Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/765720
McCullough home, dating from a time when homes in this area needed to provide their own defense against Indians and bandits." That's exactly what it was. Although perfect, the Garcia house location had one peculiar feature. It's difficult to describe. To say that it is a very large, round, artificial concrete grotto doesn't really do it justice. Because the structure was right in front of the house, it could not be ignored, I had to do something with it. I initially thought it could be covered with vines, but then I decided to top it with a bell and a cross and make it into a chapel. The owner of the house liked it so much he wanted to keep it as a permanent fixture on his grotto. I was certainly proud of the other sets, as well: the saloon, the hunting tent, the 1915 gay nightclub to name a few. The hunting tent is a good example of how the demands of episodic television require you to make lemonade out of lemons. The script describes "a large revival-style tent, a lavish affair. The grass has been covered with expensive carpets. A full bar has been set up. Waiters serve rich guys at tables. A buffet has all kinds of food." I imagined this tent looking out over some magnificent vista but, of course, because the production needed to shoot a double- up day where there are two units shooting on different stages simultaneously, the interior tent scenes had to be shot on stage. The inside of a white canvas tent is generally not an interesting background visually, but originally, in an earlier draft of the script, these scenes had been set inside a hunting lodge. So I combined the two concepts and built rough cedar plank walls inside the tent and added lots of Texas taxidermy. As good as these other sets were, getting the big three—the McCullough Ranch, the town of McCullough Springs and the Garcia Ranch—done, with limited time and money, was the real challenge on the show. When I saw the dailies from the Garcia house, which was the last of them to be shot, I breathed a great sigh of relief. It was done. So The Son is a story about Texas. There are great images to put on film in Texas, it has a rich history, there are lots of moving stories to be told, but most of all, I cannot say how proud I am of the Texas crew for all the excellent work they did. If anyone wants to shoot a movie in Texas, they don't need to import people to do the job—they're here. ADG Clockwise from top right: The Garcia hacienda on location showing the grotto. The Garcia hacienda location was just perfect, but it was a two-hour drive away which limited the amount to time that could be spent there. The interior of Gilbert's Saloon. Rough cedar plank walls inside the tent and lots of Texas taxidermy made a plain white tent on stage a more interesting set.