The Pendragon Cycle Production Diary: Filming in Italy Amidst Hurricane Winds

Challenges of Filming in Grand Sasso

• 🇮🇹 Grand Sasso, Abruzzo, Italy was chosen for its resemblance to Wales, offering breathtaking but incredibly difficult filming conditions.
• 💨 The crew faced harrowing experiences due to hurricane-force winds, described as the hardest production week for some, with gusts reportedly reaching extreme speeds.
• ⚠️ Safety concerns arose due to the severe weather, leading to significant schedule adjustments and scene relocations daily.

Production Value and Creative Vision

• 🏞️ The epic landscapes of Grand Sasso provided immense free production value, enhancing the show's aesthetic scale.
• 🎬 The location was specifically selected to serve as a backdrop for northern scenes, described as "Snowdonia on steroids" for its dramatic visual impact.
• 🎭 The scenery was instrumental in delivering a fantastical, beautiful, and exotic look for the audience.

Character and Special Effects

• ⛰️ Filming included scenes with the Hill Folk, a secretive people living in the mountains, whose culture includes w-blue wir tattoos as a symbol of passage into manhood.
• 🩹 Scarification was realistically recreated using silicone molds for Tom, who plays Merlin, to achieve a Celtic-style tattoo effect.
• 🌬️ A trained hawk was used for a scene, performing admirably despite the challenging windy conditions.

Prepping for Future Scenes

• 🎬 While the Italy shoot wrapped, preparations for a huge scene for week eight were underway at Cinecittà Movie Studios in Rome.
• 🌟 This upcoming sequence is described as one of the coolest ever shot for a movie or series, promising a spectacular reveal next week.
• ✈️ Following the Italy wrap, the production team was set to head back to Hungary.