Photos courtesy of Apple, except as noted
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS:
THE MAKING OF
THE ESSEX SERPENT
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by Jared Cowan
SLM Harriet Lawrence weathers the tides where landscape
inspires a story and brings an ancient myth to life…
Just before the United Kingdom went into lockdown in early
2020, supervising location manager Harriet Lawrence/LMGI
was gifted a book by a friend and fellow location manager
who knew that its sweeping theme of science vs. superstition
played out against historic and dramatic settings would be
of interest to her.
The book was The Essex Serpent, the 2016 gothic
romance novel by Sarah Perry. And the gesture proved
serendipitous.
"That same afternoon, I had a phone call from See-Saw
Films saying they had this job—and it was for The Essex
Serpent!" exclaims Lawrence.
She headed to Essex, an historic county of eastern
England that extends along the North Sea coastline
between the Thames and Stour Estuaries. But after
only a few weeks, her scouting was curtailed when the
UK government announced its first stay-at-home order
because of COVID and the impending pandemic.
In between stints of gardening and baking, Lawrence had
the time to delve into the novel. She became consumed with
researching the mysterious, edge-of-the-world landscape
in which it's set. Eager and restless, she mentally ticked
off where she would look to find the worlds described in
the story: Victorian London and a period fishing village
perched by the sea.
The Essex Serpent follows the journey of amateur naturalist
Cora Seaborne, played with fierce intelligence by Claire
Danes. She feels caged in her upper-class London home
where she is kept like a prized bird by her much older and
abusive husband. When he dies, she is free to follow her
passion—and follow up on reported sightings of a "sea
dragon" stalking the waters and marshy inlets of Essex.
