 Parker and Colesberry looked at locations near Jackson, Mississippi, where they set up production offices at a Holiday Inn hotel.They also visited Canton, Mississippi before travelling to Vaiden, Mississippi, where they scouted more than 200 courthouses that could be used for filming.Parker and Colesberry had difficulty finding a small town for the story setting before choosing LaFayette, Alabama to act as scenes set in the fictional town of Jessup County, Mississippi, with other scenes being shot in a number of locales in Mississippi.