The production of The Interpreter was given full access to nearly all of the U.N.— from the Security Council’s chambers to the Rose Garden—for nearly five months, with the only restriction being that filming take place after hours and on weekends so as not to interrupt the important work going on there.
Soon after getting the green light, Sydney Pollack consulted with his design team on how to handle the interiors and the unanimous decision was to keep the focus on raw authenticity. Production designer Jon Hutman explains: “We ultimately did very little to the inside of the United Nations in order to use it as a set. There’s something about it that feels so incredibly idealistic and appealing and we wanted to keep that feeling intact.”
Adds cinematographer Darius Khondji: “The first time we came here it just blew my mind how beautiful it was. I was so inspired by it that I decided to do what I don’t normally do. On a location, I usually prefer to reconstitute, to rebuild, to re-light everything. But here I decided to use the shell of the U.N. as the generator of the light itself and try to respect as much as possible the real true color and contrast of the U.N. without too much color correction. Ultimately, I felt like the U.N. became another main character in the film. There were Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener and the United Nations!”
In almost all cases, the production used the U.N.’s original rooms and furnishings— with one large exception. When it came to the specially built, soundproof interpreters’ booths (which are so key to the story), production designer Hutman wound up having to recreate a few on a soundstage, primarily because the actual booths are so small and cramped they wouldn’t allow for reverse camera angles.
Some of the most significant scenes in the film were shot inside the General Assembly, with its famous green marble podium, wall-sized screen bearing the United Nations logo, a symbol of peace, and horseshoe-shaped rows of desks. In order to capture the electrifying feeling of being inside a full General Assembly meeting with its mélange of colors, accents and high human hopes, the production put together 1,200 extras—in both tailored suits and native dress—to fill the room. Even some of the General Assembly’s real members asked to be involved, hoping for their own close-ups.
With the room filled, the effect was palpable. “I don’t think you can be inside the General Assembly without it having an impact on you. Nicole was dazzled the first time she saw it with all the seats full for filming,” Pollack says.
Comments Kidman: “It’s true, seeing the room with all the people in their seats I couldn’t help but say ‘Wow,’ because just the feeling of it had so much drama. It was uncanny how real it looked; it was precisely like when I visited while doing research and all the real representatives were having their real debates. It was such a thrilling atmosphere, it had a tremendous effect on us all.”
Filming at the U.N. also had its burdens, including some of the most extreme security measures ever encountered by cast and crew. Indeed, each and every member of the production—from the stars to the extras to the grips—was required to wear special identification badges and pass through special security systems every single day. The production’s equipment was even regularly inspected by bomb-sniffing dogs.
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