Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1381679
The story began rather absurdly. I got an email in autumn 2018 from Bill Horberg, a creative producer from New York. Bill is an old friend—I met him some twenty years ago on a show called Heaven, by Tom Tykwer. In his email, he asked me to read a novel called The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis, which is about a young girl in the '60s in the U.S. who becomes a chess genius. Bill had wanted t trn te str int a film r man ears and ad now changed the idea to make it as a miniseries for eti t e direted Stt ran as in the process of writing the script. He told me that they were planning to produce the show in Europe, maybe in Prague, Berlin or wherever suitable. nn idea tgt and started t read te book. I immediately fell in love with the story and especially with Beth, the main character. She seemed to be so lost and lonely in the beginning and, over the course of the show, becomes an amazing yet strange kind of a superhero, just because of who she is. I liked that a lot. The whole story turned out to be one big journey as Beth started to travel to all these chess tournaments on er a t ame and mre imrtantl t find herself and her place in this world. I liked that a lot, too. What puzzled me was the fact that almost the whole story would take place in the U.S., with short tris t ei it aris and te grand finale in Moscow. So, I called Bill and asked him why the hell he wanted to come abroad to shoot here in re. e elained te ital mment in ities like Paris and Moscow would become crucial parts of the story, the production would need to come t re ana. e als anted t find t Berlin as Moscow A. MOSCOW HOTEL ENTRANCE, CONCEPT DRAWING BY THOMAS MÖHRING. B. MOSCOW HOTEL ENTRANCE, DRESSED LOCATION WITHOUT VFX EXTENSIONS SHOT AT KARL- MARX-ALLEE. SET PHOTO. C. MOSCOW CHESS TOURNAMENT, DRESSED LOCATION AT ALTES STADTHAUS, BÄRENSAAL. SET PHOTO. D. MOSCOW HOTEL ROOM, DRESSED SET ON STAGE AT ROBERT KOCH INSTITUT. SET PHOTO. D