On location: Town of Beaufort

A look at the Lowcountry’s starring role in the movies.

Something to Talk About (1995)

The cast

Julia Roberts as Grace King Bichon, Dennis Quaid as Eddie Bichon, Robert Duvall as Wyly King, Kyra Sedgwick as Emma Rae King, Gena Rowlands as Georgia King and Haley Aull as Caroline “Doodlebug” Bichon. 

Details

This romantic dramedy starring Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid follows the life of a Southern woman who discovers her husband is being unfaithful. A large portion of the movie was filmed at the former Michael Rainey Antiques store, located at 702 Craven Street. Gatsby’s Restaurant, now Q on Bay, was used to film the restaurant scene. Many locals were used as extras. The USC Beaufort Performing Arts Center was the backdrop of Grace Bichon’s college campus. The Beaufort Library on Scott Street housed the “green room,” and its parking lot was home to the actors’ mobile dressing rooms. The library stayed open during production. Many stars from the film were spotted around town and posed for photos that are now framed on the walls of many local restaurants and bars. Crew members stayed at the Beaufort Inn and in the apartment next to Plums restaurant on Bay Street.

The plot 

Grace discovers that her husband, Eddie, is having an affair with another woman. After a wildly public confrontation with Eddie and his mistress, Grace packs up their daughter and returns home to her parents’ horse farm to regroup. To her surprise and dismay, everyone around her is still mired in old-fashioned ideals and believes she should forgive and forget Eddie’s indiscretion.

Film facts

• The King Farm scenes were filmed at Davant Plantation in Gillionsville, about 10 miles north of Ridgeland. The backdrop was selected over other top locations in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. 
• The role of Caroline Bichon was cast to young actress Haley Aull, who lived a few hours north in Orangeburg. She was allowed to keep the horse her character owned in the film. Aull also starred in the film Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken (1991).
• The film’s title stems from the Bonnie Raitt song of the same name.
• Kyra Sedgwick was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Reviews

“Something to Talk About is the kind of movie where you start out wondering how all of these people are related, and end up knowing all too well.” —Roger Ebert

“The humanity is spread around with a quirky, generous hand, reason enough to distinguish this quiet, low-tech comedy in a season of big-bang juvenilia.” —Newsweek

Watch it

On Amazon Prime