Working in the tank of the 007 stage at Pinewood, the production built a Venetian piazza and the interior of the three-story dilapidated house. “The rig was massive — 90 tons — marrying together electronics and hydraulics. I was anxious to get really fast movement to sell the fact that the house is sinking. The hydraulic valves were controlled by computer because there was so much movement in the system — it moved up and down and tilted through two axes. It would have been easy to bottom out on the tank or hit the roof, so we needed to have a lot of safety features.”
At the same time, the rig could be immersed in 19 feet of water, some of which spewed upwards, so Corbould ended up spending a lot of time in a wetsuit. “I reckon I spent around eight hours a day in the water on that set, of which around two were spent under the water, just fixing problems. We had huge banks of compressors outside the tanks, pushing water up as the house falls down, so all of that had to be kept in working order. As shooting progressed and the house sank, debris and dust started to fall into the water, so the visibility decreased and we ended up feeling our way around.”
The effects team also created an exterior model, built to one-third scale, to shoot the building collapsing into the Venetian canal. The same computer system controlled the model’s hydraulics so Corbould and his associates could exactly replicate the motion of the interior set.
“There was definitely a learning curve,” recalls Corbould. “It was the biggest rig the crew and I have ever put together, and a complicated set as well. I remember when we started on the film and they said, ‘There will be no gadgets or gizmos,’ and then they threw this one at us. But, in the end, I think the audience likes to see someone take a risk. Rather than watch what they know is a blue screen, they appreciate the feat of bravery and the effort that goes into the real thing. I think we are heading for a revival of special effects over visual effects.”
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