I guess nobody had the foresight to ask this simple question.
I know nothing about making films, but as soon as I saw the filming location, I said "when it rains, I bet that area is all going to get washed out".
I figured they knew it too, but I guess not.
What were they thinking? I guess they thought the weather never changes in Spain.
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Thats a region where it actually almost never rains. That was definetly bad luck.
shareThat's actually not true. That region is in N Spain not that far from the Pyrenees and it does get the same rain as in regions around. It just *looks* desertic because there is a great concentration of plaster in the soil that makes it hard for plants to grow and live.
Bloody hell, all those weird shapes Gilliam was so interested about in the first place were shaped by WATER erosion.
Shooting there was totally idiotic on Gilliam's part, an error of epic proportions... They had their HQ in Madrid for crying out loud... They had the *real* La Mancha within walking distance! Well, about 2-3 hours at best in car, but you get the math. Nevermind real! La Mancha is perfectly connected with Madrid by High-Speed rail and there is even a small airport in Ciudad Real (though I'm not sure it was finished at the time of filming). Instead they went to shoot on a location on the other corner of the country that required a 7 hours long bus trip without even bothering to check that it was a military testing site to begin with.
To me, it looks like Gilliam said he liked the shape of those mountains after looking some photos in a magazine and none of the yes-men surrounding him dared to ever say "no" to him.
I wondered that as well. Didn't anyone bother to check the weather? That would be the first thing I think the producers should have done. Definitely the New Zealand producer should have done that.
Then I saw that terrain and knew what was coming next: mudslide. Whoever did their homework for that movie didn't do much of it.
The assistant director did say he checked the weather. The problem with that site though was the planes flying around. Gilliam should have spent some time there previously or certainly have left after the first day
shareThe problem with that site though was the planes flying around.
Gilliam should have spent some time there previously or certainly have left after the first day
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This thread is really old, but in case if anyone wants to talk about it here are my thoughts:
When making a film you always have a cover set in case of weather. However, on a location that's far away from anything else you are probably better off just to wait for the weather to move off than to go somewhere else for the day. Plus, you have to remember they were already on a Plan B since their Don Quixote couldn't show up. And covering up their equipment that quickly showed they were ready for the possibility of rain. There just weren't many options for them at that point in time. They probably didn't have any other location ready by that point either.