Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1177962
S P I D E R - M A N : F A R F R O M H O M E | P E R S P E C T I V E 8 5 When I started on Spider-Man: Far From Home, I had just completed the latest X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix. A long ride after the film It, done the year before. Spider-Man was complicated given the number of undetermined European countries involved. The story of Peter Parker's school field trip was still being developed when I started scouting in Europe, and a catalogue of locations was built based on the availabilities of the venues, their situations, the actors' schedules and many other aspects. The production finally settled on five countries, which were cheated for a mere seven in total. (Berlin was shot in the UK and Austria was shot in the Czech Republic.) Based at Leavesden Studios just outside London, UK, the production also shot in the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain and the United States. After script changes, and disregarding sets that were discussed but never built, for every location used, I visited an average of four more options. One hundred forty-one sets later, I look back and realize how many discussions, false starts, hours designing and constructing sets, and travel were involved. Thirty flights across Europe and the Atlantic spread over eleven months working with five Art Department crews and many, many portions of sets scattered all over the map. The task was to keep it together. It was tricky to seamlessly combine some of them. The use of every trick in the book, including set dressing, graphics, props and construction to fool the eye was an extensive and well-coordinated effort between each department in each country! The juxtaposition of all these components was A. VENICE CANAL/RIALTO BRIDGE BACKLOT SET. WHITE MODEL BUILT BY MODEL MAKERS ALEX JAY HUTCHINGS AND THEOFANO PITISILLIDOU. IT WAS VERY INSTRUMENTAL FOR EVERY DEPARTMENT TO PREPARE THEIR LOGISTICS. B. VENICE CANAL/RIALTO BRIDGE AS BUILT ON THE BACKLOT TANK AT LEAVESDEN STUDIOS, LONDON. SET PHOTO. C. STATUE DETAIL FROM THE VENICE CANAL SET. ALL SCULPTURES AND ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS WERE SUPERVISED BY SCULPTURE H.O.D. EMMA HANSON. SET PHOTO. C