Hollywood comes to Anchorage and makes a stop at the YMCA

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – It’s been kept under wraps for weeks, but an Anchorage producer confirmed that a Hollywood film is being shot in Alaska, with many of the featured locations being in and around Anchorage.

The producer (who asked to be kept anonymous) said he’s not at liberty to divulge more information, but he said there have been plenty of sightings of stars Dakota Fanning and Jake Johnson around town, including accounts coming from people who shot scenes with the pair.

“She was super, super nice,” said YMCA of Alaska Athletic Director Jim Young about meeting Fanning. “She came in, and I was like, ‘Hey, welcome to Alaska!’ She said, ‘I’m glad to be here, you have a beautiful state.’

“It was super, super cool to meet her,” Young said, “and then the main actor, Jake Johnson, I guess he’s in a lot of local sitcoms right now. He was super, super nice.”

Despite being in a scene with Johnson, Young said producers have told him very little about the movie itself.

“A lot of it is hush-hush stuff right now,” he said. “I don’t even know the name of the movie.”

What Young does know is that he was contacted several weeks ago about using the gym at the YMCA on Lake Otis to shoot a basketball scene for the movie.

Young also arranged for two of the YMCA’s girls’ teams to be players in the film.

Erin Zackery’s 10-year-old daughter, Makayla, was one of the featured athletes. Zackery said the girls and their parents were excited at the prospect of being in a movie, although none of them knew what to expect.

“They weren’t sure what the movie was even about,” she said. “They were just given instructions on, ‘Okay, now we want you guys to do this, and then we are going to start here.’”

She said the whole thing was a learning experience.

“One of the things that has come out of this experience is just having a lot more appreciation for what goes into making a movie,” Zackery said. “We spent over 10 hours both Saturday and Sunday filming what’s probably going to be, like, three minutes in the movie, maybe. And just learning about all the cameras and crew, all the people it took to make this work.”

The YMCA wasn’t the only place where movie types surfaced. REI would not confirm the store was the scene of filming, but several extras have said that’s where their scenes were shot. There are also photos of cast and crew at Arctic Roadrunner on Old Seward.

Young said he’s not surprised that many of those things are being kept secret for now, but he’s proud to share a little bit of his experience with the world.

“How often do you get a movie to be filmed in Alaska?” he said. “So, for us to be the location, and for us to be able to share our gym with a movie in Alaska, was phenomenal.”

See a spelling or grammatical error? Report it to [email protected]

Copyright 2025 KTUU. All rights reserved.