Hollywood on the Potomac

Georgetown has served as a frequent film and television backdrop for drama, comedy, intrigue, romance, crime, disaster, and horror. Near the 75 steps prominently featured in The Exorcist, the 1973 film written by Georgetown University graduate William Peter Blatty told the story of a girl possessed by a demon who lives in a house beside the steps, and in a famous scene a priest falls to his death down them. Beside the steps stands the historic Car Barn, built to store and transfer horse-drawn and later powered trolleys. All the President's Men, about the reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal, was set in Georgetown, and during filming three of its main figures, Ben Bradlee, Bob Woodward, and Katherine Graham, were longtime Georgetown residents. Georgetown locations often used on screen include the C&O Canal, Wisconsin Avenue, and the Whitehurst Freeway, which appeared in No Way Out, Deep Impact, Minority Report, Dave, St. Elmo's Fire, True Lies, Enemy of the State, and The Man with One Red Shoe. Numerous documentaries and television episodes, from 24 to The West Wing, have also been filmed there, making Georgetown a screen star in its own right.

Washington, District of Columbia · United States