THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN’s demanding visual elements required 58 different sets, not including the numerous miniature-scale sets built in Los Angeles, and the several hundred visual effects and green-screen shots that created new environments, or expanded the size and scope of existing physical sets. Among the largest and most significant environments created by production designer Carol Spier are the famed Nautilus submarine - Captain Nemo’s hyper technologically advanced underwater palace - and an enormous cityscape exterior of facades and rooftops of Venice, London and Paris. More than 200 construction workers were dedicated to this set alone.
The Nautilus interior was built in a converted former shipyard warehouse on the banks of the Vltava River. The massive set contained the submarine’s bridge, opulent stateroom, captain’s quarters, guest rooms, ice room, corridors, and rocket room. Painted a sleek alabaster white, and gleaming from the stunning Hindu appointments and relics, the Nautilus appears every bit as wonderous as the underwater hotel described by Jules Verne in his Nemo stories.
Says Carol Spier, “The Nautilus is Nemo’s world, and we wanted to introduce Hindu elements to establish a certain symbolism and spirituality to his enigmatic character. Nemo is a highly principled man, reflected in the vessel’s orderly, harmonic appearance.”
Naseeruddin Shah says of his character’s famed submarine, “It’s like the Taj Mahal underwater, beautifully white and mysterious, self-sufficient, and opulent beyond words. Throughout the ship are elaborate carvings and beautiful appointments, and Nemo is very proud of both its beauty and power. It is itself a character in the film.”
Ironically, the submarine set suffered the greatest damage during the catastrophic floods that struck Prague in early August. Water levels reached more than 20 feet high in the warehouse that held the set, destroying virtually everything inside. Garnering headlines across the world, and prompting Sean Connery to make a televised plea for assistance on behalf of the beleaguered city, the flood was the worst to strike Prague in more than 130 years, and was estimated to be its second or third worst flood in 1,000 years. Dozens of cast members and crew had to be relocated, most in the middle of the night when the water began its unexpected rise.
“Our Nautilus set was in one of the worst hit areas of Prague,” explains co-producer Michael Nelson. “The building that housed it also served as our central production facility. We had our special effects shop there, our props, wardrobe…all essentially lost.”
Fortuitously, the company already was scheduled to shoot for a week in Malta in mid-August, allowing filming to continue in a dry, hot climate; meanwhile, conditions in the Czech Republic slowly returned to normal.
The production arrived on Malta’s neighboring island of Gozo on August 18th. A massive exterior set of the Nautilus conning tower had been constructed on a stunning clifftop location in the small town of Xlendi. This private, remote location was accessible only by a winding gravel road built by the production, which only smaller vehicles could negotiate.
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