Grahm's Guide
to Filming Locations

The Movie

In Cast Away, Chuck Noland is a man deserted. Highly-driven Chuck (Tom Hanks) lives by the clock, jetting around the world to troubleshoot problems for FedEx. Yet, he seems to barely find time for his longtime girlfriend, Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt). However, when his Christmas Eve* flight from Memphis crashes into the Pacific Ocean, leaving him stranded on a desert island, memories of Kelly are all that Chuck has. Will it be enough to help him survive?
[*See the Notes section below for more details.]

The Locations

     Cast Away filmed in Memphis, Tennessee; Fiji and Canadian, Texas.
     If you have any tips on locations that I missed, please contact me on the Grahm's Guide Facebook page.
     SPOILER ALERT: The descriptions below include plot points of the film.  If you haven't seen Cast Away, you can buy the Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Island
After a terrifying plane crash, Chuck finds himself alone on a tropical island, surviving with assorted finds from FedEx boxes washed ashore.
Many of the survival scenes were filmed on an uninhabited island known as Monuriki, or Modriki, near 17°36'33.5"S 177°02'22.8"E, in the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji.
Reference: This relatively well-known location is mentioned in contemporaneous articles about filming the movie, and is found many places online.

Kelly’s House
After Chuck escapes from the island his coworker Stan (Nick Searcy) informs him that Kelly has moved on in the four years that Chuck was missing. At the airport, rather than reuniting with Kelly, he is surprised by Kelly’s husband, Jerry Lovett (Chris Noth). As the rain pours later that evening, Chuck visits Kelly’s new home for an emotionally fraught reunion.
Kelly's new house in the film is actually located at 74 Devon Way, Memphis, TN 38111.
Reference: I had searched online for years before I found a Reddit post that pointed to the correct neighborhood for the house.

Bettina’s Ranch
A newly unmoored Chuck sets sail in his Jeep Cherokee, intent on returning the mysterious wing-bedecked package to its original sender. Arriving at a ranch replete with representations of wings, Chuck drops off the package with a simple note: “This package saved my life.”
Viewers, of course, realize that this is the home of Bettina (Lari White), the artist seen at the beginning of the film sending a package to her unfaithful husband, Dick. When Chuck arrives, he sees the gateway with only Bettina’s name, and an obvious space where Dick’s name was excised.

The Crossroads
After dropping off the package, an unburdened Chuck stops to find new bearings at the crossroads he passed previously. As Chuck checks his map, a pickup pulls up, and a luminous redhead gets out to offer guidance. As she drives away, Chuck recognizes familiar wings on Bettina’s tailgates and steps to the center of the crossroads to contemplate in which direction his future might lie.
The crossroads seen at the opening and closing of the film stand at the intersection of FM1268 at FM 48, Mobeetie, TX 79061. Since my visit in December 2013, the vistas have been altered considerably by the addition of wind turbines in every direction.

In Memoriam
Lari White, who was so radiant as Bettina in Cast Away, had been a successful singer before taking the role. In the 1990s, she’d had 12 songs that hit the Billboard Hot Country chart, including three in the Top Ten.
In the ensuing years, she continued to applying her talents at singing, songwriting, producing and acting.
Sadly, White died on January 23, 2018, only a few months after announcing that she’d been diagnosed as having cancer. According to her obituary, White “is survived by her husband, songwriter Chuck Cannon, and their three children.”