The production took the film crew to many of the area’s most recognizable locales, including the playful Dutch village of Solvang, the bustling town of Buellton and the artists community of Los Olivos, as well as Santa Maria, Lompoc, Santa Barbara and Goleta. The filmmakers also found themselves adding such personal favorite locations as the La Purisima Mission and the Hitching Post restaurant. “We essentially wrapped the script around the real locations that we discovered as we toured the area,” says production designer Jane Ann Stewart, who has worked with Payne on his previous films. “And part of what made it so fun is that this was virgin territory for us, so we were discovering it and traveling through it just like the characters.”
One of the film’s central locations was the whimsical Windmill Inn in Buellton, California, where cast and crew shot for almost three of the production's ten weeks. For Stewart, the challenge was bringing out the reality of such authentic, yet “touristy,” locations. “Alexander’s style is to find a perfect location, like the Windmill Inn, that’s almost there -- and then take that and tweak it here and there to work for the scene, layering in symbolic elements,” she explains.
For Payne, explains Papamichael, the technical side of filmmaking is always in service to just one thing: “For Alexander it’s always most important to capture the moment, and he wants us to be able to adapt to whatever he sees happening between the actors – he might change his mind about the lighting, the scenery or the shot at a moment’s notice. He moves very quickly, but he is able to because he knows exactly what he wants.”
In addition to his reputation for speed and flexibility, Payne has become renowned for creating a certain mood on his sets, one of unabashed artistic freedom, which came even more to the fore on SIDEWAYS. “I think SIDEWAYS is a bit looser and more fun than his previous films, because there was just such a buoyant mood on the set,” says Papamichael. “The beauty of the place, the food, the wine and the fun we were having is very much reflected in the look of the film, the performances and the spirit of the whole thing.”
The moody, sensual essence of the wine country is also reflected in composer Rolfe Kent’s jazz-inflected score for SIDEWAYS. Kent, who previously composed the distinctive music for Alexander Payne’s ABOUT SCHMIDT, ELECTION and CITIZEN RUTH, began talking with Payne about SIDEWAYS well before production. “I drove out to Santa Ynez while Alexander was preparing to shoot, and we sipped some local product and talked about ideas,” recalls Kent. “He told me he wanted this score to be jazz, and he gave me some Italian jazz scores to listen to from the 1960s.”
By the time the film was completed, Payne had grown so enamored of those old monaural scores, he asked Kent if it would be possible to record the film’s music in mono. “It was a great idea but it would have created problems for mixing the dialogue,” explains Kent. “Instead, I suggested we record in stereo but using vintage recording techniques – which we ended up doing, courtesy of scoring mixer Greg Townley.”
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