Are you able to begin by telling me the place this island exists, in actual life?
The island is a fictitious island, which comes from a have to make it unique in addition to geographically bizarre and mysterious—no person is aware of the place it’s, and it’s troublesome to flee as a result of you possibly can’t simply depart. There’s this remark: “There are not any medical doctors on this island.” We would have liked to invent it, and we went for not an island in any respect. In a earlier draft, there have been extra scenes on the seashore, however we turned out to not want it. We went for an present location, a hacienda within the jungle, and we modified it in order that it will not be recognizable.
It was Zoë who first urged it, after we had been scouting throughout and went to the Yucatán, that we go for a spot with a bit extra historical past. It might give Channing’s character a bit extra depth—not only a wealthy child, however somebody who’s into tradition and historical past. We received inspiration from a number of haciendas, and on the finish we had to decide on only one.
And which one was that?
We selected Temazon Sur, which is a hacienda about an hour-and-a-half south of Mérida, the place we might keep. We might additionally generally keep in Temazon Sur in varied teams—first, we had a development crew to make modifications, then the set ornament crew, then producers and assistant administrators, and by the point we had been capturing, it was simply the actors and I used to be completely satisfied as a result of it was a very long time to be staying within the jungle and Mérida presents fantastic locations to eat and nice jazz golf equipment.
What was it about Temazon Sur that spoke to you, and what did you wish to carry to it?
We wished to make use of lots of purple as a base, and this hacienda was all purple exterior with good little white accents. We additionally appreciated that this explicit hacienda had produced hennequin vegetation, that are used to make ropes and fibers. And, within the movie, the island produces a really distinctive and particular flower in order that was a pleasant thread.