The east side of the port at Marseilles had not been touched in decades, making it a perfect location for a period film like Fanny. But the west side had been rebuilt after World War II. Originally, art director Rino Mondellini got permission from the mayor to put false fronts on the new buildings. When he started drilling holes in the sidewalk for the posts that would support the facades, however, the townspeople objected, and the mayor rescinded his permission. Mondellini called the eighteen holes he had already made "The most expensive golf course in the world" (from Movie Stars, Real People and Me).

Since Logan couldn't shoot the waterfront scenes from just one side, Mondellini found a nearby town, Cassis, with a port that was unchanged since the '30s. This required Logan to shoot from one angle in Marseilles, then re-take the scene from the reverse angle in Cassis. For scenes set in front of the bar, they had to do a third take on a studio set in Paris.

Logan had helicopter shots of the port taken for Fanny's opening and for the scenes of Marius sailing off to sea. When that footage proved to be too jerky, he had the scenes re-shot from a small airplane.

At one point Logan spotted a group of old women wearing ancient black dresses in Cassis and convinced them to be in the film as extras.

Logan had trouble finding a suitable ship for the Mailaisie, on which Marius sails from Marseilles. The only square-rigged sailing ships they could find were too large to get through Marseilles' harbor. After scouting throughout the Mediterranean they found the perfect ship in Palma, but had to agree to let its captain appear on camera before he would let them use it.

When shooting moved to a film studio in Paris, studio head Jack Warner got cold feet about his decision to cut the original musical's songs, and ordered Logan to shoot two of Panisse's numbers in case they decided to use them. Chevalier performed his first number perfectly, but when Logan tried cutting it into the film, he realized it wouldn't work. When he told Chevalier, the singer was relieved. He had wanted Fanny to be his first non-singing role in English.

As Fanny neared completion, art house cinemas began advertising screenings of the original films as the last chance for their fans to see them, since Warner Bros. had bought all the rights to the original films. This did little to endear the remake to critics who revered the originals.

by Frank Miller