Jackman comments, “The scene is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. In this amazing space are 270 people wearing costumes made by Gabriella—each one of them better than mine! The attention to detail, the masks, the pageantry, all just amazing.”
Director of photography Allen Daviau admitted to having a slight case of jitters the day before the shoot. He explains, “Normally, in a film, I’m trying to make things look big. The masked ball was so enormous, I didn’t know how I was going to capture it all.”
For costumer Pescucci, the scene was one of the best representations of the spirit of cooperation engendered by Sommers and company. She says, “I don’t like it when you see my work too much, because in the cinema, all of the jobs mix together. This is very important—everybody works, but it is one story, one director. For Van Helsing, I was very interested in blending the two lines of fantasy and truth, which combine to form the film’s reality. For instance, all of the embroidery in Anna’s costumes is from Transylvania, all done by hand.”
Even with all of the large scale preparations, the final scene had to be completed in post—building codes forbidding any fire larger than candle flame and modifying the structure in any way (e.g. drilling holes to attach wires to the walls) compelled the filmmakers to add the elements involving the fire breather and the high-wire acts through the magic of blue screen and visual effects.
Following the ball, filming continued on the Barrandov Studios backlot, where the iconic shots of Frankenstein’s Monster holding his lifeless creator were achieved…the Monster standing atop a windmill, silhouetted against the black night sky. Exterior shots of Anna and Velkan in a forest clearing were also shot on the lands of the Botanical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, which is housed in a restored 13th century chateau and surrounded by exotic gardens and wooded areas.
An intricate and pivotal set piece even more elaborate than Dracula’s ball—the Brides’ attack on the village—was next up for filmmakers. Built outside of Prague at Kunratice, the village set was comprised of 14 houses with canted roofs, 12 additional house facades, along with rooftops, a graveyard and a church; the village also serves as the place where Van Helsing first meets Anna Valerious and, later, the settlement falls victim to a harrowing attack by countless pygmy bats.
The village design began well before Christmas of 2002, with department heads, who drew inspiration from German Expressionist art and films, settling all of the logistics and details. It took a crew of around 80 craftsmen utilizing practical materials10 weeks to build the set, which covered approximately 6,500 square meters. The resulting hamlet is, according to Jackman, “slightly off-center…something not quite right, not quite real, just enough of a slant.” Ducsay feels the village design provides “a very nice realism in an otherwise hyper-real environment.”
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