The tower was built on a rotating base at the edge of a cliff, affording panoramic views of the water and sky, and giving the actors the appearance of being at sea. The Gozo Maritime Authority asked sailors to keep the horizon clear, while a patrol boat ensured that no vessels sailed into the picture. Scenes filmed here include a poignant moment between Quatermain and Sawyer, as the two men shoot targets over the water and let down a bit of their emotional guard.
After four days of shooting in Gozo, the production took a two-week hiatus while Prague sets were rebuilt, and lost or damaged equipment replaced. The internationally based cast and crew retreated to their homes across the globe, reconvening on September 8th to film the exterior portion of the Britannia Club sequence, shot an hour outside Prague in a small village. The numerous goats, pigs, mules and assorted livestock lent a similar realism to this outdoor Nairobi environment as was present on the opening day interior scenes. Here, Quatermain is approached by Sanderson Reed, an emissary of M’s, whose appeal for help is cemented by a violent incident that convinces Quatermain that the situation is every bit as urgent as Reed intones.
Having offered his full commitment to the League, Quatermain meets M and three of his fellow League recruits in a secret chamber deep in the depths of London’s Albion Museum. In a tense, uncertain encounter, he, the taciturn Captain Nemo, the alluring Mina Harker and the caustic Rodney Skinner take measure of each other _ and the mission. This scene was shot in four days in the gorgeous Strahov Library, a 900-year-old structure located on monastery grounds at the historic Prague Cas
As invisible man Rodney Skinner, Tony Curran acts in this sequence with blue makeup covering his face and body, which allows the image to be removed in post production, leaving only his trench coat, sunglasses and hat visible on screen. “Think of a flasher,” cracks costume designer Jacqueline West. In addition to enduring regular body shaves for the role, Curran spent nearly two hours having the makeup applied by FX makeup artist Dave Synder. Says Curran, “Because I don’t have any eyebrows or visible forehead, which are important visual elements of communication, I have to accentuate my physical expressions and voice inflection. It’s a very theatrical sort of role, which is enormously fun to play.”
With four of the League recruits in place, the story and the production shifted to a foggy, mysterious dockside manor in London’s Tiger Bay, home to the enigmatic Dorian Gray. This set is one of three cityscape facades London, Paris, Venice built on an aforementioned mammoth exterior site at Prague’s CKD, a former heavy machinery factory. Tucked away in a corner of this massive set, the shadowy waterfront warehouse provided the perfect backdrop for a shot of the Nautilus’ conning tower rising slowly out of the mist, juxtaposing Nemo’s fantastical futuristic imagery with Dorian’s old, decaying environs. (Filmed images of this set were composited in postproduction with matte paintings of Tiger Bay.)
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