Location Managers Guild International

46 • LMGI COMPASS | Summer 2021 might as well have been the actual castle … so you just kind of go, 'we should build this!'" Burt began designing a kind of grand dining hall. "I had discussed a way of transforming this one room with David. By keeping the form of the room and changing out the fi replaces, reconfi guring doorways, architectural details, adding or removing windows, we could use the same set for two different scenes and make it feel ambiguous to the layout of the real San Simeon." Burt's crew would have six weeks between shooting the Mayer birthday party and the fi nal scene to reconstruct and recreate the room. For the fi nal dinner scene, they even added a hallway for a walk-and-talk. "You just wanted it to be able to be a continuous shot," says Burt. "It was a bit of a game of Tetris." Finding vs Creating With the Hearst interiors handled, Doyle and his crew, including LM Walter Roshetski/LMGI, a 30-year veteran of fi lm and television, would turn L.A. upside down searching for locations that would work for the rest of the fi lm, including the stunning gardens at San Simeon "The thing about working for David and for Bill is that they both share a very specifi c approach," Roshetski says. "I've worked with a variety of directors and location professionals over the years, observing, learning, contributing and incorporating along the way, but neither David nor Bill will accept anything that compromises their vision. That can be challenging, but when you see the fi nished product on the screen, the results speak for themselves." Another linchpin location the team found was what was once known as the North Verde Ranch, where Mank spent much of his time writing. Astonishingly, it still exists and is virtually unchanged. Now called The Kemper Campbell Ranch, the property is located in Victorville, California. Getting access to fi lm there meant they would be shooting in at least one location where the events of the story actually took place! The ranch's main house dates back to1929. Designed by architect John Byers, well-known for his Spanish Colonial Revival style, the house is built of adobe bricks made of materials harvested directly from the ranch itself. To get the location picture-ready, air conditioners were removed from windows, exposed electrical lines were taken out and lighting fi xtures were changed. Renovations included tearing out the ranch's concrete patio and replacing it with a fl agstone patio, as well as completing post and beam woodwork on the exterior. In a 2019 interview with the Desert Sun newspaper, ranch manager Peggy Shaughnessy said she and owner Scott Campbell initially had some trepidation about allowing the company to shoot there. In the end, she gave the entire crew high marks, saying that Netfl ix had hired "the best of the best," and noting that Doyle and his team were "true to their word" about returning the ranch to its original state. To double for the exterior of Hearst Castle, as well as for the pyre scene featuring Marion Davies, Doyle and his team found a variety of beautiful locations at the Huntington Gardens in San Marino, California. The property features approximately 120 acres of landscaped botanical gardens, along with a library and vast art collection. The pyre scene was later reshot at Ventura Farms when scheduling prevented a return to Huntington. The trick to fi lming there was that the fi eld where the cowboys and horses were to charge down fi ring their pistols was riddled with ground squirrels and their tunnels. Doyle's team spent the better part of a week fi nding and fi lling holes along the pathway to make it safe for the horses without harming any squirrels. "The squirrels just moved uphill and would pop out of their burrows and watch the action themselves while we were fi lming," laughs Doyle. They also shot at the elaborate Villa de Leon. Perched overlooking PCH, the Classical Mediterranean property was built in 1927 and sits above the entrance to the Getty Villa Museum. To complete the illusion of being at the actual Hearst Castle, a few scenes were lensed at the old Dovie Beams De Villagran property on South Oakland in Pasadena. The 10,500-square-foot mansion, built in 1913, boasts 20 rooms, two libraries and fi ve fi replaces. Formerly owned by the eponymous B-movie actress and self-described mistress of deposed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, the 4 1/2-acre estate also features some 30 statues, fountains, a paved walkway lined with stone columns, as well as oak, eucalyptus, cypress and palm trees. For the scene in which Mank makes his fi rst trek up to San Simeon, stumbling off the train in a drunken stupor, the company shot at the historic Glendale Train Station. "The train station, for me, was just amazing," says Burt. "It was scripted as Union Station, but I had read something about how Hearst would reserve tickets for people in Glendale, so I asked Bill about it and he said, 'oh, yeah, it's still there.' We went to take a look and that was it." Built in 1924, the facade of the train station is still intact and has a Spanish-revival look that Burt says was "a great surprise."

• Cover
• 24-35 Cover-Story_Babylon Berlin
• 36-49 MANK
• 52-59 NEXT GEN
• 62-63 Martini shot