Nathan Fillion

Renée Zellweger officially started work on the Gold Circle Films production Chilled in Miami in Winnipeg on Monday.

Zellweger, 38, was dressed for Miami weather in a blue blouse and short dark skirt, heating things up among the travellers who lucked into a glimpse of the Texas-born Oscar-winner on the second-floor departure level of the Richardson International Airport around noon.

The airport was pressed into service as Miami International Airport for the scene, explaining why a small army of extras was dressed in summer attire for the shot, with two male extras dressed as members of the Miami Police Department.

Earlier in the day, Zellweger shot scenes in the airport’s observation deck.

These scenes represented the end of a long day’s shoot for Zellweger, who started work at 1 a.m., filming scenes on an airplane near the airport.

The airport was a surprisingly controlled environment for the shoot, with the crew erecting makeshift curtains around a section of the second-floor departure level to give Zellweger and the film crew a measure of privacy. But Zellweger had already made her presence felt in the city. She was seen wandering through the Winnipeg Art Gallery Sunday afternoon to take in the last day of the Andy Warhol exhibit.

"There’s no impact on operations really," said Christine Alongi, Richardson International Airport director of communications.

"People have to go around a bit in the areas that are blocked off," she said, adding that the Robin Williams film The Big White and the Ben Kingsley movie You Kill Me both shot scenes at the airport with a minimum of inconvenience to travellers.

Chilled in Miami co-stars Harry Connick Jr., J.K. Simmons, Nathan Fillion (Firefly) and Frances Conroy, and is expected to shoot in Winnipeg for the next six weeks.

In the film, Zellweger plays Miami businesswoman Monica Scott, an ambitious executive banished to a small, frigid Minnesota town with the assignment of turning around a failing factory.