The Girl In The River | 2026

Veteran criminologist Alan Kramer (Devon Sawa) and untested forensic profiler Amelia Pembrock (Maggie Grace) hunt a meticulous killer after the body of a woman is found in the Mississippi River – while the clock is ticking on her missing sister.

The film was made entirely in Mississippi and, apart from a few days in Jackson, the movie was filmed in the historic small town of Canton, 25 miles north of Jackson – a town familiar to audiences from films such as period memoir My Dog Skip, the Coen brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? and John Grisham legal drama A Time to Kill.

The film opens at a shooting range where Captain Graysmith (Tiffany Haddish) encourages Pembrock to confront her demons. The location is The Range, 112 Dees Drive in Madison, about 12 miles southwest of Canton.

On to Canton itself, where the elevator lobby where Kramer is first introduced is the underground parking garage beneath the Madison County Office Complex, 125 W North Street.

Graysmith’s offices are directly across the street, in a building that had formerly been a Fred’s Pharmacy. The filmmakers were granted access to the vacant, but brand new, space just before it officially became Madison County Circuit Clerk Office – Courthouse B, 229 N Union Street.

Despite his initial reluctance, Kramer eventually agrees to join Amelia on the case. Don’t let the establishing shot of the train station fool you: while the exterior is Union Station in Jackson, at 300 W Capitol Street, the interior is actually the old Canton Train Depot, 108 Depot Drive, the very same location where the characters soon arrive and are greeted on the platform, right outside.

Audiences may recognise this train depot from My Dog Skip, in the scene where the children wait to welcome home Dink (Luke Wilson) from the war, and the depot can be seen in the background.

The crime scene itself, where they meet Dr Ripley (Ralph Macchio) was filmed on the Mississippi side of the old Vicksburg Bridge, and the beach directly beneath it. The cantilever bridge, which links Vicksburg in Mississippi with Delta in Louisiana, no longer carries vehicular traffic but remains an active railroad bridge, which is why the train rolling past is entirely real, captured fortuitously by the filmmakers.

When Kramer and Amelia later visit the victims’ parents, the Otto's mansion (both interiors and exteriors) is a private residence located at 435 Country Club Road east of Canton.

The investigation moves indoors to Millsaps College Library, 1701 N State Street in Jackson, where Kramer and Amelia debate theories, before Kramer calls the family dentist to request a mould of the child’s teeth (also inside Millsaps College, which was previously featured in the opening of George Gallo’s 2023 The Ritual Killer, where Morgan Freeman is lecturing his students).

The detectives meet reporter Mike Bowers outside Canton's' Madison County Courthouse – famously seen during the political rally where Everett (George Clooney) recognises the trio of singing girls as his estranged daughters in O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

One clue leads to another, and the investigation soon points the team toward a new suspect – the town butcher. The exterior of his premises is actually Soul Set Barber & Beauty Salon, 257 W Peace Street.

This time though the interior is a block north, at the northwest corner of W Center Street and N Union Street. This was the diner set originally constructed for A Time to Kill, and remarkably, it has remained virtually untouched ever since.

The diner appears twice more later: once during Kramer’s chess game with one of the girls’ classmates, and again when Dr Ripley rushes inside to deliver shocking news to Amelia.

Visitors can tour the set through Canton’s Movie Museums (tickets available at the Canton Welcome Center, on the west side of the Square).

While visiting the Movie Museums, guests can also ask to tour “Canton’s police station” (featured throughout the movie), another preserved set located directly above the diner. The office was originally built as Sandra Bullock’s office in A Time to Kill.

Despite their interrogation of the butcher, however, the detectives come away empty-handed, and disagreements begin to emerge within the investigation itself.

Troubled Kramer’s incendiary nightmare was filmed outside the Shackleford House, 328 E Peace Street, a historic home which actually had burned down in 2020 while the property was undergoing renovation, and remains vacant.

Kramer wakes up in his hotel room, one of the original second-floor rooms of the historic 1869 Trolio Hotel, 137 N Union Street – which now houses the Canton Welcome Center. The ground floor of this hotel became the dining hall where Everett and Delmer (Tim Blake Nelson) met Big Dan Teague (John Goodman) in O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

A montage then carries us through both the Millsaps College Library and various corners of Canton, including a former bank now operating as Canton Municipal Utilities, 127 W Peace Street, as well as a BankPlus at 3366 N Liberty Street.

Look out for the brief shot of Kramer and Brewster descending a staircase beside a vintage Coca-Cola mural. If it looks familiar, it’s because the same mural appeared in My Dog Skip, when the building doubled as the 'Dixie Theatre'.

Amelia tracks down a former employee of the butcher, first calling her from a phone booth on the lower level of the Millsaps College Library. Despite the establishing shot, the interior of the restaurant is actually the private Elks Lodge 458 Club, 3346 N Liberty Street. Though difficult to recognise, you might have seen this room before as it served as prosecutor Kevin Spacey’s office overlooking the courthouse, in A Time to Kill.

The detectives later gather for a sombre wake inside the chapel of Breeland Funeral Home, 3304 S Liberty Street, Canton. The evening ends poorly, prompting Amelia to take matters into her own hands and break into the suspect’s home.

The apartment exterior is located at 3348 N Liberty Street, while the interior is, once again, a different section of Elks Lodge 458.

The break-in proves successful, and Amelia leaves with the evidence she was searching for. The quick shot of Amelia reeling inside the bathroom was filmed back at the second floor of the Trolio Hotel, directly next to the hotel room interiors featured earlier in the film.

In need of a drink, Kramer heads to 'Sam’s Last Call'. While the exterior mural was digitally created, the interior scenes were (again) filmed inside Elks Lodge 458 (you can catch a glimpse of the bar at the end of the restaurant scene).

Following shocking developments, the case is officially declared closed, and Graysmith holds a press conference outside the Madison County Courthouse (where Kramer and Amelia also share a bench conversation, in the following scene).

Kramer then goes to say goodbye to a familiar character, though events soon spiral and take a turn for the worse. The medical lab sequence was filmed inside an abandoned real-life crime lab adjacent to the Department of Public Safety Headquarters at 1900 E Woodrow Wilson Avenue in Jackson.

Meanwhile, Amelia realises the truth and rushes to warn Kramer, crossing the road at 159 W Peace Street, but it’s too late...

The killer reveals his true identity and carries the child’s body to his car, parked in the alleyway next to the Canton Multicultural Center and Museum, 218 W Center Street.

The final showdown unfolds just feet away, at the intersection of W Center Street and N Union Street. At that same corner, you can still spot the hanging 1940s-era traffic light originally created for My Dog Skip and – remarkably – still hanging there today.

Amelia makes one final stop at the cemetery, though the gravestone of (spoiler!) was created specifically for the movie. The sequence was filmed on the east side of Canton Cemetery, located near the intersection of Lyon Street and E Semmes Street.

* The Girl In The River is now available on all digital platforms.

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Many thanks to Brando Benetton and Location manager John Read for invaluable help with this section.

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