Where was Bones and All (2022) filmed?

Production

Development

One of the film's producers, Theresa Park, was on a trip to the London Book Fair in 2015, when she discovered Camille DeAngelis's Bones & All, and described it as one of the "most heartbreaking" novels she had read. She "optioned" the screen rights in 2016. Park only sent the book to one screenwriter, David Kajganich, as she thought he would like it based on his work on AMC's The Terror. The screenwriter found the story to be a "surprising blend of genres" and described it as "exciting". He and Park met with DeAngelis to know if she approved of him adapting it, as the story centered on a young woman, which she did.

Kajganich's first choice for director was Luca Guadagnino, as he trusted him due to their previous collaborations. Guadagnino was busy with other projects at the time, and declined. Kajganich decided to contact director Antonio Campos, with whom he had also worked in the past, and he boarded the project in 2019. The script was developed by Park and Kajganich over a period of five years. Neither of them was fond of the idea of having a film studio meddling with the project, so they started it independently. The first draft took around two and a half years, due to Kajganich's other commitments, he nevertheless appreciated the long process as it allowed him to make decisions that would have not been possible if the film had studio backing. The screenplay was finished over the COVID-19 lockdown but Campos had to drop out to work on another project, at that point Kajganich reached to Guadagnino again, who only read the script as a favor due to their friendship. Guadagnino joined the project a couple of weeks later, with the condition that actor Timothée Chalamet, with whom he had worked on Call Me by Your Name (2017), got on board as well.

After meeting with the director in Rome, Chalamet accepted the offer and joined as producer as well. Guadagnino and Chalamet wanted to keep the production independent so they sought out Italian financiers at the end of 2020. Guadagnino first contacted The Apartment's Lorenzo Mieli, with whom he had worked previously on HBO's We Are Who We Are, Mieli teamed with Memo's Francesco Melzi d'Eril and Marco Morabito, both frequent Guadagnino collaborators, to front the $20 million needed for the film. Guadagnino and Chalamet also contacted Call Me by Your Name producer and personal friend, Peter Spears to join them. Spears remarked on the uniqueness of the story as one of the reasons, to not look for studio involvement. Once they reached the budget, the North American distribution rights were bought by MGM in a negative pickup deal. The team including the producers, Guadagnino, Chalamet, and the rest of the actors, deferred their salaries until after the distribution rights were bought, which "really helped with investors," said Melzi d'Eril. Both Guadagnino and Kajganich credited Chalamet's involvement as the main reason the film got financed in the first place. The film was executive produced by Giovanni Corrado and Raffaella Viscardi; with investment coming from The Apartment, 3 Marys, Memo, Tenderstories, Adler, Elafood, Elafilm, Manila, Serfis and Wise.

On January 28, 2021, it was announced that Taylor Russell and Chalamet would star in the film, Filming began in May, by which time Mark Rylance, Michael Stuhlbarg, André Holland, Jessica Harper, Chloë Sevigny, Francesca Scorsese, and David Gordon Green had joined the cast. Shooting took place in Chillicothe, Ohio and Cincinnati, Ohio, which makes it Guadagnino's first film set and made in the United States. Production was affected by break-ins that occurred for some of the crew's cars, leading to a request being submitted to Cincinnati City Council in late June to provide $50,000 for increased security. While there was some criticism over the proposed use of taxpayer funds for a private enterprise, City Council ultimately passed a measure to grant the funds. Filming wrapped in July 2021.

Guadagnino said that Bones and All is "a very romantic story, about the impossibility of love and yet, the need for it. Even in extreme circumstances." He also said that Chalamet and Russell have "a gleaming power" and are able to "portray universal feelings".