Studio
Among the dozens of warehouses and structures on the site are carpenters, metal workers, prop storage, costume departments, model makers… literally everything and anything you could ever want to make a movie was available on-site and can be requested at a moments notice. While we were there, sets were being built for George Clooney’s Monuments Men, props being called for and all of this was being done before our very eyes. We also got to see some of the signs that had been created for Ryan Reynolds’ The Voices which had all been made to look very retro even though they were brand new off the production line.
As I mentioned earlier, the Studio has a vast collection of costumes with over 500 000 on the premises at any one time! Some of the costumes from movies that have shot here were on display for us to see including the outfit that Kate Winslet wore in The Reader, outfits from Inglorious Basterds, and those worn by the cast from Valkyrie including Tom Cruises’ outfit which you can see below.
The highlight of the day for me was visiting on the the backlots at the Babelsberg and then realising that one of my favourite movies of all time, The Pianist had shot here. It wasn’t until i walked onto the set (which had just finished shooting Geofrey Rush’s new movie The Book Thief) that i realised this is where much of the movie had taken place. Remember the infamous scene where the man in the wheelchair is thrown from a top story window, or where Adrien Brody’s character Wladyslaw Szpilman hides out for much of the film, or even where the battle between the resistance and the Nazis takes place? All of those scenes were shot right here. Similarly, this is the same street where the cinema was filmed for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastereds. It’s hard to imagine but in this is where the external cinema scenes were shot.
It really was a fascinating place to visit and thank you so much to Studio Babelsberg for being so accommodating.
Cloud Atlas hits UK DVD, Blu-ray and digital download shelves from today! Click here to buy your copy.