page_title: Nashville (film)
section_title: Filming
hierarchical_section_title: Nashville (film) / Production / Filming
context_page_description: Nashville is a 1975 American satirical musical ensemble comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman. The film follows various people involved in the country and gospel music businesses in Nashville, Tennessee, over a five-day period, leading up to a gala concert for a populist outsider running for President on the Replacement Party ticket.
  Nashville is often noted for its scope. The film contains 24 main characters, an hour's worth of musical numbers, and multiple storylines. Its large ensemble cast includes David Arkin, Barbara Baxley, Ned Beatty, Karen Black, Ronee Blakley, Timothy Brown, Keith Carradine, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert DoQui, Shelley Duvall, Allen Garfield, Henry Gibson, Scott Glenn, Jeff Goldblum, Barbara Harris, David Hayward, Michael Murphy, Allan F. Nicholls, Dave Peel, Cristina Raines, Bert Remsen, Lily Tomlin, Gwen Welles, and Keenan Wynn.
  The screenplay for Nashville was written by Altman's frequent collaborator Joan Tewkesbury, based partly on her experiences as an outsider visiting the city and observing its local music industry.
context_section_description: The film was shot on location in Nashville in the summer of 1974 on a budget of $2.2 million. In late June, the cast began arriving in Nashville; Carradine and Raines traveled together from Los Angeles, while Beatty arrived and hitched a camper where he resided along with his wife through the duration of the shoot. Beatty recalled an early meeting in which Altman had the cast convene prior to filming: "Bob gets us together in this room. We're all ready to start the movie. And he said, 'Look, I want you to have fun with this. There is only one thing we have to remember. Every character in this movie loves one character. Every one of these characters loves Barbara Jean.' Well, within a short time Ronee Blakley was the only actor in the film who was universally disliked." Throughout the shoot, Altman and Blakley had several disputes regarding her character, and Blakley sometimes rewrote her scenes to Altman's dismay.
  Locations featured in the film include the Nashville International Airport, and the Exit/In, a Nashville club which screenwriter Tewkesbury had frequented during her trips there. The scene in which Carradine's character performs "I'm Easy" was shot at this club. Altman's log cabin-style house on the outskirts of Nashville was used as the home of Haven and Lady Pearl. The film's climactic assassination sequence, which takes places at the Parthenon, was originally intended to take place at the Ryman Auditorium. However, Altman was forced to change the locale when he was unable to secure access to the then-recently shuttered Ryman Auditorium. Walker, the climactic assassination, the political theme and various associated characters (such as Haven Hamilton) do not appear in the earliest versions of the script, and were integrated into the screenplay throughout filming.
  All of the musical scenes featured in the film are actual live concert footage.
  The hospital scenes centered on Barbara Jean were filmed in a local hospital that had been closed; one floor of it was refurbished for use in filming.
  Nearly all of the extras in the film were Nashville locals. Many of them were not actively participating in the film but simply happened to be at the location where the cast and crew were filming at the time. Recording session legend Lloyd Green ("Mr. Nashville Sound") can be seen playing pedal steel guitar in the opening studio scene. Jeff Newman, also known for the pedal steel, is sitting next to him playing a banjo.
caption: The Parthenon in Nashville, location of the climactic final scene
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