Is Buell, Pennsylvania a real place?
Before we get started on some of the locations from the movie, we should first establish whether or not Buell, Pennsylvania is a real place.
It turns out that while the town of Buell itself is not a real place, it takes place in the very real Fayette County, located in Western Pennsylvania. An article in the Pittsburgh City Paper says that the county has the nickname “Fayette-nam” because of its reputation of being gutted by declining industry and manufacturing.
They go on to say that the author of the novel, Phillip Meyer, actually grew up in Baltimore, but felt that Fayette County was a more appropriate location for the story he was looking to tell. Now that we know a bit about the inspiration for Buell, we can move on to answering the question: where was “American Rust” filmed?
Did they actually film “American Rust” in Pennsylvania?
Just because the story takes place in the Rust Belt doesn’t necessarily mean that the production filmed in Western Pennsylvania. Many television shows and movies find different locations that better suit the look of what they need, which often means shooting somewhere other than the actual place the story is set.
In the case of “American Rust,” authenticity was paramount, and the filming of the show took place in and around Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, according to Pittsburgh’s Action News. While it is not exactly filmed in Fayette County, the area where the production chose is very similar and had better filming infrastructure.
We now know that the show was shot around Pittsburgh, but there is still more to cover when answering the question “Where was ‘American Rust’ filmed?”
Notable “American Rust” Pittsburgh filming locations
Before we start branching out to the rest of Allegheny County, we are first going to check out where filming took place in Pittsburgh. An article in The Cinemaholic tells us that the base of operations for filming was the 31st Street Studios, which had ample space for many of the interior sets.
Another notable Pittsburgh location that was used is the Carrie Blast Furnaces. The space was formerly an operational steel mill, but over time has been renovated and is now an arts space and a National Heritage Landmark.
These are especially notable, according to the website for Carrie Blast Furnaces: “Since the collapse of the region’s steel industry in the 1970s and 1980s, these are the only non-operative blast furnaces in the region that remain.”
Next, check out the 10 great movies filmed in Pittsburgh for more production inspiration!
