LMGI COMPASS
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Winter 2020
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37
Boston is very much a village-city. It has a well-
networked connection to city government and very
active neighborhood associations. Filming in Boston
requires a good bit of engagement with the management
of city departments, as well as thorough outreach ahead
of time to the various communities.
On the creative side, that uniqueness Boston has can
be its own challenge. We shot nearly all of Kathryn
Bigelow's Detroit here, which is a true-story drama
centered around the Detroit riots of the late '60s. There
is almost nothing in metro Boston that looks even
remotely like '60s Detroit! In the end, I think we pulled
it off, but it was a huge challenge having to avoid what
makes Boston unique.
Stevie: WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITES OR MOST MEMORABLE FILMING
EXPERIENCES?
GC:
Jack Kerouac's book On the Road always held a
pretty special place with me. I've had a lot of great
times throughout my career, but being a part of making
On the Road with Walter Salles is one of the most
memorable. Months of scouting the country for it—that
alone was amazing! One point during the filming, we
needed to move from Mexico to Arizona due to the
violence and unrest going on at the time. One scene—
which I loved reading as a teenager, centered around
a Native American ruin that we now needed to find as
we couldn't move our art & construction departments
in time. We quickly learned the only Native ruins in
Arizona are petroglyphs. Given our limitations, I had to
find a location where we could show up with a camera
and convey the scene's meaning. I remember reading
that scene as a kid, and now I was helping shape it on
the screen for a mass audience! Amazing!
Stevie: DOES MASSACHUSETTS OR THE CITY OF BOSTON OFFER
ANY INCENTIVES TO HOLLYWOOD FILMMAKERS?
GC:
There are no filming incentives for Boston but
Massachusetts has one of the most competitive tax
incentives in the country at 25 percent provided that
half the filming days' film and expenses take place in
Massachusetts.
Stevie: WHAT ARE YOUR TOOLS OF THE TRADE?
GC:
My favorite camera to carry is a Sony RX-100 Mark III.
