Friday, June 01, 2007

The Production Designer

The Production Designer was another difficult position to fill in. Dante's Inferno, as well as its sequels, deserves the best and nothing less. So, I started investigating and I talked to a few of them until Lord of the Rings production manager Bridget Bourke kindly referred me to Dan Hennah. He had won an Oscar as production designer for Lord of the Rings. After I communicated with him, he said:

"I am delighted to be considered for the Production Design role on such an interesting film. It would certainly be an opportunity to practice all the skills accumulated in the past few years...and no doubt add a few more.

The rich imagery and depth of Dante's vision are a Production Designer's dream. They will provide a grand opportunity in today's world of high tech and low tech blend of film making which allows a convincing marriage of fantasy with reality. While it was many years ago that I read "The Divine Comedy", many images remain."

With these kind of words from an Oscar winner, there was no need to look for anywhere else!

The Editor

The Editor in a movie is crucial, as much as the director and cinematographer. My challenge was to be able to find a great editor that had read Dante's Inferno and Dante's whole masterpiece, The Divine Comedy. My understanding is that the largest number of editors do not have the time to read. So, I was facing a big dilemma. As on everything that happens in this project, God is totally behind. I talked to a few great editors until I run into Thom Noble, whom I was referred to as a well read editor. We had a great conversation from the start and both were excited to look into working together. He had read The Divine Comedy and I was excited to say the least, I had found my man. Mr. Noble won an Oscar for the feature film Witness and was also the editor on the widely successful fimls Thelma and Louise, Mask of Zorro and many other great movies. I could not get a better choice to edit Dante's Inferno and its sequels!