The New 'Roadhouse' Is Set in Florida, but Was It Actually Filmed There?

Taking over for Patrick Swayze, Jake Gyllenhaal is leading a new version of the 1989 film Roadhouse, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video on March 21, 2024. The film has received a mixed response from both critics and audiences, but many have also noticed the way it changes up the formula from the original film.

This time, Gyllenhaal's bouncer is a former UFC fighter, and the bar he has been hired to bounce at is in the Florida Keys. More specifically, the film takes place on an island called Glass Key. This setting led many to wonder whether the film was actually shot in Florida, and whether Glass Key is even a real place. Keep reading for all of the details.

Although the film is set in Florida, it was filmed almost completely in the Dominican Republic. "99 percent of the movie is filmed in the Dominican Republic," Florida Keys Film Commissioner Chad Newman told keysnews.com.

Filming took place primarily in Punta Cana and Santo Domingo, with additional filming in Las Vegas for scenes involving the UFC.

Filming in Florida has reportedly slowed down in recent years, in large part because state lawmakers repealed tax incentives that encouraged filming in the state in 2016.

Although most of the film was shot outside of Florida, the filmmakers made sure to include Fred the Tree, a local landmark familiar to everyone who has ever explored the Keys. The tree sprouted spontaneously, and has weathered lots of hurricanes to become the tree it is today.

Although the Florida Keys are a very real location, Glass Key isn't one of the 800 islands that make up the chain. Promotional material for the movie suggests that it's set at a "nondescript Key, south of Marathon."

To the film's credit, the movie does credibly suggest the Florida Keys, even though that isn't where it's actually set. The Dominican Republic is certainly a very similar part of the world, so it makes sense that the locations could pass for one another.

The film follows a former UFC fighter who takes what he thinks is going to be a sweet gig as a bouncer at a bar in the Florida Keys. When he arrives, though, he discovers that everything might not be as simple as it initially appears to be.

The film is based on a 1989 film of the same name that starred Patrick Swayze. Although the film did decent business in theaters, it ultimately found a much bigger audience on cable TV, where it became a staple for many young cinephiles from an early age.

This new version seeks to update some of the details of the original film, but the core, low-key premise very much remains in tact. The 2024 version also moved the setting down to Florida, which makes sense. After all, even people who love Florida acknowledge that lots of strange stuff goes down there.