The production design of Cutthroat Island (1995)
Director: Renny Harlin
Production designer: Norman Garwood
Summary
Renny Harlin’s Cutthroat Island was huge in every aspect: musical score, effects, locations, and most importantly, in its production and costume design. Sparring no expense for the gender swapped pirate flick, Harlin managed to create sensational set pieces across the supposedly Caribbean (shot in the exotic locales of Thailand). There is an accurate recreation of the 17th century British colonial Empire featuring warm stone, arched colonnades, and courtyards populated by red coats, carriages, and advanced naval ships with larger than life canons. The film does not shy away from the depiction of slavery either showcasing what happens to those that are deemed unfit to live in the new world.
Production designer Norman Garwood creates convincingly and in exquisite detail several locations throughout the running time: jungle camps, dungeons, cliff caves, sleazy taverns, aristocratic halls, royal ports, sea towns, and two massive, fully functional pirate ship replicas only for most of them to be subjected to some spectacular pyrotechnics. Nevertheless, he swings from the low-class that is represented by the pirates (together with crooked teeth, tattoos, wooden legs, and eye patches) to the then British aristocracy introduced in a lavish recital within the halls of Jamaica’s governor. It is rare to see that type of authentic commitment being ignored at the time of the movie’s release; yet time has allowed Harlin’s bombastic swashbuckling adventure to take a more prevalent position amidst the preferences of modern cinephiles.
Colours
Shingle fawn, boulder, seaweed, russet, chosen blue, dark drab, hairy heath, fashion black, forest night, brown pod, new amber, dark beige, dusty brown, sports teal, dark khaki green, brushed gold, dark racing green, vivid black, green waterloo, royal dark green, lifeless, madras
Influences
Golden age of piracy
17th century British Colonialism
