Shooting a Sam Mendes Broadway Rollercoaster
I took a trip to Blackpool – sort of – to shoot new artwork for the Broadway transfer of hit Jez Butterworth play The Hills of California, directed by Sam Mendes.
Producers Sonia Friedman / Neal Street asked agency Spotco & creative Drew Hodges to create a campaign showing NY audiences the drama, sisterly energy & ‘generational’ aspects of the Webb sisters’ story, told across across decades.
The answer was: shoot them on a rollercoaster!
Life is a rollercoaster, literally.
Sadly, we couldn’t shoot on an actual 50s Blackpool rollercoaster, but, referring to Bert Hardy’s classic photojournalism, we did light & shoot the actors with the candid, grainy, blurred energy of reportage, and helped them feel like they were rushing down the big dipper.
That meant a fully-90-degree-tiltable, coaster-carriage set build, erecting some enormous continuous light sources to mimic a sunny day, & arraying four large wind machines for maximum pretend g-forces!
It was still a big ask for the actors to let themselves go, but both the 50s and 70s versions of the Webb sisters gave their best screaming delight/terror. Which given the inclines involved, may or may not have been genuine…
Once team Spotco had finessed the imagery into its setting, adding grade to the grainy shots, the ride, and campaign, drawing parallels between the sisters over years, was complete.
Portraits of Eras
As a bonus, by subtly varied use of the very large light sources I was also able to capture some contrasting, era-approporiate solo portraits to draw connections between characters over time & create unique assets.
A Broadway Debut
Happily, I was in New York just before the play opened, so was able to see my own Broadway debut, of a sort…
The Team
Client: Sonia Friedman, Neal Street Productions, Spotco
Creative Director: Drew Hodges
Art Direction: Michael Wharley & Drew Hodges
Styling: Production Team
Glam: Production Team
Assistant: Digi: Shivy Karagaratnam, First: Emma Pottinger, Second: Ruben Davies, Second: Stef Coetzee
Retouch: Spotco.
Shot at/kit by : Holborn Studios.