Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/610353
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 61 Chiwetel Ejiofor was the male lead. Location manager Ralph Coleman and I began two weeks of scouting, locking many of the locations. Then some casting opportunities arose, and once we discovered Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman had thrown their hats into the ring, we were more than willing to wait out an eight-week push. With the limited production, we were hunting for a combination production office, stage/warehouse/mill with potential corners that could be modified into some of the myriad sets required. The former Hostess Bakery factory in South Los Angeles looked to be just the ticket, but redevelopment commenced during the push, cutting up and changing the space. Once prep geared back up, we were on the hunt again. Two stages were needed. Production was cranking in Los Angeles, and we could only find one stage available in the zone, at Sunset Gower. The stage had been put on hold by production supervisor Christa Vausbinder before the push, just in case. Stage 12 at Sunset Gower has a basement underneath with a rehearsal hall that could potentially accommodate several sets. Quentin Tarantino's film, The Hateful Eight, had just completed several weeks of rehearsal in that space, and we became the beneficiaries of their leftover lumber—a windfall for a small movie. Billy and I wanted to feel the presence of Los Angeles in every shot. LA needed to be a strong character, and the tension of post 9/11 needed to be omnipresent. He and I combed through the script to marry scenes with the locations we had found. Billy rewrote several scenes to take advantage of interesting sites and specific geography. Much of the action was set in the Los Angeles District Attorney's offices. We needed private offices, a bullpen with adjacent private offices, elevators, lobbies, corridors, and all needed to be able to shift to clearly show the change in years as scenes jumped back-and-forth. Billy also decided to set the current-day sequences during the Christmas holidays, to help with the visual shift of eras, so we started the hunt for worn-down civic decorations. Top, left: Los Angeles District Attorney investigators' office set ground plan as constructed on Stage 14 at Sunset Gower Studios. Above, top to bottom: Hallway to the investigators' office under construction. Marble panels are book-matched laminate with an applied aged-wax finish developed by charge scenic painter Kay Kropp. Wood wall expanses were created with textured wallpaper for consistency in color and finish. The completed outer hallway and staircase set adjacent to the bullpen. Graphics reflecting Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office history were created by Beatriz Kerti.