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LMGI COMPASS
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Summer 2019
stage space. We did a song-and-dance sequence with Leo plus the
epilogue of the movie. We were in and out."
One big financial decision, in terms of location work, revolved
around the plan to build the Pix Theatre, a movie theater on Hol-
lywood Boulevard that closed in 1977. "It was later in the sched-
ule and wiggle room in our budget had diminished," Kacandes
explains. "Barbara had done multiple passes to make it more af-
fordable, but the estimate remained in the hundreds of thousands
of dollars. I said to Quentin, 'If we do this, it will limit other options
as we get to the end of the shoot.' Ten minutes later he said, 'We
don't need it. Let's drop that one.' Quentin is a true auteur director
who is not afraid to get into the bigger conversation about spend-
ing money where it will have the most impact for the film."
RETURN TO THE AGE
OF AQUARIUS
Under Mapel's guidance, the old
Aquarius Theater on Sunset Bou-
levard came back to life. "This is
where Hair was performed back in
the 1960s," he says. "In conjunction
with that show, they did a mural that covered the entire facade of
the building—a psychedelic depiction of the Age of Aquarius. The
art department recreated it for the film. We had Hollywood sign
painters going up on lifts for 2-3 weeks to paint this huge mural.
We did all that for what is essentially a drive-by. It takes up three
or four seconds of screen time, but shots like this really help es-
tablish the period and the world in which the story takes place."
Mapel (along with assistants Jacob Torres and Christina Beau-
mont) was also responsible for making sure the production
could film in and around Westwood Village. "The focus was on
historic movie theaters," he says, "but we changed several of the
storefronts to a '60s look ... including a Starbucks and Taco Bell.
We did similar work in a few areas of the San Fernando Valley, as
