Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538080
7 0 P E R S P E C T I V E J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 2 5 the entire development of the Fortress, shifting between prototyping and interior set design. When our R&D revealed full-resin structures wouldn't be viable, we pivoted. While combing through early Superman comics from the 1940s, we noticed the Fortress was often rendered in stone, not crystal. That led us down a new path: combining carved rock architecture with strategic crystal formations—natural stone housing alien growth. The design team looked to minimalist stone architecture for inspiration—midcentury structures built into rock faces, brutalist forms with clean planes and embedded light. Brilliant Set Designers Nick Cross and Tim Croshaw began refining stairways and platforms as if carved into ancient frozen terrain. The Fortress evolved into a space of contrast: weighty and light, carved and grown, designed and erupted. The crystal layout became surgical. Nick precisely positioned two hundred and fifty crystals— bursting from platforms, piercing through walls, and fanning out behind Superman's control center like a frozen aurora. But all that beauty still depended on construction solving our material problem. And we hadn't. I started rehearsing the conversation in my head: "James, we've given it everything we've got…but it's time to pivot to foam." I even marked a date on the calendar when we'd need to commit to a backup plan. Could the VFX team resurface foam with a translucent crystal finish? Could lighting and snow help compensate for what wasn't achieved in the crystal materials? It all felt like a betrayal of our initial ambition. Chris Snyder, to his enormous credit, wasn't giving up. He pushed through month three of resin testing. His team began carving full-length foam molds to use as cast forms. They experimented with halved crystal shells, fiberglass reinforcement, and ways of connecting two giant halves to make a full crystal shape. Their dedication was on full display as propmakers crawled into a 30-foot crystal to hand-suspend fiberglass strands inside each mold, mimicking the striations found in real crystals. When the crew sealed the first 30-foot cast and lit it from below, the result stunned us. The crystal gleamed with subtle iridescence and held its form. We had it. With eight weeks left before filming, the production opened a full crystal fabrication workshop a few miles from Trilith Studios in Fayetteville, GA. Staff shop supervisor Chuck Beaver and foreman Dale Wilmarth ran the shop around the clock, rotating day and night crews. Art Department coordinator Molly Flick kept spirits high by supplying both construction drawings and A. SUPERMAN FLOOR MEDALLION IN PROGRESS. A TURNTABLE WAS BUILT BENEATH THE MEDALLION, ENABLING THE HERO CHAIR TO SPIN 360 DEGRESS. SET PHOTO. B. SET DECORATION DETAILS. ROSEMARY'S SET DECORATION TEAM HAND- SCULPTED ALIEN PLANTS AND SUSPENDED THEM IN ICE BLOCKS MADE OF RESIN. SET PHOTO. B A