Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/610353
38 P E R S P E C T I V E | N OV E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5 the setting. A multitude of hard, sharp surfaces and machines, hanging hooks and chains set the menacing atmosphere. A complex choreography of assassination attempts between the gangs is set up, cars and vans colliding with a breakaway façade of a Greek restaurant designed to collapse. Then there is a tense attempt at a parlay, which was filmed in the 1910s Pellicci's Café, Bethnal Green, one of the only real Kray hangouts that were used. A brutal gang fight in the Pig & Whistle was set in a Wapping pub—stripped out, repainted and wallpapered, and with the help of the Guinness archive in Dublin dressed with the correct beer taps for a seminal lesson in pouring a pint of Guinness. Then the twins really move into the West End: an office in wealthy Kensington, elegant, cool coloured, with tasteful art, where a rich club owner is introduced to the Krays and silently intimidated into signing over his business, Esmeralda's Barn. Above: The Pig & Whistle pub, where the peace discussion between the two sides quickly descends into a bloody mess, was filmed in Turner's Old Star in Wapping. Opposite page, clockwise from top: Mr. Conroy's Photoshop sketch of Esmeralda's Barn shows the layout of the club. A quick color study in Photoshop of Esmeralda's bar, also by Mr. Conroy. Thanks to the magic of visual effects, actor Tom Hardy played both Reggie and Ronny Kray. Graphic Designer Camise Oldfield's final version of Esmeralda's sign. A pencil sketch of Esmeralda's Barn, drawn by Mr. Conroy to work out construction details. Ron Kray parades through Esmeralda's Barn with a donkey on a tuxedo. This was a nightclub and casino, a place where aristocrats, artists and gangsters mixed, where the Krays really got their fingers into the establishment scene. It was built in a preserved South London dance hall, with a shimmering, smoky, glittering long bar, lots of orange-glazed private booths and rich coloured silks draping everything. Graphic Designer Camise Oldfield created a whole up-to-date period identity for the club, which was used everywhere, from the illuminated stage backdrop, to engravings on the casino chips. Camise and her assistant, Chloe Taylor, also created many of the wallpapers that were used through out the sets, either from fragments that I had collected over the years or from pattern books that Trevor Howsam Ltd (20th century props and wallpaper in Lincolnshire) had wisely hung on to. The meeting of the Philadelphia mob and the twins, perhaps then at the zenith of their power, was conceived of as being in the penthouse of the then- brand-new London Hilton, built as a set to utilise green screen and motion control. I wanted to express the feeling that Reggie, especially, was intoxicated by the possibilities of power, so he could overlook London, and the world, in this piece of modernist American design where everything seems perfect, calm and measured; but of course, it's all just sitting on the edge of chaos…and it's a long way down. VFX set extensions were essential to tell the story, and concept artist Elo Soode created many wonderful illustrations (she did them so quickly too). One seamless example of this was the exterior of Wandsworth Prison. The real place denied us permission at the last minute, but I remembered an old water treatment plant in South London that had a brutal look, so between visual effects, set dressing and "The film has caused many strong reactions in the UK, but one of my favourites is from a woman, a niece of one of the Firm, who said: 'The look of the film felt like birdsong, just out there in the city sky.' "