Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1260764
(Israel), Carlos Osorio (Puerto Rico), Donal Woods (Morocco) and Ricky Eyres (Morocco and Budapest). With two cavernous stages literally thundering with construction, the spectacular Atlas range was scouted for spots that would play a mountain- side perch for the COP. Aside from the Art Department's logistic challenges, scheduling principal photography for the mountain sequences became a never-ending enigma. Ultimately, the inability to import US military hardware (Black Hawks and such) forced a decision to move a signifi cant amount of work back to the States. I am very thankful for Jerry Fleming, who joined the team in Morocco, covering for me while I turned my attention back home. Jerry did a great job of "learning the music" and joining in. And he led the charge for the multi-location Atlas block that remained in Morocco. While that was going on, I was climbing mountains in New Mexico and Los Angeles. Ultimately, Hollywood prevailed due to another large build (the COP) and mountaintop crash sites that required an ample crew base and technical support to accomplish. As a non-fl ying - made its way from the Gulf Coast to Los Angeles, making a stop in Albuuerue to get an upfi t and a paint job, I fl ew back to Casablanca to draw concepts for the COP and to make plans for the crash sites. I arrived to fi nd a mysteriously unfamiliar Casablanca. Ramadan was underway and the shooting crew was scurrying about the Atlas Major. After a few weeks of contemplation, the production settled on Rancho Deluxe in Santa Clarita for the COP build, and the top of Bear Mountain in Big Bear for the Chalk Two Crash site. It usually takes about eight hard-fought months to prep and shoot a season of Homeland. And it was at that mark when the production revved up in Los Angeles with three-ish episodes left to shoot. In previous seasons, we could usually mount an additional unit and shoot tandem days in order to push back against the slippage. In Morocco, the magnitude and remoteness of the shoot pre- empted those sorts of remedies. Despite its multi-acre footprint and hundreds of loads of esco-fi lling-dirt, the LA Team made short order of the construction and dressing of Combat Outpost Steedley, including a helicopter landing zone (HLZ) with two parking spots. The search for fl ying birds was forever in the making, as was the search for aff ordable - bucks. Ultimately, the US Army-Fort Irwin agreed to fl y in conjunction with LA-based commercial camera-birds. Concurrently, the prized junker fi nally arrived at Rancho Deluxe, the crew embarked on what may be considered the most challenging shoot of the season. The trip to Bear Mountain is three hours from Los Angeles plus a tailbone bruising -minute climb to the top. The task was to "crash" the - think upside-down city bus onto a hard- landing-steep-angled perch. In order to conduct as much science as possible on fl at ground, a rig was built to hoist the bird so that we could present the pitch twenty-three degrees and roll fi ve degrees) for director Alex Graves. This rig also allowed Alex to climb on board and plan his moves. E. ARG PRESIDENTIAL PALACE. LOCATION BUILD AT THE CASABLANCA CITY HALL. MARCO MIEHE, SET DESIGNER, TAREK EL ASMAR, GRAPHIC DESIGNER. F. ARG PRESIDENTIAL PALACE. PRODUCTION STILL. E F