The Lemony Snicket series of books, penned by author Daniel Handler under the pseudonym he uses for his narrator character in the book series, has become a favorite of the young adult crowd (and even the adult crowd) in recent years. The series has gotten so popular that it's even given the untouchable Harry Potter series a run for its money on the bestseller lists. The world cooked up by Handler is one of utmost imagination and adventure, featuring elements of horror, thriller, adventure, comedy and tall tale all rolled into one.
The new film, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, is based on the first three books of the series. The three Baudelaire children, Violet (Emily Browning), Klaus (Liam Aiken) and the baby Sunny (Kara and Shelby Hoffman), get the terrible news that their parents have died in a fire. Left with no one of close relation to take them in, they are sent off to live with their distant and bizarre relative, Count Olaf (Jim Carrey). Olaf has some devious ulterior motives, hoping to use the kids as his personal slaves while he tries to wiggle his way towards the Baudelaire family fortune.
Jim Carrey will be taking the role to the limit, as you may have already seen in some of the coming attractions for next month's release. Joining Carrey and the children is an impressive supporting cast that includes Meryl Streep as Aunt Josephine and Jude Law as the Narrator, Lemony Snicket himself. Lemony Snicket is directed by Brad Silberling (Moonlight Mile, Casper).
Over the summer, IGN FilmForce was able to take a tour of the sound stages just outside of Los Angeles that comprise the dearth of the Lemony world, which is being shot entirely within these giant stages. These are, without a doubt, some of the coolest and most imaginative sets I've ever seen. They bring to mind the world of Tim Burton and films such as Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands and Big Fish.
The first area we viewed was a bit of a trip. It was a large room, enormous in fact, but actually, it really wasn't as big as it looked. Confused? The big round room is what is called a forced-perspective room. This area, which comprised vast cornfields, distant farmhouses, a convenience store and bright blue skyscapes, was actually little more than a Hollywood illusion for the most part. Walking further into the set, we find that the farmhouse is actually a miniature, but the room is all set up to this forced-perspective scale so that, when standing in the middle, it actually looks like the farmhouse is far in the distance. Walk ahead, and you reach the house in about 25 steps. In the center of the room is Count Olaf's car. The car is a big old black beast, outfitted to Olaf's personal tastes. Since Olaf is an actor, and a vain one at that, the car is filled with mirrors so that Olaf can view himself from every conceivable angle. Moving forward, we walked over to a water tank that has been fashioned into a beach area. There is a beaten up boat washed up on the shore. This beach set will serve as the area where we first meet the Baudelaire children and they get the terrible news about their parents.
To the right of the beach set is a small town area. Apparently this is the "shanty town," which I believe serves as the town area where the children will be sent to run some of Olaf's many errands. It's a pretty cool looking area and the architecture looks like something straight out of the pictures of Mother Goose fairy tales. There is actually no connection to the beach set it borders. As on many movie sets, very little is as it seems. The "shanty town" will be concealed when the beach scenes are filmed and vice versa when the town is used.
We were hoping to get a chance to speak with the children portraying the Baudelaires, but they were absent that day due to sickness. Director Brad Silberling did stop by for a few minutes between our set tours to talk about the giant production. Some consider Silberling to be a surprising choice for the project. "I've come to discover you're almost always an unusual choice for everything that you do if you keep doing things that are interesting or new or different. When I was doing City of Angels, I remember when we were doing junket work, Meg Ryan was laughing because everybody kept saying, 'Wow, this is quite a change for you.' We just talked about how in the end if hopefully you keep your interest up and you go where storytelling takes you, you're going to keep diving into territory that people don't expect of you. And then the irony is after that, everyone says, 'Well, when's your next big effects movie?'"