film A Quiet Place in the Country. Casting Early in the writing period, Wilder showed Jack Lemmon some of the completed script and he agreed to play Wendell Armbruster Jr. "Knowing pretty early on Jack was going to be in our film made it more comfortable writing his dialogue," said Diamond, who preferred to tailor a screenplay to a specific actor. Wilder was a fan of Mills from the television sitcom Nanny and the Professor. He disliked the series but enjoyed watching the show to see her, as he considered her a good actress with a lot of appeal. He contacted her and personally offered her the role of Pamela Piggott. "I loved Billy Wilder just calling me and asking me to be in his film," the actress recalled, "no lawyer or agent, his voice, not asking for an audition or a screen test." Wilder told her the role required her to gain 25 pounds, and Mills agreed. She also agreed to a nude scene, although Diamond was opposed to including one in the film. "I think nudity hurts laughs," he stated. "I mean, if you're watching somebody's boobs, you're not listening to the dialogue." Filming The film is set on the island of Ischia, where some of the exterior scenes were shot, including a brief scene outside the morgue (the interior of which, as with all the interior sets, was designed by Italian production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti); at and around the port of Ischia, where Lemmon and Mills visit the island; and on a small rock jutting out of the water just off the shore of Ischia, where the nudity scenes were shot. However, most of the exteriors were filmed in Sorrento, including the exterior of Lemmon's hotel; on Capri, notably the hilltop heliport overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea; and along the Amalfi Coast. Interiors were filmed on Scarfiotti's sets (including the interior lobby and hotel rooms) at Safa Palatino Studios in Rome following location shooting during the summer of 1972. Principal photography was completed on schedule and $100,000 under budget. Wilder reported that he was disappointed with the film. "Maybe we went overboard with some of the comic relief, because 'Avanti!' is not a comedy," he stated. "If this film had worked the way we wanted it to, it would have had more of the quality of 'The Apartment.' I always feel sorry for the disappointment of the actors,