“The Truman Show” was filmed in SEASIDE® 15 years ago, with its first screening in June 1998. To celebrate, The Seaside Times is hosting a contest for all Truman fans.
Grab your camera and find each of the 15 SEASIDE® sites listed below. Take a picture of someone in your party at each site and email your photos to truman.seasidefl@gmail.com.
A winner will be randomly-drawn from the entries at the end of each month through December 2013. Each month’s winner will receive a copy of “The Truman Show” DVD and a framed print of SEASIDE®’s Coleman Pavilion. In addition, winners will be published in The Seaside Times.
1) Coleman Pavilion
The cast and crew of The Truman Show used this pavilion while filming and it is still in use today as a public beach access. The Coleman Pavilion is an icon of Seaside and can be seen in the background throughout the film.
2) The beach in Seaside
The emerald blue waters are featured in the movie as an obstacle Truman must overcome to break away from the oppressive town of Seahaven. The white sand beach and Gulf of Mexico backdrop served as part of the set.
3) Truman House
This is the idyllic home to Truman Burbank, the main character in the movie, and is still a part of the Seaside neighborhood today. Found on Natchez Street, the Truman House still sports the same colors and design as it did 15 years ago. However, you might not recognize the house the way it appeared in the film. The lush garden of native plants in front of the house has been restored - the film’s set designers had replaced it with a carpet of Kentucky bluegrass to make it look more like a typical home in Suburbia. After all, how would an average American suburbanite spend Saturday morning without a lawn to mow?
4) No. 36 at the Truman House
While the address for the home used for the film is 31 Natchez Street, Truman’s home was No. 36. The homeowners kept the number as a memento from the film.
5) SEASIDE® Neighborhood School
This quaint, charter school located in SEASIDE® was built post-production with a portion of the location fees SEASIDE® received for hosting the set of The Truman Show. Today, the SEASIDE® Neighborhood School, one of the first charter schools of its kind in the state of Florida, serves students in sixth through tenth grade with a vision to expand to elementary and high school grade levels.
6) Architect Sign in Ruskin Place
The Rubeo Architects sign in Ruskin Place may seem like another legitimate merchant sign in the shopping plaza, but is really from the set and is not a true business, just a cool memento.
7) Ruskin Place Garden/Courtyard
This courtyard can be found in the district of SEASIDE® designed to house artisans and their galleries. Numerous scenes capture Ruskin Place throughout the movie, though the sets altered the appearance of many of the shops.
8) Ticket booth
In the movie, Truman approaches the ticket booth and the perspective of the camera shifts so it appears as though it is watching him from behind the ticket seller. Though not used as a ticket booth today, the building can still be found behind the tennis pro shop in SEASIDE®.
9) Tupelo Street Roundabout
This roundabout is featured in a scene in which Truman finally realizes everyone in the town of Seahaven is in on something against him. In the movie, Truman whirls his car around the Tupelo Street roundabout.
10) Central Square Street Sign
The center of SEASIDE®, the horseshoe-shaped town hub, still features parts of the set from The Truman Show, including buildings, street signs and merchants. The movie sets’ street signs each referred to a movie actor and were replaced with the original street signs post filming.
11) Machado-Silvetti Building
This building was used as part of the Truman Show set, but is now a much different color. You’d probably not recognize it from the movie since it now has a purple wall, a fitting color for one of its tenants, Crush Wine Bar, a favorite with locals, visitors and patrons of the nearby Seaside Repertory Theatre.
12) SEASIDE® Post Office
This building is one of the most photographed institutions in SEASIDE® and can be recognized in the movie. The SEASIDE® Post Office maintains the same structure as it did 15 years ago in The Truman Show, though it is actually 10 feet further south than it was then.
13) Modica Market
Modica Market can be spotted throughout the movie, not only from the signs outside, but also from within the shop. Charlie Modica, Sr., and his wife, Sarah, are both filmed in Modica Market as extras in a scene with actors Jim Carrey and Noah Emmerich.
14) Ladder in Modica Market
In a scene in the movie, Charlie Modica, Jr., is shown standing on the ladder in Modica Market. The same ladder can be found in the shop today and still serves the same purpose as it did 15 years ago.
15) Poster of Jim Carrey in Modica Market
Hanging on the wall of Modica Market is “The Truman Show” movie poster that depicts Jim Carrey, and serves as a reminder of the remarkable role Modica Market and SEASIDE® as a whole played in the movie.