The Truth About Where ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ Takes Place and the Real Coastline That Doubled for Sowell Bay

‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ has finally arrived on Netflix, and viewers are falling hard for the quiet, melancholy world of an aging widow, a curmudgeonly giant Pacific octopus, and the small coastal town that quietly holds all of their secrets. Sally Field stars as Tova Sullivan in director Olivia Newman’s adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt’s bestselling debut novel, with the misty shoreline feeling like a character all its own.

That dreamy backdrop has fans frantically searching to figure out where the story is actually set and where the cameras really rolled. The answer is delightfully split between two places that happen to share the same coastal magic.

Inside The Fictional Sowell Bay Setting Of Shelby Van Pelt’s Story

Van Pelt’s novel unfolds in an invented town she calls Sowell Bay, a small coastal community tucked along Washington State’s Puget Sound. The book centers on Tova Sullivan, a seventy year old widow who works as a night cleaner at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, where the most unusual resident is Marcellus, a highly intelligent giant Pacific octopus.

The fictional town is the kind of place where the best restaurant is a deli attached to the area’s only grocery store, and everyone is up in everyone else’s business. Van Pelt herself grew up in Tacoma, Washington, far south of Seattle but also on Puget Sound, and she has spoken about how many ferry trips through the San Juan Islands and views of the Cascade Mountains shaped the world she put on the page.

The aquarium itself sits at the emotional center of everything. It is where Tova mourns, where Cameron Cassmore arrives in search of the father he never knew, and where Marcellus quietly works to solve the mystery of Erik, Tova’s son who vanished at sea decades ago.

Long before Netflix came calling, readers familiar with the Pacific Northwest had pegged the real life inspiration. Locals tend to identify Anacortes in Skagit County, Washington as the universally accepted real world stand in for the fictional Sowell Bay, even though the town as written belongs entirely to Van Pelt’s imagination.

Why Vancouver Doubled For The Pacific Northwest Filming Location

Despite the Washington setting, the production never actually crossed the border. ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ was primarily filmed in Vancouver, located in the Canadian province of British Columbia, with its scenic coastal landscapes standing in for the American shoreline just to the south.

Newman, who previously adapted ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’, began principal photography in Vancouver in March of last year, working from a screenplay she wrote with John Whittington. The geography made it an easy fit, since the same misty harbors, evergreen forests, and quiet inlets that define Puget Sound continue uninterrupted up into coastal British Columbia.

Beyond Vancouver itself, the crew also traveled to nearby communities for additional exteriors. The small residential community of Lions Bay, located between Vancouver and Squamish, served as one such location, and the city of Maple Ridge reportedly worked as another minor filming spot for the Newman directed film.

The Deep Cove Locations Behind Sowell Bay Aquarium

The single biggest substitute for Sowell Bay was Deep Cove, a picturesque neighborhood in North Vancouver. Much of the film focuses on Deep Cove, home to a picturesque marina and coastal beauty, which served as the setting for Sowell Bay. Scenes were shot along Gallant Avenue, with local storefronts transformed into locations such as Olympus Realty and Avery’s paddleboard shop.

For the aquarium where Marcellus lives, the production got clever. The exterior of the aquarium was built around the Deep Cove Yacht Club, and with the help of digital effects, it became the Sowell Bay Aquarium on screen.

Many interior shots of the aquarium, including some jellyfish tanks, were filmed at the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park, Canada’s largest public aquarium, which houses around sixty five thousand marine animals.

Crucially, the filmmakers had a real life muse for their cantankerous octopus star. While Marcellus is fictional, the filmmakers recorded footage of Agnetha, a resident giant Pacific octopus at the Vancouver Aquarium, for the movie. The reflective dock scenes were captured at the Deep Cove Government Dock, with some small props added to enhance the feel of the docks being more intimate and lived in.

Sally Field And The Coastline That Stole Her Heart

Field has not been shy about her love for the place where she filmed. Speaking about coastal Vancouver, she said the location was one of the characters of the story, and she added that while she loves New York, the city that has her heart is Vancouver. She even joked that she wished Canada would adopt her, calling the area a magnificent spot in the world.

The Pacific Northwest weather was not always so gentle though. Field opened up to Gold Derby about shooting a pivotal pier sequence in brutal conditions, recalling that it was pouring rain and she was completely soaked all the way through, with water dripping off her face and her glasses, while the Canadian crew rushed in between takes with blankets and hot water bottles.

That commitment radiates off the screen. The Pacific Northwest of ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ feels lonely and lived in and luminous all at once, exactly the atmosphere Van Pelt put on the page when she first wrote about a widow, an octopus, and a town that knew too much.

Now that you know the real Deep Cove is pulling double duty for Sowell Bay, would you be willing to make the trek up to North Vancouver to find Tova’s dock and Ethan’s storefront in person, or does the magic only work when Marcellus is in the tank.