How ‘News of the World’ Used One Movie Ranch to Create Three Different Texas Towns

A version of this story about “News of the World” appears in the Oscar Nominations Preview issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. In one of production designer David Crank’s first conversations with director Paul Greengrass during preproduction on “News of the World,” Greengrass told Crank that he intended to shoot the whole film in sequence. This was partly in consideration of then-11-year-old Helena Zengel, who co-stars opposite Tom Hanks in the post-Civil War Texas Western. But the director also intended to capture the weather-beaten feeling of a travelogue as the characters move through the landscape. “Paul’s background is in documentaries, and that still applies to his filmmaking today,” said Crank, whose art direction and production designer credits include “Knives Out,” “There Will Be Blood,” and “Lincoln.”