ADG Perspective

January-February 2019

Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1061165

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W H I T E B O Y R I C K | P E R S P E C T I V E 7 9 Designing a period film always brings great obstacles, even for one set just thirty years ago. Society is constantly evolving and everything from electronics, cars, furniture, signage to architecture itself are different than they were just five years ago. Creating true environments lacking in the fiction that our mode of storytelling automatically brings can be quite challenging. The task of White Boy Rick was to share the true story of an ill-prepared teenager who falls into a B dangerous game that proves to be too big for him to escape. Detroit in the late '70s and early '80s was a wild town where drug dealers and a corrupt government were free to run the community. The first step was choosing the best city in which to shoot. Detroit has changed so much, especially in the last five years, that it barely resembles the city it once was. The semi-abandoned neighborhoods of the 1980s are completely gone. The majority of shuttered factories have been dismantled and a rejuvenated economy has given downtown a new moment of renaissance. In order to find the intact look of urban neighborhoods from the era, it was necessary to look to a town that had neither riots, nor a strong migration to the suburbs. It also needed to be near the water, so where else than the other side of the lake? Cleveland proved to be the perfect location for most of this story. Of course, there would be a few days of shooting in Detroit, for the authenticity of city views (cleaning up with CGI what was built after the period), but the texture and general look were found in the eastern part of Cleveland. I loved the blue-collar community around the steel factories near the river, which reminded me of the big car companies in Detroit. Driving around, I had the feeling of this vivid color palette right before my eyes. The city still holds fantastic browns and A. CURRY'S GARAGE, MODEL RENDERING BY MICHAEL MANNE. B. CURRY'S GARAGE, SET PHOTO.

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