Papillon (1973) – Filming Locations
Crime / Drama · Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner · Starring Steve McQueen
A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
Where was Papillon filmed?
- Honolulu, United States, Honolulu – Prison escape sequences and scenes of Papillon preparing his escape from imprisonment. Hawaii stood in for the penal colony setting and provided realistic tropical prison landscapes for the exterior shots
- Paris, France, Paris – Opening scenes establishing Papillon's arrest and trial in Paris. Authentic Parisian locations were used for the opening sequences that establish the protagonist's background before his transportation to the penal colony
- Butner, United States, Butner – Prison interior scenes and confinement sequences. An actual federal prison facility in North Carolina was used for authentic depictions of prison life and interior confinement scenes
- Guadalupe, France, Guadalupe – Sequences set in the French penal colony showing prison conditions and Papillon's life as a prisoner. The Caribbean island of Guadeloupe doubled for the notorious French penal colony where much of the film's action takes place