BLACK KNIGHT - Production... -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 11/20/2000
Last Visited: 12/21/2001
The realism and authenticity also extended to the film's production design, especially the film's principal set: a castle that looks like it might have been built in the 14th century but was the handiwork of production designer Leslie Dilley.Situated in the middle of what had been a parking lot at Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, the castle was a marvel of imagination, careful research and lots of hard work.
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After interviewing several prospective designers, Junger gave the assignment to Leslie Dilley.
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Upon arriving on location in Wilmington, Dilley and his staff put to paper ideas he had when he first read the script, built models of the village and castle, and began to clear the land on the Wilmington backlot."BLACK KNIGHT was a golden opportunity for me, especially being from England," Dilley offers."How often do you get to recreate medieval England'?"
Instead of using his homeland's surroundings, Dilley recreated medieval England in Wilmington."Finding a castle with room for cast and crew, a courtyard and moat, surrounded by grass and trees would have been nearly impossible," Dilley explains."The set had to be right for the director, the camera operators and the actors."
Nevertheless, there is more than a little touch of England in Dilley's North Carolina castle.He made fiberglass molds of actual stone work of castles from the English countryside.The plaster shop at the studio then made hundreds of plaster casts that were then nailed or stapled into place, then plastered and sealed.Each stone was individually painted to make the castle walls look just the right age.
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It took Dilley and his crew of 100 craftsmen and construction workers over three months to build the castle and neighboring village.The front of the castle, complete with drawbridge and moat, looked out over a grassy field, which was seeded with a winter-growing rye.The courtyard, measuring 300 feet across, was lined with pens holding goats and Jacob's sheep (a four- horned breed that dates to that period), carts of straw, and booths for peasant extras to buy and sell meats, vegetables and other necessities.Dilley, ever mindful that he was working on a comedy, lightened the imposing set with bright banners and tapestries.