Creepy sets, gore, a sweary Emile Hirsch and lots of gallows humour.
There are long corridors.
Low lighting that picks out the Victorian wallpaper but leaves corners shrouded in deep shadow.
This is the set ofThe Autopsy Of Jane Doe,the English-language debut and second feature fromTrollhunterdirector Andre vredal.
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The coroners room is quite something.
Theres a big marble slab on which the examinations take place.
Pretend brickwork looks like real brick.
Fake iron beams look like real iron beams.
Theres also a bit covered in black cloth where a character can go up and out into the moonlight.
After these double doors, this is an original bit turn of the century.
Then after these doors its more 1960s.
It moves on as you journey through it.
The sense of immersion extends to the production schedule itself.
The set has to cope with a lot of physical effects, Gant says.
Weve had to make doors really solid so they dont shake when theyre being battered…
Horror tends to be most effective when you care about the characters youre watching, Garcia tells us.
Otherwise theyre just expendable teenagers.
The fact that [the script has] this father-son story means youre really invested in them.
My investment in a horror movie triples when I care about the relationships.
But it can breed a bit of a workman environment.
A sort of, Yeah, Ive done this before.
Lets go to work and get it done.
Theres a real ambition and excitement here about doing something cinematic and interesting.
LA and New York are incredibly expensive places to shoot, Berger says.
The make-up team has a room.
Theres a room for the production designers, full of plan drawings for the set and bits of research.
Theres a green room, which is locked.
We pass a little kitchen.
Out back, theres a canteen area where the crew can sit and eat.
Theres also a ping-pong table.
Eventually, we arrive at a trailer parked behind the warehouse, where Brian Cox is unwinding between takes.
Every so often there comes along a script which is completely compelling, Cox says.
It has this quality ofThe Shining the quality of something which is so mysterious.
And its all done with such incredible detail.
The whole notion of the material aspect of human life its kind of spooky in that way.
Again, likeThe Shining,its so contained in one space it deals with itself incredibly well.
It doesnt attempt to take it outside.
It just deals with what goes on in that room.
I just thought it was a script worth doing Im not particularly a horror fan.
Its not something Im really wild about, but this script is very well written.
Its thoughtful and detailed.
A doubles brought over to stand in position as lights are moved and the cameras placed just so.
Hirsch is brought in later.
Medical prints line the walls.
Hirschs Austin stands in the murk, looking pensive, when all of a sudden a door crashes shut.
Cut, someone says.
…and so on.
This continues for what might be around 10 takes, Hirsch varying the way he says Fuck!
Between takes, Hirsch whistles nonchalantly.
We watch all this on sound monitors well outside the confined space of the set.
Outside, a plane circles, noisily.
Can we get an anti-aircraft gun out, like?
the sound man dead pans.
In Finchers 2007 masterpiece,Zodiac, Cox played defence attorney Melvin Belli.
Some people get 38 takes, you know?
Whats the problem here?
Then they start to lag, and David says, Whats happened to the actors?
What are they doing?
And he wants to do more takes.
Over in the make-up department, we meet artists Bella Cruickshank and Jemma Harwood.
We take it in turns sometimes, Harwood adds.
If you looked at our internet history, Cruickshank nods, wed be locked up…
There are so many images of dead bodies on our iPads.
If the makeup looks to obvious, then itll show up on camera.
Shes not wearing any make-up, and there are extreme close-ups on her.
Yeah, thats the hardest part of it, Harwood says.
If youre putting make-up on her, and you go in macro, you could totally see it.
So we tried loads of different ways to get something sheer enough to look like skin.
Its a constant thing, looking after her.
While were talking, we cant help noticing some of the things dotted around the makeup room.
Or, more accurately, their stunt doubles, the makeup artists later tell us.
But not far away, theres an odd triangle of neatly-trimmed hair, lying forlornly.
The triangles what we assumed it was: a pubic wig, fondly dubbed Mary by the crew.
Getting her pubic wig correct was quite a challenge, wasnt it?
Harwood says, chirpily.
There were lots of different emails from producers.
Because shes supposed to be from the 16th century whats correct?
Whats not going to be distracting?
The worst part of that was actually the research trying to find the perfect pubic area, Cruickshank agrees.
We were sending around all these pictures.
We first looked at 70s bushes, and they were too big.
Ah, the magic of cinema.
For some reason,Dont Mess With The Zohanis mentioned, and they all giggle.
During each take, the lights are dimmed, and the Virginia basement takes on a haunting atmosphere.
Tescos isnt far off, either.
Theres comfort in this.
Nothing bad ever happens near somewhere civilised like Tescos.
The Autopsy Of Jane Doeis out in UK cinemas on the 31st March.
