BRitiSH FiLM COMMiSSiOn
UK IN FOCUS 2016
advantage of the fact you can piece together
elements from existing buildings.”
“There’s a lot of flexibility here, which makes
it attractive and easy for us,” confirms Newirth.
“At Longcross we have everybody under one
facility; everything from wardrobe to construc-
tion to special effects to props.”
A case in point is a three-block Hong Kong
street set that Production Designer CharlesWood
built between a soundstage and office building,
transforming the area into a neon-lit Kowloon
street complete with temporary roof covering to
protect it from the rain.“If you were on the street,
you’d think you were in Kowloon,” says Newirth.
On Longcross’s largest stage, Stage 1, Wood
replicated a Kathmandu temple and street. “It
was several sets connecting into another,” says
Executive Producer Stephen Broussard.“Having
spent so much time in Nepal, when we walked
onto the set, it smelt like Nepal, our production
designer was burning the same kind of incense
for the visuals.It was a weirdly disorienting sen-
sory experience, but really cool.”
UK
Ropemaker Street in the City doubled for midtown Manhattan
amount of work,” reveals Lengyel, “with the
complications of the tide and at night.”
Indeed,given so many shots across a variety of
south east locations, the team relied heavily on
the support of the local infrastructure.“It’s a VFX-
heavy movie,” says Lengyel, “so when we are on
location our shots are very much led by pre-vis.
That requires a lot of co-operation from every
location, and from the filming offices.And with a
movie of this nature there are always scheduling
changes; we’re often planning the same event
over three or four weekends to give us the flex-
ibility of when that shooting day is going to be.”
While the bulk of the studio work was shot
at Longcross, given the size of
Doctor Strange
,
the production also spilled on to several
stages at Shepperton. As well as studio and
office space, Longcross provided a huge back-
lot including a two-mile test track and 550ft
diameter slip pad.“It’s a former military testing
place so you have unusual spaces,” says
Lengyel. “A lot of films come here and take
Walt Disney Studios will release Doctor
Strange in the UK on 28 October and US
on 4 November
SUSie aLLnUt
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