Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/891583
P E R S P E C T I V E | N OV E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 59 "hold-the-work" kind of rain. The local New Orleans crew proved to be resilient through the worst of conditions. This was remarkable considering, at most, our entire crew was no more than fifteen people. Once the company arrived at Felicity for the four-week shoot, the European shoot needed to be addressed. Again, I went to my WPA photographers. This time it was Dorothea Lange, who documented many regions of Europe during WWII, noting the details of both urban and rural life during and after battles. I reviewed location files from Georgia (the one in Eastern Europe), Romania and Hungary. I had conference calls with production companies in the latter two countries and felt most optimistic with the options and possibilities in Budapest, Hungary. Three weeks out and only two weeks into the filming on the farm in Louisiana, I flew to Hungary, where the lovely Nóra Takács, a Hungarian Art Director and translator, welcomed me. She was invaluable in coordinating meetings with the Hungarian paint, construction, set dressing, special effects, transportation and wardrobe department heads, all of which I gathered questions from and relayed back to production in the United States. Dee had specific requests for the battle scene regarding number of troops, vehicles, explosions and scope, as well as criteria for the Berlin and village sequences. I drew up plans for the battlefield, as well as the other locations, to provide her with as much information regarding the two days of filming as possible. In Budapest, we found the Berlin locations needed, and then ventured outside of the city for the battlefield and a small German village. The cobblestone streets and apartments in the VI Kerület area provided the perfect tone for the Berlin scenes. The Skanzen Museum in the Szentendre region, twenty miles outside the city, provided a beautiful setting for the village. We were allowed to paint and distress the historic structures, bring in debris and dress the streets to show the ravages of war. The museum also granted us permission to bring in a Sherman tank that had the potential to tear up anything and everything in its path. Jeeps, transport wagons and medical trucks were sourced to round out the battle transportation needs. Fortunately, the museum was just miles away from a Hungarian army training facility, where the battle sequence would take place. The site could be prepared the morning of shooting for explosions and fire, and would be filmed the same day as the village scenes at Skanzen. I coordinated all of this prior to the arrival of the production, getting into Budapest a week before filming. The two days of filming in Hungary were remarkable. The first day it rained, but this provided the perfect atmosphere for a powerful moment in the film. The second day was beautiful and clear in the morning, allowing us to see the vistas and distances for the battle sequence, and then the skies clouded a bit and offered a perfect filter for the final afternoon of filming. The following morning, I flew back to New Orleans, retrieved my dogs, got on the road back to Tennessee and arrived…Home Before Dark. ADG David J. Bomba, Production Designer Nóra Takács, Art Director (Hungary) Taylor Dyer, Art Department Assistant Cydney Tucker, Art Department Coordinator Ruby Guidara, Set Decorator A. Interior of the Jackson home, one of the shacks relocated and dressed on the Felicity plantation. B. Interior of the girls' bedroom in the McAllan home on the plantation. C. The kitchen in the McAllan home, with Carey Mulligan and Mary J. Blige. Photo by Steve Dietl. D. The exterior of Tricklebank's Mercantile in Lutcher, MI. Photo by Steve Dietl. E. The interior of Tricklebank's Mercantile, with Jason Mitchell as Ronsel Jackson and Carey Mulligan as Laura McAllan. Photo by Steve Dietl. F. A hotel room sketch for the village scene shot in Skanzen, Hungary. G. A WWII sequence shot on location in Hungary. F G © Netflix