The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ
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demolished or updated, so we really had to dig deep to find everything. Nathan had these large bulletin boards in the art department where he posted reference photos and inspiration for each set we were creating. The script itself was so dense and contained so much jargon, I had to do a lot of my own research on what each building and piece of equipment was—so having access to those boards was really helpful for our scouts. We'd end up finding the locations by latching onto the key aspects of the set that we could recreate with a practical location— something that would catch the eye of the designer and get his creativity flowing. I'm happy to say that the only interiors that were built on stage were limited to the interior spacecraft. All of the other sets were achieved practically on location. One interesting tidbit from the design aspect: NASA has been portrayed through very sterile and clean environments in other films and television. Damien and Nathan both wanted to show a different side—a grittier aesthetic that they found to be truer to life after researching all of the file photos and footage from NASA. So instead of looking for these massive, sterile environments, they encouraged me to look for grimy, raw spaces that Nathan would clean up a bit to counteract some of the mythology around this particular setting in American history. LR: Any other project that would compare with the challenges of First Man? KH: While each project holds its own challenges, I can't think of another job that had some of these unique directives simply because we were matching a very specific milieu in our country's history. Many times the script seemed somewhat insurmountable. The only way I know how to get my job done is break it down into smaller pieces and look at how it all fits. Nathan Crowley told me, "None of us have made a movie about NASA before. We're all trying to figure it out." First Man was unique because I was constantly having to source images for all of the scripted events. It was hard to imagine what was being described since I didn't have a frame of reference for it. I found myself feeding these images to the scouts, trying to inspire them to think and look outside of the box. Sometimes that direction was a bit fluid because we didn't know exactly what we were going to find. Nathan told me a few times, "I don't know exactly what I'm looking for, but I'll know it when I see it"—so a lot of times I was just trying to anticipate his needs and look for specific elements that matched the research photos … something that Nathan could build onto and turn into an exact match. Sometimes this process was frustrating because the producers wanted to shoot in Georgia as much as possible to take advantage of the tax incentive. So I was asked to come up with seemingly impossible practical options for the launch pad and Swing Arm in Cape Canaveral (ultimately shot at a Georgia power plant in the middle of the state), a location that could double as Ellington Air Force Base in Texas (the Perry Fairgrounds), and the moon surface (the Vulcan Quarry in Stockbridge). We were not able to double the Vehicle Assembly Building in Cape Canaveral; we had to piece together a filming day with the actors in Cape Canaveral to accomplish those shots, but it was impressive to see how the locations we found in Georgia tied in relatively seamlessly with Cape Canaveral once the movie was cut together. Ultimately for this film (and for most others), my process was to just dig in, break everything down to achievable goals and directions for the scouts, and keep looking until we either exhausted the search or found something great. Of course, once everything was found, I had to figure out how to communicate the shots and needs of the crew to the location owners so we could get the company in there and actually film. But finding it was half the battle. LR: Discuss your role in the practical and authentic nature of Damien Chazelle's vision. KH: Initially, the producer and creatives were scratching their heads. Georgia is void of desert environments, so the initial thought was to create the lunar surface on the backlot at Tyler Perry Studios. Damien was not terribly excited about this prospect since the dirt here is red clay, and the site that we could use was only about 1-2 acres, surrounded by trees. It would have required green screen elements. The producers were concerned