Where Was East of Eden Filmed? New Zealand Stands In for a Bygone California

On Location peels back the curtain on some of your favorite films, television shows, and more. This time, we ask: where was East of Eden filmed?In his novel East of Eden, John Steinbeck opens the first chapter by describing the Salinas Valley and its mountains and streams, its high grasses and churning river floods that “tore” at the edges of farmland—a patch of early 20th century Northern California which has long since been lost to human development. After all, one of the story’s heroes is Adam Trask (Christopher Abbott), an early settler of the area whose presence, when multiplied, wrought towns and cities and roadways. This is not a world that you can recreate on a set, given how expansive the landscapes described were. So, when it came time to filming a new adaptation of the work for Netflix, which also stars Florence Pugh as the deeply complex Cathy Ames, where was it to happen?Florence Pugh, who plays Cathy Ames, in a scene with Mike Faist as Charles Trask. Geoffrey Short/NETFLIXThe answer turned out to be about as far from the US as one can get, on the South Island of New Zealand. Not exactly a novel filming location these days—the recent Heart of the Beast, and just about any movie by Kiwi Jane Campion has been shot there—one reason the place is so popular is that its vast, unspoiled terrain makes an easy stand-in for a bygone American West. Grant Major, the production designer for the series, says, “Generally, it's got mountains and snow and lakes and rivers and all that sort of stuff. We went there for The Lord of the Rings. I used the same farm that we used for East of Eden for The Power of the Dog.”Below, Major takes us through shooting the project on location in his home country and tells us where, exactly, East of Eden was filmed.Hoon Lee as Lee and Ciarán Hinds as Samuel Hamilton in the latest adaptation of East of Eden. KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIXThe Hawkdun Range, OtagoAs for what he was looking for in the Trask farm in California, Major says, “Well, it needs to be dry, because you know there's always a water problem on a farm until they dig wells and things like that.” Beyond that, there had to be a hint of majesty when the property first comes into view for Adam while he’s searching the Salinas for suitable farmland. Says Major, “We found a really good place in the foothills of the Hawkdun Range, which is a district in Otago like Salinas.” There was “nothing to paint out” here, meaning no special effects were needed to portray an untouched world’s never-ending sprawl. And those grasses: “It had, actually, about waist-high grass. You had to wade through it to get to the house.” Much like Steinbeck’s opener.Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames, walking alongside Christopher Abbott, who plays the role of Adam Trask. KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIXOamuruFor the town of Salinas, which you see when Adam and Cathy first arrive in California and then in later brothel scenes, the production used Oamaru, a small town in Otago with a population just below 15,000. It was perfect, Major says, because “it has a historic quarter that is miraculously preserved. It used to be a commercial center with docks, exporting stuff around the world, and the buildings are from the late 1800s, they’re all made of limestone.” That’s not to say there weren’t differences. The Salinas of yore would likely have been constructed largely of brick and wood, he says, but the lure of the place’s beauty and history made them willing to sacrifice a touch of accuracy. “It’s a really amazing place to work,” he says, “because the locals are really into it.” It also had the railways and a steam engine. “It had everything we were looking for, really,” says Major, “Other than the brothels.”A scene depicting Cathy Ames at the helm of a Salinas brothel. Geoffrey Short/NETFLIXAucklandAs for the brothels, Major and his team built bits of them on sets in Auckland. They also found a “big, old mansion, which was essentially tumbling down” in the capital that they could use not only for exteriors but also for those grand parlor scenes. Major was not surprised at the find: “Auckland's got one of the biggest collections of wooden Victorian houses in the world. So we're able to find these areas that have these beautiful bay villas and things like that.”