Nathan Crowley 2.0
AS: John Myhre told me about how when he worked on musicals they would build a parallel set made out of plywood that the dancers could rehearse on. Did you do anything like that?
NC: Yes, our process often involved constructing scaled-down, plywood versions of the stage. These mock-ups sometimes included plain plywood flats representing walls, complete with simulated openings and entrances. You have to give them warm, dry spaces and tape everything out and put vertical elements in. I’d assign a Stand-by Art Director to the rehearsals that would provide support and move the flats. That Stand-by would come and see us after every rehearsal day and give us a bunch of notes. He’d say, They need to jump through this window here. So we’d design something and make it work. That was so important! This feedback was crucial. No surprises.
Throughout the development process, Jon maintained consistent communication. He shared videos of the dance rehearsals and photographs with me every day, which is key. And during the initial construction, I’d send him videos every week on a sixteen to eighteen week build, allowing him to review progress over the weekend. You need to let everyone know and let them be part of it.
AS: You have a large team of art directors on a movie at the budget-level of Wicked. What are all these art directors responsible for?
NC: Because of the scale of the sets it’s an art director per set. For something like Shiz University, Munchkinland, Emerald City or the Train, we require highly experienced, senior art directors. They’re supported by an art director and an assistant art director because all the workshops aren’t near the backlot. The senior art director is out in the field in a portacabin and they need support from the office with draftspeople and set designers, so there’s a smooth workflow. Someone’s got to go around to the plaster shops, the paint shops, the metal shops and oversee the scenics, greens department, riggers, and special effects, all of which fall under our purview. We also manage the propshops, draperies, and prop builders. You need people to be intimately familiar with everything that’s being made for every set. A supervising art director works alongside me, monitoring all aspects of this process. And we also have to navigate politics with the other departments. With these giant films the management gets giant and with that comes its own set of issues.
Budgetary control is paramount because when you’re running eight hundred construction guys a week, one slip in payroll and you will not be forgiven. There’s no room for exceeding the budget; that concept is obsolete. It’s not like the old days. The allocated budget is the definitive limit, the figure agreed upon at the outset. So you have to have a team of people. Art departments naturally expand to meet these demands. Once again, I’ve been trained. My previous experience has been invaluable. There’s no way I could have undertaken a project like Wicked without having done films like Interstellar, Wonka or Dunkirk. There’s just no way. These experiences have honed my instincts, enabling me to recognize when and where my presence is needed. Design intuition dictates that I might need to intervene or investigate certain situations. A gut feeling might tell me, I need to get in the car and go over there. And, of course, there are times when I need to connect with Jon and the shooting crew.