Films set in California

1985 film directed by Robert Zemeckis

1991 film by James Cameron

Oppenheimer is a 2023 epic biographical thriller film written, co-produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. It follows the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II. Based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the film dramatizes Oppenheimer's studies, his direction of the Los Alamos Laboratory and his 1954 security hearing. Cillian Murphy stars as Oppenheimer, alongside Robert Downey Jr. as the United States Atomic Energy Commission member Lewis Strauss. The ensemble supporting cast includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, and Kenneth Branagh.

Die Hard is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. It stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, and Bonnie Bedelia, with Reginald VelJohnson, William Atherton, Paul Gleason, and Hart Bochner in supporting roles. Die Hard follows a New York City police detective, John McClane (Willis), who becomes entangled in a terrorist takeover of a Los Angeles skyscraper while visiting his estranged wife during a Christmas Eve party.

Psycho is a 1960 American horror film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay, written by Joseph Stefano, is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The film stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin and Martin Balsam. The plot centers on an encounter between on-the-run embezzler Marion Crane (Leigh), shy motel proprietor Norman Bates (Perkins) and his disturbed mother. A private investigator (Balsam), Marion's lover Sam Loomis (Gavin) and her sister Lila (Miles) investigate her disappearance.

2002 film by Steven Spielberg

2010 film directed by Jon Favreau

1998 film directed by Peter Weir

1989 film by Robert Zemeckis

1996 film directed by Roland Emmerich

1982 film directed by Steven Spielberg

2004 film directed by Martin Scorsese

1990 film by Robert Zemeckis

2003 film directed by Edward Zwick

2019 film directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck

2020 film directed by Jeff Fowler

Scream is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, and Drew Barrymore. Set in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, the plot follows high school student Sidney Prescott (Campbell) and her friends who, on the anniversary of her mother's murder, become the targets of a costumed serial killer.

2017 film directed by Denis Villeneuve

2007 film directed by Sean Penn

2022 film by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

2001 film by Steven Soderbergh

2003 film directed by John Singleton

There Will Be Blood is a 2007 American epic period drama film co-produced, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, loosely based on the 1927 novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O'Connor, Ciarán Hinds, and Dillon Freasier. The film follows silver miner-turned-oilman Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) as he embarks on a ruthless quest for wealth during the Californian oil boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

2006 film by Gabriele Muccino

2002 film directed by Stephen Daldry

1985 film by John Glen

1971 film directed by Don Siegel

1995 film directed by Martin Scorsese

2000 film directed by Steven Soderbergh

2018 5th Jurassic Park film directed by Juan Antonio Bayona

1969 film by Dennis Hopper

2006 film by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

2003 film by F. Gary Gray

Nomadland is a 2020 American drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Chloé Zhao. Based on the 2017 nonfiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, it stars Frances McDormand as a widow who leaves her life in Nevada to drift around the United States in her van. A number of real-life nomads appear as fictionalized versions of themselves, including Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells. David Strathairn also stars in a supporting role.

2021 film directed by Andy Serkis

1998 film by Terry Gilliam

1997 film directed by Raja Gosnell

One Battle After Another is a 2025 American action-comedy-thriller film written, directed, and produced by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is inspired by the 1990 novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. The film's ensemble cast is led by Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti. It follows a washed-up former revolutionary who is brought back into conflict when his enemy resurfaces after sixteen years.

1973 film directed by George Lucas

2005 film by James Mangold

2007 film directed by Rob Reiner

1982 film directed by Sylvester Stallone

1998 film directed by Martin Campbell

2018 film by Travis Knight

2019 film by James Mangold

2011 film directed by Wes Craven

2015 film directed by Brad Peyton

2011 film directed by Martin Campbell

1998 film directed by Nancy Meyers

1940 film by John Ford

2019 film directed by Michael Dougherty

1943 film by Alfred Hitchcock

2013 film directed by David Soren

Sideways is a 2004 American comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne and written by Jim Taylor and Payne. A film adaptation of Rex Pickett's 2004 novel, Sideways follows two men in their forties, Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti), a depressed teacher and unsuccessful writer, and Jack Cole (Thomas Haden Church), a past-his-prime actor, who take a week-long road trip to Santa Barbara County wine country to celebrate Jack's upcoming wedding. Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen also star as women they encounter during their trip.

2022 film directed by Baz Luhrmann

1989 film directed by William Shatner

2010 film directed by Karan Johar

2006 film directed by Sylvester Stallone

1955 film directed by Elia Kazan

2009 film directed by Peter Chelsom