Brendan Fraser’s live action set filmed on the American River

A 1997 copy of the Auburn Journal highlighted the City of Auburn’s ‘small but integral role’ in the Disney classic “George of the Jungle.”

The live-action comedy, which starred Brendan Fraser, featured a ‘thrilling whitewater scene shot on the middle fork of the American River’ and it resulted in a big boost for the local economy at the time.

According to then Placer County Film Office Liaison Jennifer Jasper, the river scene helped contribute $1 million in local revenue through crew expenditures, hotel stays and production costs.

Revisiting the pre-2000s film today, the amount of work that went into this scene is impressive. According to that same Auburn Journal article, “Disney workers covered the inside of the Tunnel Chute with vines, built an extra tunnel and created a waterfall.” The American River location provided the perfect rapids to portray urgency as the film’s hero was chased to the waterfall.

The film was directed by Sam Weisman and based on the 1967 American animated television series of the same name created by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, which parodied the fictional character Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The Coloma-based Adventure Production Services helped bring the movie to Placer County after their work on the earlier Hollywood production, “Breakdown” featuring Kurt Russell. Thanks to outstanding work in that film, location scouts returned to find the perfect location for this Disney production.

Fraser plays a man raised by animals in the jungle who later falls in love with a wealthy heiress, played by Leslie Mann, leading to conflict with her self-absorbed fiancé. Thomas Haden Church, Holland Taylor, Richard Roundtree, and John Cleese were also cast in the film.

Placer has played host to many notable Hollywood classics, including many Oscar-winning films. Check out the Auburn Journal article from this time in 1997 below and watch the film’s trailer.

Watch the official trailer for the film by clicking on the image below:

PLACER COUNTY FILM OFFICE

Juli Johnston, Film Program Liaison
530-889-4091
filmoffice@placer.ca.gov