Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1526889
But Ebony's final battle was nothing compared to our own battle to finalize this damn design. My two turns in the staircase became one turn and then a long straight run of steps to achieve camera angles Lee wanted. He pushed us to enlarge the space again and again until the basement occupied a footprint two or three times the size of the upper floors of the house. And worse for me and my sense of correctness, the resulting ground plan sent the whole giant basement bursting well beyond the Jackson's property lines into the neighboring lot. Oy… Producer Tucker Tooley offered a conceptual solution: This giant basement was a long- forgotten crypt below ground that the Jackson basement simply crashed into. And look, it's a horror movie and no one can match up ground plans from one floor to the next anyway, right? I was mollified; Lee was satisfied. Building commenced. It will come as a surprise to absolutely no one that when we walked Lee through the set mid-build, the room felt too big to him.—sigh—we pulled in the walls by six feet at one end. And then the basement's magnificent paint and plaster work headed by lead painter Chris St. Pierre could finally finish in time for shooting day on August 25. But funny story—I was not there to witness it. Remember Boris Aronson's Rule #2? "Don't be the wictim." Three weeks remained of principal photography (plus a week of greenscreen work), when I got a call from producer Pam Williams telling me that Lee had decided to "go a different way" on the Production Design for the rest of the film. Understand, no new PD came in; the design was done, the sets all but completed, all that remained was dressing the last locations and opening the basement. But I was being let go. Carlton Lee and Becky Brown would see the shoot through to the end. My Art Department coordinator packed up my office, my tools and all of my sketches, and shipped them home to LA. Maybe it's for the best. There was no public fight in front of the crew, no humiliating abasement of my dignity or Lee's. After eighteen years and some glorious, thrilling work together, it just ended. As I write these words, I have just seen the premiere of The Deliverance at an actual movie theater in Los Angeles, where I was welcomed by Lee and the producers with warm heartfelt hugs. I have finally seen the results of everyone's exceptional work. Nice as this night was, the more I think about it, the more I realize those prayers the Apostle said at the start of each day's shoot didn't properly protect me from the demons after all. ADG E. BASEMENT FINAL CONCEPT SKETCH BY STEVE SAKLAD, EXPLODING THE SCALE OF THE SPACE ON ALL SIDES. Steve Saklad, Production Designer Carlton Lee Jr., Art Director Wright McFarland, Assistant Art Director Kate Bechak, Greg Weimerskirch, Set Designers Raquel Bouvy, Graphic Artist Becky Brown, Set Decorator E