Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1470106
7 6 P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 2 air-conditioning ducts, etc.). The answer was to build the whole thing on stage, recreating the long hallway and enlarging the bedroom. There's no studio space to speak of in Fort Worth, so the production transformed the Jack A. Billingsley Field House into a stage. Fort Worth is Taylor's hometown, so when he came in to look at the sets, he pointed up at the bleachers and said, "The last time I was in this building, I was eighteen years old and I was sitting right up there." Taylor really wants the reality within the story and the physical reality to be the same, but sometimes —as in this case—that's not possible and would have to be "cheated." He hates 'cheating' and complained about the fact that he's at heart, a documentary filmmaker, but he is trapped in a twenty-first century world and trying to recreate historical fiction. The world has changed dramatically in the last one hundred forty years and Exchange Avenue was no exception. There were some great old buildings in the show's backlot, but none dated back to the correct period. Others missed it by decades. The crew did what we could with the older ones, adding Victorian millwork and cornices, and built over those that just would and could not work. For example, the livery stable as built, completely encapsulates the eyesore of a tattoo parlor. The Exchange Avenue buildings were not the only obstacle to recreating of an authentic 1883 Hell's Half Acre. Anachronisms existed everywhere. The production had to remove power lines and replace the modern street lighting and signage with period- correct lighting and signage. We covered the street with dirt and made curbs that looked like rough blocks of limestone but were actually carved out of Styrofoam. And on and on and on. After we had done all that we could, Michael Owens and the VFX team added some set extensions and cleaned up the remaining anachronisms. The diculty of turning the clock back to 13 on the street was one thing, but the interiors were just as challenging. Take the White Elephant Saloon, for example. A bar named Pearls was used, a saloon that dated back to 1890, but had been greatly modernized over the years. The crew added walls to hide anachronisms, removed a stage that had been built in front of one set of the front doors, built a floor to elevate a sunken dance floor, and covered the walls with Victorian Anaglypta wallpaper. A. TEXAS HOUSE OF LIQUOR AND SPORT. BEFORE. B. CARTER HOUSE. BEFORE. C. TEXAS HOUSE OF LIQUOR AND SPORT. AFTER. SET PHOTO. A B C