Principal photography on The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas began in April 1999, and offered the filmmakers and their creative counterparts the opportunity to design the ultimate prehistoric period piece, from bare bones, so to speak.
Or as co-producer Bart Brown put so succinctly, "Our production department, art department, costume department and everyone else involved, got to research a period that technically never existed."
To help redefine the original Flintstone decor, director Levant reteams with a number of collaborators from the first film including Christopher Burian-Mohr, art director on The Flintstones, who this time segues to production designer; Kent Beyda, who returns as editor; and Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which once again designs the prehistoric puppets.
"On The Flintstones there were roughly 66 visual effect shots, and on this one we have more than 200," notes co-producer Brown.
The film was shot entirely on location in Los Angeles with locations ranging from Chatsworth to Malibu to Simi Valley transformed into Stone age recreations. These included a local carnival (Sage Park); Wilma's childhood home/Slaghoople Manor (Paramount Ranch); and Fred and Barney's trailer park (Rocky Peak). Vasquez Rocks was once again the locale of Fred and Wilma's dream home, and the only set used from the first film. The Cal Mat Quarry in Sun Valley was the site of the recreation of Bedrock, including the Bronto Crane Academy, the Bronto King, the local swamp meet, Betty's Melrock Place apartment building and the ultimate rock resort, Rock Vegas.
"In creating Rock Vegas, we wanted to expand beyond the Flintstones world of stone, bone and lava. We wanted to introduce new elements and vary the palette. Make every surface reflective, and utilize crystalline formations and giant shells and fish scales and have the streets running with veins of gold," says Levant.
"One of the most fun things for me is being able to translate every item into 'Flintstonian' terms. We had hundreds of people in a 40,000 square foot warehouse making molds, and manufacturing cups, glasses, silverware and clothing. Everything you can imagine under the prehistoric sun," he adds with a smile.
The art department, headed by production designer Burian-Mohr, created more than 400 sketches to be used in designing the sets. And instead of color chips, the walls of the art department were filled with pictures of natural formations, rocks and plants. Or as he says, "Nature does it best."
"It's wonderful working for Brian because he loves the sets, the vehicles and the props. He wants to get everything on film. We know if we make it, he'll shoot it. But, there was a standard theme that ran throughout the design—the scale was over-sized, and everything was overly heavy and overly awkward. Plus, Brian insists that everything be kind of a joke or have something funny about it," he adds.
For Rock Vegas, the art department originally designed dozens of casinos, but Levant wanted something totally different that would set this Rock Vegas apart from the real Las Vegas.
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