Maaaaaaaaaaaaan, me wanna see that there SLEEPY HOLLOW set. I'm trying my hardest to draw a mental picture of it. I'm trying and trying and trying. Ewwwwwww me wanna snap shot panoramic uper dooper lenticular picture-thingee of it. Waaaaaaaaaaahhhhh. Folks, I'm sorry, I so love the SLEEPY HOLLOW script and the production design that TIM BURTON is noted for applied to this project. I am pulling for absolute top of the line brilliance on this project. Sigh.... hurry hurry hurry hurry. SPIES, stay on the case, we Burton geeks are dying!@!!!
Holly Martins here. Now Harry, I know how much you want to get
something big on Sleepy Hollow, and, well, I'm afraid I haven't got
anything big. But, I can say that I was on the Sleepy Hollow set at
Sheperton last week, and it is totally cool.
Let me explain. I was over at Sheperton Studios doing some
work on the new Cleopatra movie. It's taken over six huge
sound stages, and, well it looks pretty big. Some of the temples
they've created are abosutely huge, and with the fake perspective
they're using, it really is impressive stuff.
Anyway, I read on your site that Tim Burton is shooting Sleepy
Hollow at Sheperton. Well you wouldn't know it! Anyway, I do some
detective work, and find that they have got stage H - the biggest
stage at Sheperton. They've also got an office over at studio J. But
that's it! No workshops, no art studios, no FX shops, nothing! Or at
least I couldn't find any. So I snoop around their office, and, well
there's nothing! No storyboards on the wall, no models, no spare
scripts lying around. Zilch. I try chatting to one of the PAs, but their
mouths are so tightly sealed, you wouldn't believe it!
Finally I check out Studio H, expecting there to be a security
presence. There isn't and I manage to walk right on set. I was there
the day before they started filming (they shoot from the 5th) and,
boy does it look impressive. Imagine the old scary forrest you used
to hang out in as a kid. Imagine digging this whole forrest up: trees,
hills and all - and planting it in the middle of a studio. Well that's
sort of what it was like. But better. You see whilst I was convinced
that it was real, there was something un-real about it. You know
the opening shot of Beetlejuice - the way there is something
unsettling about the landscape? Well that's just what they'd got
here. The trees were devoid of leaves, and were painted in such a
way to look quite ghostly. The back drops were all quite
impressionistic, and mainly monochrome. The more you looked at
this forrest, the more unsettling it became.
Anyway, I searched around the edge of the set, hoping to find the
odd script lying around. Unfortunately I didn't, but I did see a full
production list, which confirmed that Burton is making it for
Paramount, and that Scott 'Truman Show' Rudin is producing. The
production list was headed 'England Shoot', so I imagine that
Burton is only shooting a few bits of the film over here. Perhaps the
rest is on location?
Anyway, whilst I was at Sheperton I took some time out to chat to
the people working on Oklahoma!. Trevor Nunn (director of Cats,
Les Miserables, etc) directed it at the National Theatre earlier this
year, and it was a big hit. Now Sky is funding the filming of it. I'm
not sure if it will get a theatrical release, but it is being shot on
35mm, so it's possible. I've seen his production, and it's great, but
apprently the filming isn't going so well. Already badly behind
schedule, the word on the rushes is poor. Apparently it just
doesn't film well, but the standard of singing, dancing, acting is so
good, that it still sort of works.
Finally, after all the hoo-ha about Nicole Kidman's stage debut at
the Donmar Warehouse in London, I have it from a very good
source that Tom Cruise is close to following in her footsteps at the
same theatre. I haven't the faintest idea which play it will be, but he
apparently is 'as good as signed' to make a stage debut in the 250
seater theatre.
That's all for now, Harry.
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