Summary

• To Kill a Mockingbird was filmed on a Universal Studios backlot in Hollywood, not in the actual town of Monroeville, Alabama.
• Art Director Henry Bumstead won an Academy Award for recreating the small Southern town setting effectively.
• The iconic "Mockingbird Square" on the Universal Studios lot was later renamed "Courthouse Square" after the Back to the Future movies.

The setting of To Kill a Mockingbird is a critical piece of the film and book's legacy, considering how important the racial attitudes of the town are to telling the story. This has some fans of the 1962 movie wondering, "Where was To Kill a Mockingbird filmed?" To Kill a Mockingbird is not just one of the best movies of the 1960s, but many consider it a classic of cinema, and the book it's adapted from a critical piece of American literature. Atticus Finch, Boo Radley, Scout, Jem, and Tom Robinson are iconic characters of the courtroom genre.

Set in Maycomb, Alabama during the early 1930s, racial tensions were as bad there as anywhere in the United States of America at the time. The dripping hot fictional town of Maycomb, based on author Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville (via the courtroom scenes of the movie, with how uncomfortable and irritating a swelteringly humid day inside would be, and makes for an endless, mirage-like atmosphere outside, where the Southern Gothic imagery is pronounced. But viewers may be surprised to learn where To Kill a Mockingbird was actually filmed.

To Kill A Mockingbird Was Filmed On A Universal Studios Backlot In Hollywood

Monroeville, Alabama Had Changed Too Much To Film A 1930s Movie There

Despite feeling like there was a camera right in there in Alabama, To Kill a Mockingbird wasn't filmed anywhere close to the real state. The film was shot on a Universal Studios backlot in Hollywood, California (via Movie-Locations). By the time the 1962 movie was ready to be filmed, director Robert Mulligan and the rest of his crew realized that Monroeville, Alabama had changed too much and to effectively render the "real" Maycomb, production would need to build the town from scratch, sending filming back to Hollywood.

Art Director Henry Bumstead won an Academy Award at the 35th ceremony for effectively recreating the look and feel of a small Southern town in the 1930s.

Though it may not be the authentic Maycomb/Monroeville, the backlot film set does an incredible job of recreating the town from Lee's novel. Art Director Henry Bumstead won an Academy Award at the 35th ceremony for effectively recreating the look and feel of a small Southern town in the 1930s. The buildings, the streets, and the layout of Maycomb feel familiar to the area but still unique enough to make the town a memorable film location.

"Mockingbird Square" Was Used In Other Productions Like Ghost Whisperer

Mockingbird Square Has Since Been Renamed Courthouse Square

"Mockingbird Square" was the name of the square on the Universal Studios lot where the courthouse, painstakingly reproduced from the courthouse in Monroeville, and some other To Kill a Mockingbird buildings were erected (via The Studio Tour). That was the name of the site when the Universal tour first began in 1964, but it was renamed "Courthouse Square" after the Back to the Future movies filmed there, beginning in 1985 (via The Studio Tour).

In 2005, an unlabeled box in a Universal Studios storeroom was found to contain Gregory Peck's authentic costume from the movie.

The other structures on the set of To Kill a Mockingbird were purchased for $1 each by Universal in 1961 from the developers of the Dodgers Stadium, but only one remains: Boo Radley's house, which is located on Elm Street. The Boo Radley house was repainted and remodeled for CBS's The Ghost Whisperer, as was Courthouse Square. The square has been featured in plenty of movies and TV shows over the years, including Gremlins, Magnum P.I., and Bruce Almighty.