A & E

The snappy comic mystery "One for the Money," shot in Pittsburgh in 2010, seems to have taken the scenic route to get to theaters, but it's finally opening today.

The movie is based on Janet Evanovich's hit novel of the same name, starring Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum, a laid-off lingerie buyer in New Jersey who goes to work at her cousin's bail bonds business. Her first assignment involves finding an ex-cop from her own romantic past.

Other featured players in "One for the Money" include Jason O'Mara as the ex-flame, Joe Morelli; Daniel Sunjata as veteran bounty hunter Ranger; Debbie Reynolds as Stephanie's Grandma Mazur; and John Leguizamo.

Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books are strongly identified with their sharply drawn, distinctive setting -- the Chambersburg neighborhood of southern Trenton, N.J. In a curious bit of serendipity, Chambersburg's nickname is the 'Burg.

Pittsburgh needed only a touch of movie magic to portray the 'Burg. Location manager Shawn Boyachek, 44, of Friendship, found everything he needed, although it required going all over the region.

Boyachek, currently working on a television pilot for Sony in Honolulu, was happy to scout for locations on his home turf. He came to town four years ago to work on the miniseries "The Kill Point" for Lionsgate, and ended up buying a house in Friendship.

The perfect house for Stephanie's parents was right next to his own.

"We had very specific wants, in terms of identifying, say, her parents' neighborhood," Boyachek says. "The street over in Friendship, Pacific, that we used, is an amazing street. The folks who live there have been there for some time. It feels very established. It has all the nuances that we wanted for Stephanie Plum's parents to live on."

Working so close to home has both risks and rewards, he says.

"It is nice to be able to walk to work," Boyachek says. "That's the positive side. Then there's the added pressure of making sure everything works flawlessly, because they're all my neighbors. I see them every day."

One of the main reasons Pittsburgh is chosen to portray so many other places on film is the area's vast array of identities.

"There's a lot of diversity to the looks you can get in Pittsburgh, on an aesthetic level and a practical level," Boyachek says. "You can get all those looks in a very reasonable sort of radius. You can be over in Fox Chapel and be in pastures and horse country and gorgeous estates, and 20 minutes later, you can be Downtown or on Polish Hill or an Italian neighborhood. Everything is on the table and logistically viable within our metro area."

Even when it's not front-and-center in the story, finding the perfect location is always a priority.

One such location in "One for the Money" was the old Garden Theater on the North Side, the former porn theater and object of many stalled redevelopment projects.

"We utilized all of North Avenue there for about a block at the old Garden Theater, and helped renovate the marquee and get it lit up," Boyachek says. "We worked very closely with the URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) to get that piece of real estate, and it worked very well for us.

"The theater itself wasn't really part of the story. It was an older area of town in which our principal actor had to pull up to the curb, spot two girls from the neighborhood -- because they'll know what's going on -- and garner some information from them. We wanted something that felt urban, that had color, that lent a significant visual anchor point to the scene."

Another key location was the WQED building in Oakland.

"I think it's really unique in terms of the architecture you find in Pittsburgh," Boyachek says. "It's very monolithic, contemporary. It spoke very much to the character with its unique look, and I was so pleased to be able to put that one on the table for the character of Morelli.

"We also used an old YMCA building in East Liberty, next to the Presbyterian church up there. An amazing building -- very nondescript from the outside, but on the inside, cinematic."

Apparently, "One for the Money" wasn't alone in that assessment. The old YMCA building is being remodeled into upscale apartments.

Other recognizable locations in the movie include the former Braddock Hospital, now demolished, and Anthony Arms, a gun shop and shooting range in West Mifflin. Ambridge's main business district also had a role.

"We literally took almost three blocks of a street, painted every storefront and hung banners," Boyachek says. "It was a very large-scale conversion -- a very big piece of the picture, as far as the look."

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