Trivia

After the movie came out, many people went in search of the village with the red phone booth. It can be found in the village of Pennan on the Moray Coast, Scotland.

The asteroid "7345 Happer" is named after actor Burt Lancaster's Happer character in this movie who is keen on astronomy. It also mirrored Lancaster's wish to have a comet named after him.

First film score composed by Mark Knopfler. Knopfler provided not only the main score, mostly consisting of classical guitar (which would become his cinematic trademark for The Princess Bride (1987)), but filled the fast-fingered country guitar licks during the KNOX radio station announcement while Mac is driving in the film's opening. The film's soundtrack scored by former Dire Straits member, Mark Knopfler, sold better than the movie itself helped launch Knopfler's career as a film composer. He has since composed the movie scores for such films as Cal (1984), The Princess Bride (1987), and Wag the Dog (1997).

Writer-director Bill Forsyth said in "Local Hero: The Making of the Film" (1983) by Alan Hunter and Mark Astaire: "I saw it along the lines of a Scottish Beverly Hillbillies -- what would happen to a small community when it suddenly became immensely rich -- that was the germ of the idea and the story built itself from there. It seemed to contain a similar theme to Brigadoon (1954), which also involved some Americans coming over to Scotland, becoming part of a small community, being changed by the experience and affecting the place in their own way. I feel close in spirit to the Powell and Pressburger feeling, the idea of trying to present a cosmic viewpoint to people, but through the most ordinary things. And because both this film and I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) are set in Scotland, I've felt from the beginning that we're walking the same... treading the same water."

Local Hero (1983) was filmed in several locations around Scotland. Most of the Ferness village scenes were filmed in Pennan on the Aberdeenshire coast, and most of the beach scenes at Morar and Arisaig on the west coast. Specific locations were---SCOTLAND: Moidart, Highland, Scotland, UK (road scenes for drive to Ferness - A861 descent to Loch Moidart and descent to Inversanda Bay); Loch Tarff, Fort Augustus, Highland, Scotland (fog and rabbit scenes); Lochailort, Highland, Scotland, UK (Ferness hotel, internal shots); Highland, Scotland, UK (Ferness, beach scenes, including external scene of Ferness church, using a mock-up of Our Lady of the Braes church--specially constructed beside the beach); The Ship Inn, Banff, Scotland, UK (interior bar scenes); Hilton, Highland, Scotland, UK (Ferness, village hall ceilidh); Our Lady of the Braes Roman Catholic Church, Polnish, Highland, Scotland, UK (Ferness, village church, internal scenes); Pennan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK (Ferness, includes red phone box); and Pole of Itlaw, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK (Ferness, village shop).