Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Benjamin Caron, Netflix’s ‘Night Always Comes’ tracks its protagonist, Lynette, as she goes through hell and back over the course of one night. With the threat of eviction looming over her shoulder, she is given a deadline to procure $25,000, or the place that she, along with her mother Doreen and brother Kenny, has called home will leave her grasp forever. Already struggling to make ends meet, the protagonist gives in to increasingly dangerous ways to get what she needs, and in the process, slowly begins to lose herself to the darkness of the night. Adapted from the eponymous novel by Willy Vlautin, the story explores how a city can become a character of its own, toying with every element at hand to create a tragedy steeped in contemporary anxieties. As such, how the setting is captured on film becomes one of the core pillars on which the narrative stands.
Night Always Comes Filming Locations
Filming for ‘Night Always Comes’ largely took place in Portland, Oregon, with some portions of the film also being taped in the nearby city of Gresham. Principal photography took place around the spring of 2024, with filming formally beginning on May 14, 2024, and concluding on July 2 of the same year. The movie was largely shot in popular locations, with the local police force assisting the crew in lensing sequences at many of Portland’s bridges. According to make-up artist Gordon Tribble, a whole month was dedicated purely to nighttime shooting, showcasing the uniqueness of the production.
Portland, Oregon
The bulk of ‘Night Always Comes’ was filmed in Portland, the largest city in Oregon. Although the city is renowned as a haven for nature lovers, with its towering mountains and urban green spaces, the creators directed its attention to how Stumptown looks at night. As such, the majority of the film covers the city’s streets, bridges, and the surrounding location as they appear in the dark, capturing its grittiness to the fullest extent. A number of real-life fixtures were featured to effectively capture the aesthetics and feel of the place, such as Really Good Stuff, a boutique on 3629 Southeast Division Street. The crew’s decision to tape the city in granular detail was likely to effectively convey how a setting can gradually inform a character’s psyche.
Lynette’s nighttime odyssey is punctuated by a number of restaurants and bars that she encounters over the course of the story. For this, the crew largely decided to stick to real-life establishments in Portland, with one of the stand-outs being My Father’s Place, located on 523 South East Grand Avenue. Additionally, Stan’s Food and Deli, a popular delicatessen in the city, was also featured as the backdrop to an intense sequence. Given that the protagonist works part-time as a server in a fictional bar named Ritz, additional care was needed to pick the perfect location to match the intense energy of a workplace, and Belmont Inn, situated on 3357 South East Belmont Street, served as a match. The decision to ground the setting in reality as much as possible serves as a springboard for the actors to seamlessly insert themselves into their respective roles.
Another core component of the lensing process for ‘Night Always Comes’ was the exterior shots of Lynette traversing the length of the city in search of ways to make money. A large part of that drive involves Portland’s main roads and bridges, which complicated the filming process. Several iconic bridges, such as the Morrison, Broadway, Burnside, and Hawthorne Bridges, were all taped to bring an extra dose of realism to the narrative. Reportedly, the Portland Police Bureau stepped in to ensure that traffic flowed smoothly during the filming process, with flaggers being utilized to redirect the vehicles whenever a delay was expected. This reflects the creator’s commitment to filming as much of the movie as possible practically, as the journey is the story in ‘Night Always Comes.’
Gresham, Oregon
Filming also took place in the city of Gresham, where Mt. Hood Community College, located on 26000 Southeast Stark Street, doubled as the school attended by Lynette’s older brother, Kenny, who is developmentally disabled. The crew lensed both exterior and interior shots in the college, with actor Vanessa Kirby also interacting with the students on site. Alongside ‘Night Always Comes,’ the college can also be found in television movies and shows such as ‘American Vandal,’ ‘Fade to Black,’ and ‘Praying Mantis.’
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