The location chosen for this vital part of the story was Alston in Cumbria, which was selected for a number of reasons. Miles from the actual coast itself, perched up at over 1900 feet in the North Pennines, the town claims to be the highest market settlement in England. Malcolm Thornton considered a number of actual coastal towns in the South, but decided that they were all too pretty.
"We wanted the town to look really simple and honest; somewhere that didn’t need too much work to get rid of its modernity. We happened to be in this area looking at a nearby location and so we came to Alston. I had an immediately positive reaction to it, mainly because of its shape – there is a natural triangular relationship between Sowerberry’s shop, the workhouse gate, and the pub. It has a steep cobbled slope leading up to the Market Square and, importantly for us, there are not too many modern shop fronts. We wanted to show that Oliver’s early years were fairly charmless, so it had to look gritty and close knit. The last thing we wanted was for it to look in any way twee or cosy."
Keith Thompson adds: "The important thing about Alston is that it is a working town. There are plenty of villages in the South of England, which are perfectly preserved, but they are just too pretty and don’t have the right atmosphere. Another good thing about Alston is that it doesn’t reveal its geographical location by its architecture."
Alston lies in the midst of the most dramatic landscape. But with the dramatic landscape also came dramatic weather. Scheduled for a week’s shooting in April – supposedly springtime – they encountered the most extreme weather conditions from hail, freezing snow, bracing winds and bright sunshine. In caused a nightmare for continuity. But despite the appalling weather conditions, the atmosphere between locals and the invading unit was one of genuine co-operation. Hundreds of local people volunteered to be extras.
"The key in these situations, is to involve the local community as much as possible," says Keith Thompson. "Alston is a working town and we had to respect that."
The shooting schedule changed constantly in an attempt to deal with the vagaries of the weather. The oddest problems cropped up like what to do with frozen fish. When the day’s shooting schedule was changed at the last minute, someone had to work out what to do with the dozens of fish, which were all gutted and ready for use on the market stalls. So, the fish were packed off to a freezer, to stand by. But then someone still had to decide when to risk taking them out of the freezer, to be ready for shooting, if the weather changed.
The World of Fagin – shot in the Czech Republic
When Oliver runs away from the town, he scurries down an alley, then walks towards London. His journey is shot in the Chilterns. Along his way he meets the Artful Dodger for the first time, which is set in Barnet. In the early 19th century Barnet was a small village, not the suburb of London which it is now. So this scene was shot in the village of Cuddington in Oxfordshire which is a quiet and peaceful place.
However, on arrival in London, the Artful Dodger leads Oliver into the East End, to Jacob’s Island where he enters the world of Fagin – the London underworld. As Keith Thompson explains, "The old buildings in that part of London, down by the Thames just don’t exist anymore, they were all destroyed, so we had to go elsewhere. The Czech Republic offered us a lot of different textures, cobbled streets, alleys and semi-derelict buildings."
Malcolm Thornton adds: "Fagin’s world of back streets and alleyways is shot in the Czech Republic in the derelict town of Zatec, just north of Prague, where the only inhabitants are Slovakian gypsies. Zatec offered deserted streets, a square, unrestored old buildings and virtually no residents. The crumbling old buildings were perfect for us, and all its alleyways mean that we could create the right atmosphere for Fagin’s gang."
Most of the interiors, including Fagin’s den itself were shot in the huge Barrandov Studios in Prague. "We chose to put Fagin in an old run-down merchant’s house. At that time a lot of that class of people moved out of town and the vagabonds and criminals moved in. Fagin and his gang crawl into the house through a hole in the wall and make use of everything they find. The place had an atmosphere of faded gentility, but was also dirty and crumbling."
For the big scenes at the end of the story where Fagin and Sikes are chased over the buildings, the unit moved to the historic town of Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. There they used the castle, and the nunnery, before going up onto the roof tops where the actual chase took place.
"We went there on a recce, and found our way up into the rooftops. By pure chance we bumped into a Czech architect who was a specialist in medieval ruins and rooftops. He showed us all these interlinking corridors between the buildings. It ended up on a gantry by the edge of a river, which was exactly what we needed. Meeting him and finding this was a pure moment of serendipity."
Prague itself was used for the occasional street scene, or a glimpse down an alleyway and for all the non-English locations in the story, like Rome and Paris.
For Bill Sikes’ hide-out the designer found an old building, completely supported by wooden scaffolding. Interior scenes were shot at the Barrandov Studios. Keith Thompson says: "The reason we chose the Czech Republic in the first place was purely financial, as we save money on studio space and construction. Barrandov is cheaper than studios in England, but the country also has a very sophisticated film infrastructure. Barrandov was built in 1931 and they make a huge number of films there, so there is a history of film-making and the local industry is strong. So it’s not just about being cost-effective, but also about having the back-up and expertise."
MAKE-UP AND COSTUME
The brief to costume designer Ross Ebbut and make-up and hair designer Lesley Lamont Fisher was not to shy away from the horrors of poverty in 19th century England.
"We’re not flinching at all from how hard things were at that time," says Lesley. "The poverty was real, life was harsh and we’re not ducking away from that at all. In a way it’s like the culture shock people get when they travel in the Third World. People looked frightening because of the poverty. We’re trying to get that across. Life was not pleasant, it certainly wasn’t the good old days."
It was the task for Lesley and Ross to reflect this way of living in the look of the actors. "It is important to do your research about the period and to understand how people lived and dressed at that time," says Ebbut.
Lesley explains how she transforms the actors’ features in the make up chair. "Actors come in from a nice warm hotel, having had a big breakfast and they have to be totally transformed. As you start the make-up process, they begin to get into the character and by the time they leave the make-up chair, they’re half way there."
In Oliver Twist, there is an extraordinary array of flamboyant and colourful characters, all of whom have to be brought to life on screen. At the lower end of the class scale is Oliver himself and all those in the workhouse.
Lesley says, "When I first saw Sam Smith, who plays Oliver, it was apparent that he has these lovely rosy coloured cheeks and red lips, but I put a death colour on him which completely takes out the red tones and stops his face glowing. He has dark colour under his eyes, so it looks as though he’s drawn and like his diet is bad and makes him look frail, so he shrinks right into the Cruikshank drawing of Oliver - a victim who is dragged from pillar to post. Someone in Oliver’s position would be malnourished with a bad diet and the life expectancy of these boys was awful."
Ross Ebbut continues, "How Oliver looks is completely dictated by what is happening in the story. He has his workhouse clothes, which he wears continuously until he goes to Brownlow’s house. When he arrives there he is given children’s clothes that Brownlow has lying around for the children he takes in. He wears a little woollen suit, but he is never transformed into velvets and lace as we’re steering right away from the Little Lord Fauntleroy look."
After Oliver escapes the horrors of the workhouse he ends up with Fagin and his boys. Fagin is one of Dickens’ best-loved and most memorable characters and his look is firmly imprinted on the popular imagination.
"We learn a little bit more about Fagin in Bleasdale’s dramatisation," says Ross Ebbut. "He is a magician and a gypsy. His front job is trading in second hand clothes, so in his den we’ll have rails of old clothes. Everything is fifth hand, nothing is new, so we’ve used a lot of 18th century clothes. The whole thing should look slightly nightmarish, a strange underworld – as Leeford travels through in his carriage, it is almost like Dante’s journey – and we see all these things that are going to effect Oliver later on."
Fagin is entirely in charge of his surrounding and how he looks is of vital importance. Robert Lindsay has special teeth made which are out of shape, so they look really crammed in on the top and bottom. "Robert has played him before," says Lamont Fisher, "so it’s a matter of pulling back on the staged look and making him seem more real. He looks like a kind of gypsy, conjuror character, but must be hypnotic for the children. He looks intriguing, but not frightening."
Two of the other very familiar characters in Oliver Twist are Bill Sikes and Nancy. They are strong forces in Bleasdale’s dramatisation, but the way they look may differ slightly from the more traditional look associated with these characters.
"Nancy is not the clichéd blonde," says Lesley. "She has brown hair with a pale face. She’s a victim, but she also has a strong character, despite being physically frail. She has to look sympathetic and have a quality that Oliver responds to. Bill Sikes is played by Andy Serkis who is actually quite handsome. So, his face is made up to look heavier and we’ve kept quite a lot of stubble on, big black sideboards and hacked into his hair. He has scars on him and he’s a big drinker, so his eyes are bloodshot, so he’s like an alley cat out robbing people at night – there’s a blackness to him which we have to reflect."
Boozing is part of the life of the poor and part of life in the workhouse. The hysterically funny Mrs. Mann, as played by Julie Walters, and her long suffering partner Mr. Bumble are often to be found having a quiet tipple while death and hardship wreaks havoc on those around them. She and Bumble are one social step up from the inhabitants of the workhouse, but they are surrounded by the horrors of death and suffering every day.
"Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Mann are one step up from the poorest characters, they are still boozy, but have a slightly better quality of life. As Mrs. Mann drinks a fair bit, we’ve put broken veins on her to give her that gin-laden look, but we’ve kept her warm round face. We had quite a lot of fun with her hair style, which a lot of the time is quite tightly packed, apart from on her wedding day where she goes slightly wild and has this rather extravagant attempt at a stylish cut. After the marriage when things immediately go downhill, she has a quite severe hair style, what we call ‘The Piano Look’ -or Holly Hunter on Gin! It’s a small touch, but a good one and Julie carries it off to great effect."
