Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1514626
R U S T I N | P E R S P E C T I V E 9 1 I had known since she was an assistant and I was a set dresser on The Last of the Mohicans in another century, and I was keen to work with her again after all this time. One specific challenge in designing Rustin's New York in Pittsburgh was finding Harlem. The National Headquarters for the planning and organization of the march was centered in a repurposed building on 130th Street. Scenes were scripted on the street and in front of the building, on the second and decrepit third floor, the roof and in the "courtyard" behind it—basically a weed and trash-strewn alley. Simple to read on the page, but this location did not exist as a single building in Pittsburgh. We knew we'd construct the interiors on stage but had to find the exterior components that could all cobble together as one believable location. Harlem is a rich, textured neighborhood with a variety of architecture. For the street and front elements, once again, I recalled a single block of brownstones (just down the street from our Rainey block) that could pass. I showed photos to George who immediately said, "That's Harlem." Even still, as I went back-and-forth between Pittsburgh and NYC during the initial scouting phase, I gave myself the reverse challenge to find specific and perhaps unexpected spots in New York that supported the locations I was finding in Pittsburgh—as much evidence and assurance for myself as for George. Once we'd secured the exterior location and street for the headquarters (actuality in a church class and office building), the more challenging location to find was the rear courtyard. There were multiple extended scenes in this courtyard, and it needed to match the scale and spirit of the front location specifically, but also to Harlem generally. We scoured the city and eventually happened on a couple of options composed of two row houses with an empty lot in between. I'd proposed a plan to build the rear façade of the headquarters to adjoin them, creating three sides. The winner turned out to be the perfect size with great scale, character and texture. It was a tricky negotiation for the location department, but we secured it and proceeded to design specifically for our needs. A new concrete slab was poured to replace the grass, then broken up and aged down. My lie about the bricks reversed course on this large, entirely brick façade, but it worked out very well—including the second-story platform to get a through- window POV shot of the trash-filled alley. The fourth reverse angle was completed with a low construction fence—a collage of corrugated sheet metal and wood panels based on research. This not only allowed for an easier swing door for crew access, but a view over the top of the building across the street with a rich cornice and church towers. The roof was found next door to the headquarters front location. It was a wide, one-story printing plant with a lower roof and the benefit of viewing the other rooftops and cornices of the very brownstones we'd shot at street level. While the footprint was too large, we could add parapets to scale it down and afford staging space for the crew. It also had adjoining fire escapes that are always nice for a New York feature. What it didn't C. MARCH HEADQUARTERS COURTYARD PITTSBURGH LOCATION. SET PHOTO. D. MARCH HEADQUARTERS COURTYARD WITH SET WALL INSTALLED. SET PHOTO. C D