New movie "Lookout" not in Kansas any more

By Borys Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Although it's set in Kansas City, Kan., "The Lookout" -- writer Scott Frank's directorial debut being released Friday by Miramax -- was filmed in Winnipeg, Canada, in January 2006. The determining factor, as you would expect, was economics.

"We couldn't shoot in Kansas, it was too expensive," Frank said.

Frank learned that "Capote" -- another movie set in the Sunflower State -- filmed in Winnipeg and "thought it looked so beautiful and I thought it looked just like Kansas that I thought I'd do the same thing."

But while the topography and geography of Winnipeg and its environs were a perfect match, the cold winter was a different story.

"A lot of it was night exteriors so it was a really difficult shoot," Frank said. "It was difficult because you're so cold that you're rushing yourself. And you have to make sure you're really getting what you want to get and not rushing just because you want to get inside somewhere warm. It slowed everything down."

But there was a plus side that he warmed up to. "One thing it did do is it bonded everybody, cast and crew. We were all in it together."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter