LMGI COMPASS
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Fall 2020
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31
A powerful scene shot at the
Linclon Memorial Refl ecting Pool
in Washington, D.C.
Photo by Barbara Nitke/Hulu.
Location managers often work unnoticed, but Anne Richardson/LMGI and her Toronto-based team have had
little anonymity since joining The Handmaid's Tale at the beginning of Season 2. Instead, they have had to
prepare for crowds of fans eager to get as close as possible to the action.
"It's been an overwhelming reception," Richardson says. "We do a fair amount of exterior fi lming. As soon
as we're out in the open and people see the red cloaks, we get a lot of onlookers. We have to bump up security
and do a little bit extra on crowd control. It's lovely that everybody knows what those red cloaks and white
bonnets mean. They are iconic. People want to take pictures of the handmaids, and they'll stop dead in their
tracks to do it."
Despite occasional frustrations, Richardson who has been a location manager for 30 years, says working
on such a celebrated series has a big upside. "When we contact a potential location to see if they'll let us fi lm
there, we get way more positive responses because The Handmaid's Tale is so popular. It's great for us. When
they hear who's calling, they're very open to letting us fi lm there." That's how she and her colleagues nailed
down the Metro Toronto Convention Center, which stood in as a Washington, D.C. train station. For Season 3's
fi nal episode, they were able to arrange a key scene at Waterloo International Airport in Ontario, where Rita
(Amanda Brugel) was helping many Gilead children fl ee the country.
