The series tells the story of Andy (Bella Heathcote), who is on a journey to uncover the truth about her mother, Laura Oliver (Toni Collette) after she eliminated a shooter at a local diner in a very violent manner. Although it was mostly shot in Australia, the setting of the series is Georgia in the United States.
Australia Was Not The First Place Considered as Filming Location of Pieces Of Her
Australia was not the first place that was considered for the shooting of the series but everything changed with the arrival of COVID-19. Before it was moved to Australia, it was made known that the show was originally supposed to be shot in Vancouver, Canada.
According to the executive producer and director of the series, Netflix had made a decision to shut down production four months after preparations had started and only a few days before principal photography was to start.
Netflix was willing to call off shooting because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the production team came up with a fresh idea of having the production moved from the States to Australia. Many problems came with this including having to move American cars to Australia because of the differences in the driving sides and running against time.
Toni Collette’s hometown of Sydney ended up becoming one of the most important places where the series was shot. Various locations here were used including Sydney’s Olympic Park.
By the time it was done, the series became the first ever Netflix series to be shot in Australia.
Pieces of Her Filming Locations
The filming location of Netflix’s Pieces Of Her is mostly Australia’s east coast. The main locations are Sydney and New South Wales. It is here that the home of Laura Oliver was filmed on the waterfront of Cockrone Lagoon. That said, the home was greatly altered in the production.
In the North of Sydney, you will find Umina Beach which is one of the filming locations. Recognized as one of the most important scenes in the series, it is where Colette disarms the gunman in a cafe at Umina Beach inside a Cafe.
Other places that served as shooting locations in Australia are Blue Mountains and North Ryde. This location became the place where several shots were taken in the series.
One more place in New Wales that served for the filming of Pieces of Her is Killara. The Harry and Penelope Seidler House which is found in the suburb serves as the place where Laura Oliver is taken away by the US Marshals.
There is also some significant part of Pieces of Her that was shot in Georgia, United States. This includes Mallery Street in St. Simons Island where it was filmed in the summer of 2021.
The town of Brunswick also made the list thanks to a gas station that became part of the production. It was here that a scene featuring Andy on a bicycle was shot.
Jasper provided a hotel and bar for some more shooting of the Netflix original series. Atlanta also made the cut with Underground Atlanta which is in the Five Points neighborhood of Downtown Atlanta.
It is important to point out that even though some part of the work was filmed in the United States, the production place has been listed as Sydney, Australia.
List of all the Places Pieces of Her was filmed:
- Umina Beach, New South Wales, Australia
- Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia
- North Ryde, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Homebush, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- St. Simons Island, Georgia, USA
- Port Wentworth, Georgia, USA
- Cartersville, Georgia, USA
- Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Carrollton, Georgia, USA
- Jasper, Georgia, USA
Pieces of Her Was Set in Georgia
Although the series has found its way to being produced in Australia, one thing that remains is that it was originally set in Georgia, United States in Karin Slaughter’s work.
However, there is still more to the story. The main town where it was set is a fictitious place known as Belle Isle, a beach town near Savannah. The author of the book created the place because she got tired of people writing to her complaining about the roads of places she uses in real places.
According to Slaughter, she got tired of the complaints so she decided to start coming up with names a majority of the time. Belle Isle, however, is still inspired by a real place in Savannah, Georgia, which is why she indicated that anyone who knows Savannah would understand what she did with Pieces of Her.
When was Pieces of Her Released?
Pieces of Her was released on 4 March 2022, two years after the production began. The story of the Netflix series began even before August 2018 when Pieces of Her, the book, was published by Karin Slaughter. There were already talks of bringing the then-upcoming book to the screen because of its unique storyline.
Only a few months after it was published, Netflix gave the green light for the work to be made into an eight-episode series in 2019. It was clear from the start that it was going to be an all-female affair as apart from the two main characters being female, all the executive producers Lesli Linka Glatter, Charlotte Stoutd, and Bruna Papandrea are all women.
By February 2020, casting had already started and it was expected that production was going to start only a month later in March and be completed by July of the same year. However, this was not to be as it had to be delayed until early 2021 when it was made under the Red Shoes Pictures and Made Up Stories production companies. It was finally released on Netflix on March 4, 2022. Although it had mixed reviews, it still became an instant hit.
