Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1438629
The Church n the script, the church scene actually took place in an unspecified underground area below abrini reen. The idea was that een though the towers and buildings above ground had been destroyed, the guts of abrinireen still remained below the newly gentrified surface. scouted a lot of underground facilities, but they seemed very uninspiring and also impossible to shoot in. hile scouting, I went to an old tuberculosis hospital that had what seemed to be an endless trail of underground corridors, hallways, and rooms that connected all the buildings on the premises. One of the corridors actually led up to a beautiful chapel, which found incredibly cinematic. The idea came to me that perhaps we could build upon the scripted idea but also expand upon it—perhaps these underground tunnels remaining under abrinireen could connect all the remaining buildings. The basement of urkes laundromat could lead to the rowhouses, which could lead to what would hae been the old towers, etc. This felt also very appropriate to Chicago as well, as there are actually many underground tunnel systems beneath the city. The idea of moing the seuence in which nthony is essentially christened as the new Candyman into a church made sense to me thematically and also cinematically. One of the few remaining buildings left undemolished at abrinireen is Strangers ome hurch. The creative team had all been captivated by its stark presence, but hadnt yet figured out how to integrate it into the story. The church had at one time been nestled in the midst of the towers and had been a community gathering place for its residents. The facade was once decorated with artwork by a reered frican merican muralist, illiam alker, and had been painted oer with a at gray, which creates a ery stark and haunting image. I pitched the idea of moving this scene into the church and ia was ery ecited by the idea. t was a real hurdle to shoot inside the church. t had been sitting boarded up for many years and was completely coered with mold. e looked at other church interiors, to, ineffect, recreate the interior at a different location, but we kept coming back to Strangers ome for the sake of its authenticity and innate cinematicness. t ust didnt feel correct to "cheat" one of the last remaining remnants of abrini. also think it helped the actors and the crew get into the headspace for such a dark scene, versus if we had gone to a neighborhood miles away and made a perfectly pristine chapel look like it was decaying. personally find it really hard to replicate all of that real patina and age, even though we did end up adding a lot of additional painted age to the interior for enhancement. e also added the grati, a mural on the stage, the debris and pews. A. STRANGERS HOME CHURCH, PHOTO TAKEN DURING LOCATION SCOUT. B. STRANGERS HOME CHURCH INTERIOR. SET PHOTO. C. STRANGERS HOME CHURCH MURAL WITH ORIGINAL ARTWORK CREATED BY ARTIST CAMERON SPRATLEY. D. BRIANNA AND ANTHONY'S LOFT. RESEARCH BOARD. E. BRIANNA AND ANTHONY'S LOFT, LOCATION, LIVING ROOM SET PHOTO. FALSE WALLS WERE BUILT TO DISPLAY ARTWORK AND ART BOOKS. A B C