LMGI COMPASS
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Winter 2020
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The two men had never worked together, but Gonchor says,
"We hit it off very quickly. We even socialized after spending
14 hours a day together in a car. Doug has a great personality.
He really enjoys his job, and that makes things easy for me. He
takes amazing photos. He knows what needs to be found. He
understands filmmaking and the functionality of what has to be
done. We'd review photos at the end of the day, and then he and
I would go back out to see what else they came up with.
HISTORIC BOSTON
While many cities seem to knock buildings down every 25 years,
this is not true in the Boston area. However, just because old
buildings are still standing doesn't mean filmmakers have easy
access to them. "Anytime you're filming in an historic building,
there are unique challenges," Dresser says. "One of the great
things we were able to do was film in Concord and the greater
Boston area. Not only is their history preserved but they have a
fondness for story and an appreciation of buildings. We filmed
in six or eight houses that are historically significant. They were
created in the time when the story was written. We also filmed
in a few pre-Revolutionary War locations (Minute Man National
Historic Park). You don't find many of those in Los Angeles."
THE ALCOTTS AND THE LAURENCES
One of the key plot points in Little Women deals with the relation-
ship between the Marches and their neighbor, Mr. Laurence, and
his grandson Laurie. The location team spent months looking
for two houses—the March house and the Laurence house—that
would work well together. "We scoured greater New England,"
Dresser says. "Finally, we found the Laurence house in Concord,
where the story takes place. Then we made the decision to build
the March house in the field opposite so that they were facing
each other. We tried to stay true to Orchard House."
Adds Gonchor, "You could see one house from the other,
which had not been done before in previous versions of the film.
I think Greta liked having that relationship between the two. It
was good for filming because a lot took place in the space in be-
tween the two houses. It was right to do that because that's how
the story really was told."
"The interiors of the Laurence home were shot on a sprawling
