosel’s play, was filmed in Fort Sanders, the Knoxville neighborhood where Agee grew up, and starred Robert Preston and Jean Simmons. A TV movie adaptation filmed in Tennessee and starring Annabeth Gish aired on PBS in 2002. It even became a stage musical in 2022.

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One of Burt Reynolds' last performances on film

In 2017, Burt Reynolds and Chevy Chase starred in “The Last Movie Star,” which featured Reynolds taking a trip down memory lane that included locations around Knoxville such as Neyland Stadium, Market Square, Gay Street and the Tennessee Theatre.

Knoxville provided more than just the film's setting. It also served as a catalyst for Reynolds' character, Vic Edwards, to take steps to change his life and outlook. In the film, the aging movie star and his rough-around-the-edges driver Lil (Ariel Winter) make an unforgettable trip together to Knoxville, which is Edwards' hometown.

"I remember Neil (Mandt) saying early on when we decided to move the whole film to Tennessee," producer Gordon Whitener said at the film's premiere in Knoxville. "He said, 'Tennessee can become a character in the film,' and I think you'll see that throughout the film."

20 years later, a scandal emerges

Asia Argento and California actor Jimmy Bennett played a mother and son in "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,” largely filmed in Knoxville and the surrounding area in the fall of 2003.

The film featured Jeremy Renner in one of his first big-screen roles, as well as twin actors Dylan and Cole Sprouse, who would go on to star on the Disney Channel the next year as the title characters of the series “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.” The movie, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004, also starred Jeremy Sisto, Peter Fonda, Marilyn Manson and Winona Ryder.

The little-seen movie is best known now for its role in the scandal involving Argento and Bennett, with the actor alleging that Argento had sex with him in 2013 when he was 17 and she was 37. Argento’s attorney made arrangements to pay Bennett $380,000 in an effort to keep a lid on the alleged encounter.

Student-made film screened mostly at drive-ins

Not quite a cult classic, "Incoming Freshmen" was shot in 1977 by a pair of University of Tennessee graduates, Eric Lewald and Glenn Morgan, with local actors, including a cameo role by economics professor George Spiva. The film was heavily edited from the version put together by Lewald and Morgan prior to its drive-in movie release, but the original was screened locally in 1999, thanks to the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound.

Its 1979 premiere in Knoxville took place at the Twin-Aire West Drive-In, and was covered by the News Sentinel. The coverage noted the producers added "a little skin and some raunchy language" to achieve an R rating, and highlighted the numerous Knoxville elements, including an actual Vols football game at Neyland Stadium.

Both Lewald and Morgan went on to have substantial careers in the film industry, with Lewald developing series for television including "X-Men: The Animated Series" and Morgan working as a film editor for projects including "The Real World."

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Some films - and filmmakers - with Knoxville-adjacent connections

"Lolly-Madonna XXX" was filmed in 1973 in Washburn and featured UT student Kathy Watts in a small role. The movie about two feuding rural Tennessee clans is most notable for having been written by superstar mystery author Sue Grafton and for starring Rod Steiger and a trio of youngsters at the start of their careers: Jeff Bridges, Gary Busey and Randy Quaid.

“The Evil Dead,” which became a beloved cult movie franchise, got its start when the first movie was shot in a decrepit cabin in Morristown in 1979.

And while Knoxville-born Quentin Tarantino has never set a film here (I haven't given up hope), he slips East Tennessee references into his films. In “Pulp Fiction,” Bruce Willis’ character, Butch, has to retrieve a precious family heirloom: a gold watch originally owned by his great-grandfather. In a flashback, Christopher Walken tells a young Butch that it was purchased from a general store in Knoxville. Later in the film, Butch needs to leave town fast, and he plans to head to Knoxville. And “Inglourious Basterds” character Lt. Aldo Raine is from nearby Maynardville.

The film that archivist John Morton would like to see? An adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's "Suttree," which is set in 1950s Knoxville.

"That looms so large," he said. "It would be really interesting to see that."

Know Your Knox answers your burning questions about life in Knoxville. Want your question answered? Email knowyourknox@knoxnews.com.

Liz Kellar is a public safety reporter. Email lkellar@knoxnews.com. Twitter @LizKellar.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Which movies are set in Knoxville and East Tennessee?