The Mothman Prophesies

This article was written by James Wudarczyk. (Posted January 27, 2007.)

Hollywood often takes liberty with locations for its films, and “The Mothman Prophesies” was no exception. Inspired by John Keel’s real life account of his investigations into bizarre events in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in 1966 and 1967, the movie deals with a mysterious winged creature that appears to herald disasters. Shortly after the appearance of the weird creature, the character, portrayed by Richard Gere, loses his wife. Afterwards, he is obsessed with trying to determine the nature of the mysterious “Mothman.”

In some respects, the role played by the silver-haired screen idol, Richard Gere, was different from other characters he portrayed. Gere, who often portrays a-take-charge person, played a Washington Post reporter in “Mothman Prophesies,” who is strangely drawn to a small town rocked by bizarre happenings. At one point in the film, he suffered from a time lapse and had no idea how he traveled from Washington, D.C. to rural West Virginia. To make matters worse, few people believed Gere. The action of the science fiction film rises from the character’s emergence from a victim of circumstance to a determined investigator.

Richard S. Wright, an executive with Lakeshore Entertainment, an independent film company responsible for the movie, contended, “Once the draft was into its current state Richard Gere loved it and signed on. It’s a fictionalization of events that actually did happen in West Virginia some years back.” Wright also stated, “We considered shooting in Canada, which - quite honestly – is less expensive, but the look of Pittsburgh really matched what we were looking for in West Virginia. We basically scaled down the movie so we could shoot it here.”

Laura Linney also starred in the film. She portrayed the sheriff of the small town who was also investigating the bizarre occurrences. Besides Gere and Linney, the movie also starred Alan Bates, Will Patton, Lucinda Jenney, and Debra Messing.

Writing for the Post-Gazette, Barbara Vancheri identified a number of scenes used in the movie: “’Mothman,’ being directed by Mark Pellington, has been on the move since it came to southwestern Pennsylvania, which is doubling for West Virginia, Ohio and Washington, D.C. as anyone who drove through Squirrel Hill this past weekend (or tried to get home Monday) knows, crews were working there. Squirrel Hill, by the way, is portraying Georgetown. The movie also has been to St. Francis and Jefferson Hospitals – both of which, plus a set constructed for the film, will pose as a D.C. hospital. The Allegheny County Airport, where crews shot inside the terminal and on the tarmac, is doubling for a Columbus, Ohio, airport, and homes in Squirrel Hill, West Mifflin, Edgeworth and Bentleyville are starring, too. Much of the movie will be shot in Kittanning, Armstrong County, doubling for Point Pleasant, W. Va.”

According to an October 26, 2000 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the “Mothman Prophesies” was scheduled to start shooting in January of 2001. The film had considerable technical challenges since many of the wintery night scenes were shot in remote locations. However, Pellington chose southwestern Pennsylvania because he found the hilly terrain “very appealing.”