Domino began filming on October 4th, 2004 in and around the Los Angeles area. Locations used include the Hollywood Presbyterian Church, the Santa Monica Department of Motor Vehicles and The Ambassador, The Alexandria and The Wilshire Grand hotels, as well as private residences in Bel Air, East L.A., Altadena and Lancaster, among others. In early December cast and crew traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada. The company shot pivotal action sequences deep within Nevada’s desert in The Valley of Fire and at Bonnie Springs Ranch and Motel, about 40 miles outside the city. Hoover Dam in Boulder City and the streets of Needles were also used as backdrops. The Vegas shoot culminated with a final week of production at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino.
The movie was filmed in 62 days, an unprecedented feat for Scott, especially because of the many large set pieces and intricate action sequences he was driven to complete in record time. “The story has momentum and therefore the production had momentum,” he says. “We slowed down the pace in post a bit, but even then I wanted to keep it going. Most movies take forever to hone and detail and tweak that you have to give up something and just keep going, but this film took on a pace and life of its own.”
Scott and Samuel Hadida credit executive producer Barry Waldman with setting forth a production strategy that allowed room for creative modifications and adjustments within a tightly constrained budget and time frame. Although this was Waldman’s first time working with the director and producer, it will not be his last. “Barry was able to assess and organize the logistics of our ever-changing carnival so that it ran like a clock,” praises Hadida. “Like Tony, he doesn’t stop for anything. The two of them are incredible workers.”
The production started off fast and furious. The filmmakers are adamant that despite the pace, they cut no corners and lost nothing in the process; whatever they had to do to complete each scene within their self-imposed time frame was a gain, not a loss. Scott even put off a long overdue back surgery and hip replacement until just after wrap. Of course he was up and around and back in the cutting room weeks before his surgeons expected. The director loves a challenge.
Not only will he rise to meet any challenge, he frequently invents them for himself, including scouting locations. Scott is known to pick some of the most claustrophobic and physically unmaneuverable sites, so demanding and remote that his crew joke about hiring sherpas. He credits his long-time locations manager Janice Polley (who is known for working with some of the most demanding directors, including Michael Mann, Ridley Scott, John Woo and Richard Donner) with unearthing the best and most obscure sites that appear in his films and commercials.
“When we first talked about the look of the film, Tony mentioned areas we shot Man on Fire in Mexico,” says production designer Chris Seagers. “It instantly gave all of us a shorthand and we knew where he wanted to go. Janice found places in East L.A. that have never been filmed in before, places where there is cockfighting, dogs running and cars in the street, where you stand on a hillside and look down at houses and think you’re in Mexico.
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