Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1184216
matching elevators, and build the War Room and small Studio N, it would be remarkably close. Once dressed to match the photos, my journalist friend (who'd been interviewed himself inside Studio N) literally stopped in his tracks when he walked onto the finished set. "They'll think you shot it in the real newsroom—except it doesn't exist anymore.." Chris Brown made it his mission as Art Director to keep things straight in terms of the architecture of the News Corp. Building, an international style skyscraper built in 1973. The studios on the 1st floor (Outnumbered and The Five) look out to the sidewalks of NYC. The rhythm of the limestone "piers" and windows not only define the design of the interior broadcast studios, but dictate the verticals as they rise up the building, creating the proportioned windows in the sets that would sit above. His studies of the News Corp. Building provided the literal foundation to match from the ground up. On the production's budget and A time frame, this rhythm and architectural style lent itself to the recycling of the window columns —everywhere. With persistent and pestering encouragement on my part, Chris and Karen Higgins (construction coordinator extraordinaire) figured out how to flip (with modification) the interior of these studio sets to the exterior version on location for the film's version of Fox News Plaza on 48th Street. Even though the NYC shoot was presently cut, I assumed it would happen eventually—for 2nd unit texture and establishing shots, so I wanted a location that would work seamlessly for the edit. Finding the Fox Plaza in Downtown LA (as well as Trump Tower) necessitated a walking tour with location manager Chris Baugh, and he was game to pace every single block with me looking for the right locations. It was a tall order. I insisted on avoiding all ficus trees, even though Jay (always the optimist) would reply, "There are trees in New York." If my reply was flippant ("If you want it to look like Cagney B A. FOX PLAZA FACADE. SKETCHUP MODEL BY CHRIS BROWN. B. FOX PLAZA FACADE. THE FACADE WAS REDUCED IN HEIGHT AND INTENDED TO GROW LATER THROUGH VISUAL EFFECTS EXTENSIONS. PRODUCTION STILL BY LIONSGATE/HILARY GAYLE. C. NEWS CORP. OFFICE BUILDING MODEL. THERE WAS VERY LITTLE DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE IN WHICH THIS NEWS CORP. MODEL WOULD APPEAR. JAY WANTED A SHIMMERING VOID OF THE MANHATTAN SKYLINE, AND CHRIS BROWN SUGGESTED USING THE BASE OUTNUMBERED SET AGAIN. PRODUCTION STILL BY LIONSGATE/HILARY GAYLE.