How global travel and tax incentives helped propel ‘Dune 2,’ ‘Queer,’ ‘Maria’ and other Oscar contenders

This year’s Oscar contenders take audiences on a journey through space and time, from the Colosseum of ancient Rome to the drug dens of mid-century Mexico City, from the cramped confines of a network television studio to the endless sandy landscapes of a distant planet. . It took many factors to become Oscar contenders, including peerless production design, a series of foreign tax credits, the work of countless location scouts, and a bit of filmmaker sleight of hand to turn even familiar locations into completely unexpected locales.

Some of the filming took place here. DiversityFavorite films that will be heating up this awards season:

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Conclave
Perhaps papal permission could have allowed Edward Berger’s Vatican drama to be filmed in the Sistine Chapel, but the production team opted for Rome’s equally formidable Cinecittà Studios to build the stunning replica. The chapel and opulent Casa Santa Marta were built on Stage 15—one of the studio’s largest and most versatile properties—and the sets were created by a team of 50 experienced craftsmen. It took them 10 weeks to recreate Michelangelo’s piece de resistance (while the famous Renaissance artist took four full years to create the original).

Outran
Much of Nora Fingscheidt’s recovery drama, starring Saoirse Ronan, based on local writer Amy Liptrot’s best-selling novel, was filmed on Scotland’s Orkney Islands (though Outrun itself, a wild, windswept stretch of coastline, is set on a private farm). . Although Orkney has no local production companies, equipment rentals, permits, location scouting and other logistics can be handled through government-funded Orkney Marketing, which acts as the de facto film office for the archipelago (population 22,000).

Substance
Veteran Parisian company Voulez-vous Production Services conducted a 108-day shoot on the horror film Coralie Farge, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, which was filmed in Paris and the Côte d’Azur. Working with a predominantly French crew (and a 40% tax credit), the film crew traveled through the Alpes-Maritimes in search of locations reminiscent of Hollywood and California. The gambit paid off: French audiences at the film’s Cannes premiere were reportedly shocked to learn that the film had been filmed in their own backyard.

Gladiator II
Ridley Scott and company returned to the island of Malta to film the sequel to the 2000 Best Picture winner, where the impressive 17th-century Fort Ricasoli – a fully functioning set run by the country’s film commission, Screen Malta – was used to recreate Ancient Rome. Crews also built an amphitheater on the fort’s 70,000 square meter grounds, while water tanks at the Malta Film Studios, also run by Screen Malta, which can help the country with a 40 per cent cash discount, were used for the film’s epic naval battles.

Maria
Although Pablo Larraín’s biopic of American-born Greek opera diva Maria Callas was filmed several times in Greece (where she spent her formative years) and Paris (where she eventually died), much of the film starring Angelina Jolie was Filmed in Budapest. . Local production company Pioneer Stillking Films used locations such as the Hungarian State Opera House and the historic Express building, which doubled as Callas’s large apartment in Paris. (However, filming focused on one day of filming in Milan to give La Scala a star turn.)

Dune 2
Dennis Villeneuve’s sci-fi sequel opened a workshop in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan to film dramatic desert scenes, and production services, key crew and equipment were provided by Budapest-based Mid Atlantic Films, which, thanks to a Hungarian tax incentive, was able to take advantage of 30 % discount of this country. Local production crews also took part in the construction of huge film sets in the middle of the desert, with support from Dubai-based Epic Films and Jordanian company Zaman Project Management.

Blitz
While various locations in the British capital, including tube stations and Waterloo’s famous Rupell Street, hosted Steve McQueen’s ambitious Second World War drama, much of Blitz-era London (such as the West End nightclub Café de Paris) was recreated at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. using four sound stages and a studio stage. Key sequences were also filmed in Hull, whose Paragon Station doubled as London’s Paddington, while the main story was filmed at the historic Chatham Dockyard, a former naval facility.

real pain
Jesse Eisenberg’s road movie about two cousins ​​on a “Holocaust tour” in Poland received support from a number of local bodies and commissions, including the Polish Film Institute and the Warsaw Mazovia Film Commission, which co-financed the project, as well as a 30% Polish cash rebate . Key scenes were filmed with the help of the Lublin Film Fund in this eastern city, where Oscar-winning producer Ewa Puszczyńska also worked closely with local authorities to obtain rare permission to film at the Majdanek concentration camp.

Nosferatu
Robert Eggers’ reimagining of the 1922 silent German horror film was filmed in various locations across the Czech Republic with the help of Prague-based Stillking Films – and national discounts set to rise to 25% in January – using locations such as the 13th-century Rožmital Castle in Bohemia and Prague’s stunning Invalidovna complex, a former home for war veterans. Filming also took place at Prague’s legendary Barrandov Studios, where three stages and sets were used to create the film’s elaborate sets.

strange
Although much of Luca Guadagnino’s acclaimed adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ confessional novel is set in Mexico City (and largely filmed at Rome’s Cinecittà cinema), the production used a week of filming in Sicily to recreate 1940s Latin America, including a botanical garden Palermo. – which doubled as a Mexican forest – and the city square, Piazza Magione, where a bustling market was built. Although the equipment was brought from Rome, the Sicilian Film Commission helped the production use regional funds and gain access to places such as the inaccessible nature reserve along the Belice River, which stood in for Panama.

Emilia Perez
French director Jacques Audiard planned to film his musical crime comedy about a Mexican cartel leader who changes gender to avoid the law in Mexico, but ultimately settled on Bry-Sur-Marne Studios near Paris to film France’s film. for the international feature film Oscar. Audiard’s production team created an authentic Mexican setting in the studio, which recently expanded significantly as part of France’s 2030 modernization plan and hosts approximately half of all French productions.

September 5
To capture the drama of ABC’s sports team reporting on the hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Oscar contender Tim Fehlbaum’s production team built a near-perfect replica of the channel’s control room at Munich’s Bavaria Studios, using an 11,300-square-foot sound stage. Production designer Julian R. Wagner and his team acquired original equipment from museums and private collectors throughout Europe. The monitors were even connected and operated by full-service studio post office Panoptimo, allowing actors to interact with archival footage in real time.

Brutalist
Brady Corbet’s epic tells the story of a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who travels from Budapest to America after World War II, but the production, co-produced by Budapest-based Proton Cinema, doesn’t go that far. Production designer Judy Becker and her team used the streets of the Hungarian capital to recreate mid-century American suburbia, receiving help from the Hungarian National Film Institute, which offered support in the form of a 30% tax break, and from the laboratory that processed all 26 reels of 70- Corbet millimeter film.

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