Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest

Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest (1997)

Timing: 1:40 (100 min)

7/10
30

7.081/10
333

7.2/10
1300

• Due to the large number of locations involved, this became one of the most complex scripts in history in terms of its writing. It was necessary to find locations for road work, car chases, a place where helicopters could land and take off, a typical diner (found in California), a lecture hall, a train station (also in California), tracks for Amtrak trains where moving trains could be filmed. Universal Studios and Amtrak were forced to obtain permission for priority use of the railway tracks. Interior shots inside a bus were also required, and it was necessary to create scenery corresponding to the script for a street in the California town chosen for filming, and so on. Throughout all of this, the cast and crew had to travel to the set independently, as no one was accommodated in the nearby hotels.
• Filming in California took place, in particular, in a town called Piru. The buildings along its rather short main street had long been vacant and boarded up. The film's set decorator, Mary Dodson (1932-2016), independently created signs for the buildings (corresponding to their intended purpose, which was also fictional) – grocery stores, a souvenir shop, a barbershop, and a gas station. In addition, several other town buildings were used in the filming.
• The filming required cooperation with the company "Amtrak". The tracks began in the city's business center, at the "Union Pacific" railway station, and ran to Santa Clarita, with the film's action unfolding along the route from Piru to Santa Clarita. All the seats were removed from one car, and the car was converted into a dining car.