Filming took 52 days.[4] Locations for the motion picture included Bryson City, North Carolina; Blount County, Tennessee; Chicago; and Dillsboro, North Carolina.[5]
Although almost half of the film is set in rural Illinois, a large portion of the principal filming was actually shot in Jackson County, North Carolina in the Great Smoky Mountains.
The scene involving Kimble's prison transport bus and a freight train wreck was filmed along the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad just outside Dillsboro, North Carolina. Riders on that excursion railroad can still see the wreckage on the way out of the Dillsboro depot.[6]
The train crash cost $1 million to film. A real train, with its engine removed,[4] was used for the filming, which was done in a single take.[3] The wreck took several weeks to plan, and several test runs with a boxcar and a log car were conducted before the night of filming came.[7]
Scenes in the hospital after Kimble initially escapes were filmed at Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva, North Carolina. Cheoah Dam in Deals Gap was the location of the scene in which Kimble jumps from the dam. Deals Gap is also a popular and internationally famous destination for motorcycle and sports car enthusiasts, as it is located along a stretch of two-lane road known since 1981 as "The Dragon" or the "Tail of the Dragon".
The rest of the film was shot in Chicago, Illinois, including some of the dam scenes, which were filmed in the remains of the Chicago freight tunnels.
The city hall stair chase (where Kimble narrowly escapes being apprehended by Gerard) was indeed filmed in the corridors and lobby of Chicago City Hall. The character Sykes lived in the historic Pullman neighborhood of Chicago.
Harrison Ford uses the pay phone in the Pullman Pub, and then climbs a ladder and runs down the roofline of the historic rowhouses.[8] During the St. Patrick's Day Parade chase scene, Mayor Richard M. Daley and Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris are briefly shown as participants.[9]
Cinematographer Michael Chapman credits Andrew Davis for the film's distinctive use of Chicago, which drew much praise upon its release. "A lot of it really feels like Chicago, because it just has a native's eye to it. That's Andy's, not mine.
He knew where to look."[10] Chapman was actually hired a week into production after his predecessor was fired, and he claims he only took the job because the money was too good. Throughout the production, Chapman would go back and forth between documentary and theatrical methods, using handheld cameras and natural light for scenes like the first house raid and then adding unexpected light sources throughout the tunnel chase as the realistic absence of light was deemed unfeasible.[11]
Though his work was later recognized with an Academy Award nomination, Chapman said it was an unhappy experience as he never got along with Davis. "I said 'I hated being there' and 'I was the wrong guy' and cursed...but it all worked out, so you never know."[11]
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