Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512164
1 4 2 P E R S P E C T I V E | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 3 and the assemblage of some of the best foremen, propmakers and painters in the business, our town came in on time and ended up costing eighty-five percent less than the original design. For the sake of savings and efficiency, Chris asked if I could find Washington, D.C. in New Mexico. As painful as it was to think about while staring at the sea of adobe structures, I knew he wasn't kidding, and this needed to happen to afford all that we wanted to do. I called the scouts and relayed, saying I want to see every midcentury interior, every hotel ballroom and every government building from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. The reality was the more time we spent in New Mexico, the more money we got back. At this point, Chris had cut his shoot days from 80-plus to 50-60, and the pressure was on to deliver. Needless to say, against all odds, we did find D.C. in New Mexico. Continuing down south, we needed to solidify our Trinity test site for filming. While we were cleared to film inside the White Sands Missile Range, it wasn't favorable because the military's schedule understandably took priority. We moved due north sixty miles and remained exactly five miles off the same mountain range as the actual test site. It was important to me to maintain the same defining backdrops that we'd seen from the tower, basecamp and bunkers. This was a unique build to tackle due to the reality of the physical distances that set each element apart from one another. We needed to cheat their proximity closer together to remain nimble enough to shoot efficiently, not to mention our actual company basecamp needed to be in proximity but completely out of sight from the 104-foot-tall tower and planned helicopter shots. Like Los Alamos, Trinity was a complete ground- up build, and it sat approximately four hours from our build site in Ghost Ranch. As logistically hard as this was on us, we knew the impact these locations would have on the final look and feel of our film would make it worth it. I had Chris's full support and encouragement, as well as that of the cast. Matt Damon told The Washington Post, "Nobody is ever, ever, ever going to convince me that this would be better if shot on a sound stage. When you must go through the journey of getting out to the middle of nowhere in New Mexico and you don't A. BERKELEY RADIATION LABORATORY, KNOWN AS THE RAD LAB, WITH THE CYCOLOTRON IN THE BACKGROUND. BUILT AND DRESSED ON LOCATION IN PASADENA, CA. SET PHOTO. B. WASHINGTON, D.C. CONGRESSIONAL ATOMIC COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM SET DRESSED ON LOCATION IN PASADENA, CA. PRODUCTION STILL BY MELINDA SUE GORDON. A B