Garrison Keillor originally approached Altman with the idea of making a movie based on the characters of Lake Wobegon, the mythical Minnesota town where much of his storytelling is based. But after Altman and his wife, Kathryn, a longtime Keillor fan, attended a live taping of "A Prairie Home Companion" on one of its regular tours across the country, the 81-year-old Altman decided that he'd rather make a movie about the onstage drama and backstage dynamics surrounding the making of a radio show.

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FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this caption misspelled the name of Altman's wife as Katherine. The correct spelling is Kathryn.

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