Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512164
London Street Exterior London is still wet and gray. It is not of a time passed but it was the Georgian era, with the clean lines of industry and the foresight of the brutalism that gave us its architectural foundation. We added new materials, pushing boundaries with glass, fabrics and textures. We melted steps. We had no respect for that era as we think we knew it. A more brutal approach of carving up spaces and places, of adding on and cutting in half and making architecture and vehicles being two things at once. We actually built and shot this set in the height of summer; people were getting heat stroke on set! It was such a stark contrast to what we were trying to achieve, classic make-believe. It was an exterior backlot build at Origo Studios consisting of a full street with a forced perspective end. In the middle of the street was Baxter's house which was a composite build where one could walk off the street into the hallway and any room in the house. Out the back of the house through a double story glass atrium was the walled garden complete with sunken, scooped lawn. Up the cantilevered stairs and treacherous bridge landing was Bella's bedroom. The only part of the house which was a standalone studio set was Baxter's surgery. This was because of logistics and engineering reasons. Lisbon Lisbon was supposed to be a condensed theatrical mini-city. Built up on the hill at Korda Studios in Stage 6. When Bella is in Lisbon, she is in love with life and is experiencing much for the first time, so it was intense and sunny, chalky pinks, yellows and pastel-colored buildings. This was the largest set the crew built. Lisbon had a harbor front complete with tank (112-feet long by 23-feet wide). A wrap-around painted backdrop (203-feet wide and 66-feet high). An oyster restaurant, a coffee and Portuguese tart shop, a dive bar, the market, then various, lanes and passageways leading up to the main square which contained a hotel. One could walk off the street into the hotel lobby up the staircase into the bedroom and out onto the balcony which overlooked the main square and onto the waterfront in the distance. The whole set needed to be on platforms because of the "sea." The set was almost to the A. LONDON STREET. BUILT ON THE BACKLOT AT ORIGO STUDIOS, HUNGARY. THE TREES ARE HAND-CARVED TO REPLICATE REAL POLLARDED LONDON TREES AND RESEMBLE BAXTER'S GNARLY THUMBS. SET PHOTO. B. LONDON ROOFTOPS. THE WAS BUILT AT APPROXIMATELY 1/4 SCALE IN STAGE AT ORIGO STUDIOS, HUNGARY. SET PHOTO. C. LISBON STREET WITH TANK IN FOREGROUND. THE BUILDINGS ARE 60-FT HIGH, ALMOST TOUCHING THE LIGHTS. BUILT ON STAGE 6 AT KORDA STUDIOS, HUNGARY. SET PHOTO BY ENIKÖ HODOSY. D. LISBON STREET. SET PHOTO BY ATSUSHI NISHIJIMA. A B C D