Sumith Prasad
Spencer Dutton decides to return to the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, Montana, in Paramount+’s Western series ‘1923’ upon knowing about the death of his brother John Dutton Sr. and the murder attempt on his uncle Jacob Dutton. He leaves Africa with his fiancée on a tugboat, which crashes into a ghost ship midway through their journey. They eventually get saved by a cargo ship, on which they get married. In the seventh episode of the series, Spencer and Alexandra reach Italy as they continue their journey to Montana. Intrigued by the scenes set in the European country, we found out whether Italy is one of the filming locations of the series. Well, let us provide the answer! SPOILERS AHEAD.
1923 Was Not Filmed in Italy
According to creator Taylor Sheridan and executive producer David C. Glasser, the first season of the series was filmed in the United States, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, and Malta, with a stopover in Kabul. The scenes set in Italy seemingly were filmed in Malta, an island country in the Mediterranean Sea in Europe. It is understandable that the small country stands in for Italy since the southern part of the latter looks similar to Malta, especially since Malta is located only fifty miles south of the Italian region of Sicily, where the Italian scenes of the series are set.
The scenes set in Italy are not the only ones filmed in Malta. Spencer and Alexandra’s tugboat journey and their subsequent drowning were filmed in the island country as well. “All of that [tugboat scenes] was in Malta, which actually has one of the biggest film water tanks in the world. It was freezing. It was their winter time,” Julia Schlaepfer, who plays Alexandra, told Deadline. The actress thought that Malta’s weather would be similar to Italy’s before making the journey to film the scenes. “We all thought it was going to be warm because Malta sounds like Italy — very warm. We just shivered in the water tank the whole week, but it was a great bonding experience and so much fun,” Schlaepfer added.
The crew of ‘1923’ flew to Malta for filming because Sheridan was adamant about filming scenes either in the setting or regions close to the same. “If Taylor writes you are somewhere, you’re shooting there,” Brandon Sklenar, who plays Spencer, told Business Insider about the shooting process of the creator. Malta might have emerged as a cost-effective and suitable option for Sheridan, especially since the region resembles Southern Italy to ensure authenticity.
Over the years, Malta has emerged as an appealing filming location for big-scale productions. ‘The Promise,’ ‘The Blue Lagoon,’ ‘Troy,’ ‘Firebird,’ ‘Gladiator,’ ‘Murder on the Orient Express,’ etc. are some of the renowned productions filmed in Malta.
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