American Cinematographer - March 1989 - 36

preparation should

never, for what¬
delay the filming or
postpone the fixed schedule. The
film crews were so awfully expen¬
sive, that the very idea of interrupt¬
ing the shooting because the set
was not
ready was totally incon¬
ever

reason,

ceivable. You also have to consid¬

er," explains the production

designer, "that The Adventures of
Baron Miinchausen is

a

costume

film, chronologically located at the
end of the 18th century. But the
movie does not portray that epoch
archeologically, so to speak. Every¬

thing is filtered through the fantasy
of a man living at that time, the
Baron himself, who also happened
to be the biggest liar who ever exis¬
ted. His stories don't

so

much be¬

long to the specific historical period
as
they do to the vivid inventiveness
and creative imagination of our un¬
truthful character."
The motion

picture was
complex from Ferretti's point of
view: "Because the plot hardly ever
offered any realistic archeological
so

reference, I had to

use my own
way Baron Munch¬
would supposedly have

fantasy the
ausen

used it

as a man

of his time, that

is, in the

light of that century's
ingenuous beliefs. Materializing all
these stories of sheer imagination
was no
easy job."
About
movie

was

one

third of the

filmed in

Spain, where

most of the items built in Cinecitta

had to be

taken, and where Ferretti
the set of the Turks'
camp (located in Almeria), as well
had to build up
as

recreate the Mediterranean town

attacked

citta

studios, but simultaneously at

two outdoor sites in

in the South and

Spain: Almeria

Belchite,

some

700

km further north. Most of the work
was

done at Cinecitta, where the

movie

occupied

studios at the

a

time.

and passion, together with
specialized craftsmen

team of

working in different laboratories,
into reconstructing the balloon, the

belly of the whale, the variously
sized Eighteenth Century ships
34

American

"It would be

exaggera¬

of the time Gilliam intended to

saying that in many ways I
played the Atlas of the situation. I
had amazing responsibilities, not
only because all indoor and out¬

spend on shooting those scenes,
only two weeks. We were almost at
our wit's end, when I
suddenly re¬
called this place in Spain, Belchite,

door locations

where I had been

as many as seven

same

Here, Ferretti put all his
energy

(authentic works of art in taste and
carving precision), as well as the
many other wondrous things
needed for the Baron's flights of
the imagination.

Cinematographer

by the Turks, in Belchite.
"The first drawings I did
for the town were inspired by Ber¬
nardo Bellotto's baroque landscape
paintings. But after spending three
months drawing the city (which
was
originally to be reconstructed
in Cinecitta), we realized the proj¬
ect would be far too costly in view

no

tion

were

meticulously

reconstructed in every single de¬
tail. The movie's extremely high

years

costs also meant that the

No

March 1989

scenery

some

twelve

before during an on-the-spot
inspection for a Sidney Lumet film,
Pasaran, which

was

never
American Cinematographer - March 1989

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