We didn’t want it to be extremely contemporary, but we also didn’t want to be too nostalgic. We were really going for a quintessential Main Street that is not rundown and is not gentrified, and probably a bit dated. If you go to the opposite end, you get small towns that have become richer, and therefore almost gentrified, or become touristy. A lot of what we would imagine small-town America is has vanished or has deteriorated to a point where Main Street is not as active, and maybe has a lot of shuttered businesses. Some were more rundown because nowadays, if you drive around America and try to find a perfect small town, it’s not actually that easy. In terms of the town itself, I pulled a bunch of references. That was something that was interesting in the process. We had scouted for that exact relationship. We kept it very true in terms of the space, which is how you get scenes like when you have Mildred at the swing set, and you literally see the billboards in the background. I think the main town was picked mostly based on the fact that we could find two building across the street on a main street, where you could really turn one into an advertising agency and turn one into a police station. To Martin, it was pretty specific that the places actually had to exist in that way, and we’re not ever going to cheat. We can always cheat and shoot one way, and then shoot the other way, and you’re in a different place.” But that wasn’t at all something we were entertaining. Often, those things are written into scripts, but if you’re used to the magic of filmmaking, often you suggest, “Okay, well they don’t actually have to connect. For example, the advertising office is across the street from the police station, and it is written that way in the script, so that there’s a lot of interaction, back and forth, on the main street. What was important in the script, and also in our process of trying to find our locations, is the physical proximity that certain sets within the town played. The script probably wasn’t super descriptive about the town. What did Martin McDonagh convey to you early on about the look for the fictional town at the heart of Three Billboards? How Martin McDonagh Turned Angry Advertising Into Festival Hit 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' - The Contenders London Twentieth Century Fox