Memoirs Of A Geisha (cont'd)

ART DIRECTION
SAYURI’S WORLD

Bringing Memoirs of a Geisha’s textured atmosphere to the screen was a major challenge, as well as a rare opportunity to take the audience into a vanishing world. After realizing the obstacles to filming in an actual hanamachi, or geisha district within a city, and after further scouting on several continents, the filmmakers decided to build their own hanamachi.

Production designer John Myhre devised a detailed floor plan for the village with director Rob Marshall. Next came a full set of technical drawings for some 40 buildings and the construction of a quarter-inch model of the hanamachi, complete with toy cars and rickshaws and the carved path of a serpentine river. The model provided a frame of reference for many production decisions. “We put a small ‘lipstick’ camera inside the model so we could view on a monitor what it was like to be in there,” said Myhre. “Rob and director of photography Dion Beebe played with it all the time and even used it to plan a complicated crane shot.”

The hanamachi was built at Ventura Farms, an immense horse ranch about an hour outside Los Angeles with mountains in the distance and 360 degree green valley views. In 14 weeks, a grazing pasture was transformed into five meandering blocks of cobblestone streets, alleyways and a river -- 250 feet long, 22 feet across and eight feet deep -- with a re-circulating system that created the illusion of running water.

The set was built with cedar, bamboo and clear fir. Black bamboo and sheets of cedar bark, both unavailable in the U.S., were shipped from Japan, along with fences made of woven grass and bamboo. Huge quantities of window coverings, reeds and mats were purchased in Kyoto. To accommodate the shooting schedule’s seasonal shifts, four hand-made cherry trees were created for each time of year.