Philadelphia-native Richard Gere's newest movie, The Mothman Prophecies, was filmed just three hours west of State College in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas.

When Mothman's filmmakers realized that it would be impossible to shoot this Point Pleasant, West Virginia-based film in the small town in which the story originated, they found the setting they were looking for in western Pennsylvania.

The Mothman Prophecies tells the story of John Klein (Gere), a Washington Post reporter who leaves his job to investigate strange reports after the death of his wife (Debra Messing).

These reports from Point Pleasant include psychic visions (prophecies) and sightings of winged creatures (mothmen).

The film is based on true events as chronicled in John A. Keel's 1975 book of the same title.

"I was not interested in making a creature movie," said Director Mark Pellington in a press release. "I was not interested in making a sci-fi movie or even a supernatural movie. I describe it as a psychological mystery with naturally surreal overtones."

The town itself becomes a character in the film.

"The movie came to Pittsburgh largely for three reasons," executive producer Richard Wright said. "It had the terrain to pass for West Virginia; it had a good crew base and the necessary services that a film shoot requires; and it was near a small town with a bridge that could be shutdown for filming."

The small town Wright refers to is Kittanning in Armstrong County, which doubles as Point Pleasant.

During filming, townspeople from the real Point Pleasant visited Kittanning. "This looks exactly Point Pleasant," said Police Chief Dale Humphrey while observing the set.

"When I first saw the town I was delighted," Gere said in a press release. "These towns just haven't changed much in the last hundred years. You see old architecture, some of it not well kept up but a minimum of new things and it still has a downtown. The strip malls and the malls outside have not really taken over yet."

Production designer Richard Hoover said he had little trouble transforming Pennsylvania into West Virginia.

"It's in the United States, it's in a place that we know about, Pennsylvania, and making it West Virginia is actually pretty easy."

Pellington said the Point Pleasant that he wanted to recreate in Kittanning was not simply a small town. "This place feels strangely out of place but never obviously or overtly weird or spooky. It is simple and sad."

Besides Pittsburgh and Kittanning, Mothman was filmed in Bentleyville, Eighty Four, Ginger Hill, Oakdale, Shadyside and West Mifflin, Pa.

The Mothman Prophecies opened fourth at the box office this weekend, under Black Hawk Down, Snow Dogs and A Walk to Remember.