Jason Priestley has already been tweeting about his time in Newfoundland, but the former Beverly Hills, 90210 star said St. John's has more than lived up to the high expectations he had.

Priestley is in town filming Away From Everywhere, a movie based on the award-winning novel written by Chad Pelley.

He is starring in the film alongside Shawn Doyle and Joanne Kelly, as the story follows two estranged brothers who reunite after one gets out of rehab.

For Priestley, the province's landscape serves as a character in the telling of the story.

"These characters are all from here and I think that this sort of topography in this sort of place is definitely a character in the piece, which is great that we were able to come here and actually take advantage of these landscapes and the beauty of this province," he said.

While he's in town filming, Priestley said he's been taking advantage of what down time he has to tour around to some spots that have quickly become favourites.

"Signal Hill is a very beautiful place, I loved hiking up there. Raymond's — phenomenal food at Raymond's, like off the charts good. The Rocket Bakery, I love the Rocket, The Club is fantastic — I love that place — and Iceberg beer and Quidi Vidi Brewery. And the Mallard Cottage, too, is unbelievable."

Priestley said he's heard a lot about the province while working on previous projects and called his time here "quite a discovery" of the St. John's area.

"When I worked in Halifax for as long as I did and in Nova Scotia doing Call Me Fitz we had a lot of Newfoundlanders working on that show with us and they would always talk about how great it is here and how beautiful it was here and what a vibrant scene it was here for food and music," Priestley said.

"So when I had the opportunity to come here I was very excited to get here and see it for myself and it didn't disappoint. St. John's is a wonderful, wonderful town full of really wonderful, warm, gracious kind people and it's been a real pleasure to be here."

Away From Everywhere is being directed by local filmmaker Justin Simms and, according to IMDB.com, is set for a 2015 release date.