Updated: May 2026
Anna Maria Island has always had a way of stopping people in their tracks. The light, the water, the unhurried pace — it turns out Hollywood noticed long before Instagram did.
Two films were shot here, decades apart and worlds apart in style. One brought MGM royalty to a remote barrier island in 1947. The other brought Denzel Washington to the area in 2003. Both used the island’s natural beauty as their backdrop and both left a mark on its story.
On an Island with You (1948)
In the summer of 1947, Anna Maria Island became Hawaii.
MGM arrived with one of the biggest casts the island had ever seen — Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalbán, Cyd Charisse, Jimmy Durante, and Xavier Cugat. The film, released in 1948 as On an Island with You, was a Technicolor musical romantic comedy that needed a tropical island setting. Anna Maria Island, with its white sand beaches and lush landscape, fit the bill perfectly.
Esther Williams led elaborate water ballet sequences in the Gulf while Cyd Charisse danced rumba on the sand with an orchestra playing nearby. For a small barrier island that had only had a bridge to the mainland for a few decades, the arrival of MGM was nothing short of extraordinary.
The filming didn’t come without drama. Cyd Charisse tore ligaments in her knee during the big ceremonial dance sequence on the island, ending up in a cast for two months. A substitute dancer finished her scenes, photographed from a distance so audiences wouldn’t notice. Esther Williams herself sprained her ankle during another scene. For a light and breezy musical comedy, it was a surprisingly eventful shoot.
What makes this chapter of the island’s story even more interesting — Esther Williams liked Anna Maria Island enough that she bought property here. Whether she ever lived on it remains unknown, but the island clearly made an impression.
The film itself is a charming relic of Hollywood’s golden era.
Out of Time (2003)
More than half a century later, Hollywood came back to the area.
Out of Time is a 2003 mystery thriller directed by Carl Franklin and starring Denzel Washington, Eva Mendes, and Sanaa Lathan. Washington plays Matt Whitlock, the police chief of a small Florida town who finds himself framed for a double homicide and racing to clear his name before his own detective wife catches up with him. It earned a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes and solid reviews for Washington’s performance — Roger Ebert praised the Florida setting as an asset to the film’s neo-noir atmosphere.
Filming took place across several Florida locations including Cortez — the historic fishing village just across the bridge from Anna Maria Island, which I cover in depth in my Ultimate Guide to the Historic Cortez Fishing Village — along with Casey Key, Boca Grande, and Miami.
Out of Time is a genuinely fun thriller — stylish, fast-paced, and well worth watching before or after a trip to the area.
A Longer Film History Than You Might Expect
These two films are the most notable, but Anna Maria Island’s relationship with Hollywood goes back even further. In 1921, actor Paul Gilmore purchased 40 acres at what is now Coquina Beach with the intent to build a film colony — Paul Gilmore’s Oriental Film City. Only one film was ever made there before the Florida land boom crashed and the project collapsed. It was the island’s first brush with Hollywood, and it set a precedent for the productions that would follow.
The island has also appeared in a Shinedown music video and has long attracted creative people drawn to its light, pace, and beauty.
Watch Them Before You Visit
Both films are worth watching with Anna Maria Island in mind — one for the nostalgia of seeing the island stand in for a South Sea paradise, and one for the fun of spotting Cortez on screen.
In the meantime, if you want to explore the island’s story beyond the screen, The History of Anna Maria Island is a good place to start.
Coastal Close
Anna Maria Island has been quietly extraordinary for a long time. Hollywood figured that out in 1947 and came back decades later to confirm it. The island hasn’t changed much since — which is exactly the point.
Until next time…
· izzy