To create the craft’s motion, Elmendorf designed a system using air bags, which are much quieter than a hydraulic system. ‘These air bags were truck size, inflated as high as nine inches, and they could handle about 20,000 pounds apiece. Depending on what the cue might be, we could gently rock the ship, shake it or give it a good slam. In fact, we could give the actors about six to eight inches of travel in any direction, and make the ship dive a little, front to back."
One of the most challenging sets to create was the giant geode that Virgil bores through on its way to the earth’s core. Production designer Philip Harrison, while researching geodes, discovered to his amazement that magnificent large-scale geodes really do exist deep within the earth. "They have these immense crystals that are about 30 feet long," says Harrison, who used approximately five miles of acrylic sheeting to create the full-size model crystals. many of which were up to 20 feet tall.
In addition to the geode. inner earth promises many more surprises - a labyrinth of volcanic tubes, the great inverted mountain scapes of the crust/mantle frontier, diamond fields with gems the size of city blocks and the astounding star-like inferno that lies at the heart of our planet. In total, over 400 visual effects shots were used to create these environments.
Shot around the globe in London. Paris. Rome, Montreal. Washington. D.C. and San Francisco, "The Core" production crew began principal photography on December 9, 2001 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Exterior desert scenes were filmed in Utah, and additional filming was done aboard the aircraft carriers USS Constellation (CV-64) at the San Diego Naval Base and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) at Naval Station Everett, 25 miles north of Seattle, Washington.
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