ANOTHER AMERICAN SHOW MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA
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| Eight part drama follows adventures of the hugely charismatic, roguish, American adventurer Hooten (Michael Landes) and his feisty partner in crime, Lady Alexandra (Ophelia Lovibond) as they travel the world in the series mostly shot in South Africa. PICTURE: randompicsilike |
Red Planet Pictures filmed British drama Hooten and The Lady largely in South Africa to tell the story of the
adventures of an American treasure hunter and his historian companion.
Filming also took place in locations as varied as Cambodia, Moscow and
London, but the production was primarily based in Cape Town, shooting
across South Africa for around 100 days with service company Out of Africa.
The country doubled for the likes of Russia, the Caribbean, the Amazon
and Bhutan, while an adapted studio space was used in an industrial area
outside Cape Town.
A tight filming schedule was one of the central challenges, especially
as the production team moved around a lot and sometimes had to find a way into
less accessible locations.
“We had camels, horses, snakes and scorpions in various episodes,” said
Out of Africa's Lynne-Anne Vosloo to KFTV. “Animals can be unpredictable
and camels can be very bad-tempered.
“Due to a bush fire near one of our locations doubling for Ethiopia, the
place had to be abandoned and a replacement found at the last minute. This was
particularly challenging because not only did the location have a very specific
look but a lot of time and effort had gone into planning a big stunt rig. But
none of these challenges was too big for our amazing crew and cast, who took
each day in their stride.”
One episode is set in Italy and
the team filmed in the European country for a week to shoot locations that
could not be easily doubled in South Africa.
“However, we used the University of Cape Town for Rome exteriors and
interiors such as the Vatican library,” Vosloo added.
“We created a hotel lobby and bedroom in Rome in a disused [South
African] bank that had suitable architecture and we created a Roman excavation
site in the Huguenot Tunnel about 45 minutes from Cape Town.”
South Africa is a popular international filming location as it offers a
warm climate, rugged terrain and cosmopolitan cities that can double for
countries around the world, particularly parts of east Asia that are otherwise
more of a logistical challenge.
The UK agreed a new TV filming deal with South Africa over the summer. - copy from KFTV by Nicky Goundry
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