was eventually persuaded
to open his newly bought
doors to a few hundred
English and Belgian crew.
As is our lot, as I scouted
early on Miss Peregrine
and left to join the Star
Wars location team, I
didn't get a credit on the
film despite finding the
perfect house. I remain
resolutely not bitter at all.
AT ALL. Honest.
When you're tired of
scouting London, you get
to scout the world. When
you're tired of that, you
scout for galaxies far, far
away. To finally work on
the Star Wars films in
any capacity was a dream
come true but to work as
a location scout was even
better. Locations were a
strong part of the original
trilogy with Tunisia,
Norway and California
creating such vivid
planets that continue to
spark the imagination.
So to discover new
worlds for the current
run of films was a great
pleasure. After many
months scouting Mexico,
Thailand and Vietnam,
we finally settled in the
Maldives for our tropical
planet—equal parts
stunning and impractical
for a very large science
fiction film crew. We
filmed on islands no
bigger than half a football
pitch with an armada of
40 boats of varying sizes.
It was an extraordinary
experience to scout the
islands and even more
so to be part of the
team that facilitated the
impossible—led by Mark
Somner in locations
and Karl Caffrey in
production.
My legacy this time was
to construct a path across
our main island and name
it the O'Reilly Highway—
adding to generations of
Irish road builders who
turn pink in the sun. The
legacy for the film is an
otherworldly location that
lit up the screen. Adding
Jordan and Iceland
(and Canary Wharf
Underground Station in
London) to the roster
of countries made the
palette of Rogue One quite
special. It was a pleasure
to work with production
designers Neil Lamont
and Doug Chiang to help
create this Star Wars story.
Apart from traveling around
the world on Rogue One,
the most satisfying part
of the journey was the
friends made along the
way—Martin Corkidi in
Mexico, who helped me
discover the quickest way
to recover from a hangover
in Cancun; Suriyun and
Somchai Santitharangkun
in Thailand; Ha Phong
Nguyen, Nguyen K'Linh
and Tina in Vietnam;
and Ibrahim Shakeeb
and Mohammed Kudu
in the Maldives. Meeting
likeminds remains the
privilege of this very
strange and wonderful job.
Mark Somner and I share
our LMGI Award nomination
for the film with all of these
great people, as well as
all of the hard-working
location professionals who
were part of the team in
London.
I've been privileged to work
with some of my heroes:
Tim Burton, Chris Nolan
and Michael Mann. The
common denominator
amongst them, apart
Liege Station, Guardians of the Galaxy.
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