Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1349602
B A R B A N D S T A R G O T O V I S T A D E L M A R | P E R S P E C T I V E 7 3 delighted them, then who were we to pooh-pooh it? Those ladies would be our guide. Okay, if we knew what our Vista del Mar should look like, where in the world would we find it Turns out, in Cancun, Mexico, that most Yankee of Yucatan tourist zones! Hell, they already had giant fish sculptures on the main drag outside Aquaworld. With tax rebates in mind, the film's corn-fed Nebraska exteriors would be shot in the parched environs of Albuquerque, NM, with interiors found or built back in Mexico City where the show would base. We were off on an adventure equal to anything Barb and Star were going on. I myself was a big fan of Estudios Churubusco, Mexico City's famed film studio, having spent four months there in 1988 as a young Assistant Art Director on the Gregory Peck picture, Old Gringo. The world-class talent of the Art Department and construction crews in Mexico was another plus, as was the exchange rate. Here the 14-million peso construction/set decoration budget came to only about $700,000 US. Day One: I arrived in Mexico City to show up at the homeoce of Supervising Art Director and brilliant secret weapon, Rafael "Ram" Mandujano. Ram would assemble an exceptional Art Department, set decoration and construction teams; shape budgets that satisfied all our bosses; build instant digital models; run construction crews in two far-ung locales; and translate every Spanish conversation for me to follow—me, the only monolinguist in our bilingual group. Did I mention in that first Art Department oce, Ram also built all the furniture? It was clear from the budget this would be an all-local crew, and every Production Designer knows they are only as good as their team. I hit the jackpot with set decorator Mariana Castañeda, B. VISTA SIGN WITH FISH. WELCOME TO VISTA DEL MAR (ALIAS CANCUN, MEXICO) WHERE ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE IF THEY INVOLVE GIANT ANGEL FISH. B