#34 - Stuart Craig, Legendary Set Designer on Creating Hogwarts, Surprising David Lynch, The Power of Teamwork and Crafting The Largest Movie Scene of All Time

Today’s guest is one of the most accomplished production designers in the world today. Starting his career under the tutelage of Star Wars designer John Barry, he worked his way through the art department on 1970s classics such as the original Christopher Reeve Superman and Richard Attenborough’s A Bridge too Far.

Here he began a multi-decade collaboration with Attenborough which produced the likes of Gandhi, for which he picked up his first Oscar. As his career moved into the late 80s and 90s he added many other legendary works to his CV including Steven Frears Dangerous Liaisons and Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient, both of which he picked up Oscars for.

It was in the 2000s though that he was introduced to his most famous project, designing Hogwarts. A job that he has done since 2001 on all 8 Harry Potter and 3 fantastic beast films.

If you can believe it in amongst all of that he also found time to design David Lynch’s seminal film, The Elephant Man and much loved classic Notting Hill. My guest is Stuart Craig.

Transcript

Hello, Mike. Here today's guest is another one of those pinch myself moments. I had the privilege of getting a little time with legendary triple Oscar winning production designer of Harry Potter and so much more, Stuart Craig.

In it. We discussed how he got his start in the business, his experience painting theater backdrops for Laurel and hardy. How the biggest film scene ever made came together when he was working on the street of gandhi.

How david lynch went about making The Elephant Man, and, of course, his time on Harry Potter, including the story of J. K. Rowling in a hotel lobby, casually drawing him a map that would go on to become the basis for the movie's iconic sets and locations.

Now in his 80s, Stewart was very gracious in giving me his time in the hope that his stories would be of interest and help to the younger generation. Thank you for listening. Here's the man himself.

So I down to the local ones with his bookshop and bought two copies and got on a plane for Los Angeles, saw met with Chris Columbus. Hello and welcome to Red Carpet Rookies. My name is Mike Battle, a film crew member turned screenwriter working in London.

Each episode I bring you life lessons and stories from the people behind your favorite movies and shows to help demystify the business for aspiring filmmakers and fans alike. Thanks for joining me. Let's get started.

Today's guest is one of the most accomplished production designers in the world today. Starting his career under the tutelage of Star Wars designer John Barry, he worked his way through the art department on 1970s classics such as the original Christopher Reeve Superman and Richard attenborough's Abridge too far. Here he began a multidecade collaboration with Attenborough, which produced the likes of Gandhi, for which he picked up his first Oscar.

As his career moved into the late eighty s and ninety s, he added a multitude of other legendary works to his CV, including Stephen Freres's Dangerous Liaisons and Anthony Mingella's The English Patient, both of which he picked up Oscars for. It was in the 2000s, though, that he was introduced to his most famous project, designing Hogwarts, a job that he has done since 2001 on all eight Harry Potter and three fantastic Beasts films, if you can believe it. In amongst all of that, he also found time to design David Lynch's seminal film, The Elephant Man and much to love classic Notting Hill.

My guest is Stuart Craig. How are you doing today? Good afternoon. Doing okay? Slightly about my recall of villages and talking to you, but it's a pleasure.

The pleasure is all mine, Stewart. Now, I ask all of my guests the same first question, and that is what did your parents do and did it affect your career choices moving forward? Not as directly as that and not as forcefully as that. My mother, in her later life, discovered that flower painting watercolor was something she was quite became quite proficient at.

And the family were always surprised at delicacy of the work. And it was a million miles from what we do in building plot wood sets. But she did have this undeveloped design expression.

I wonder what your creative mother would have said about what you went on to do in your amazing career in the arts. Well, she would have been very proud and very surprised, I suppose, in the first instance. But the success I was lucky enough to have, the truth is, it's exaggerated.

There was some great work in these sets. As I say, we were very lucky to be given the chance. And what about your father? Did he influence you at all the way your mother did? My dad was in the RAF or in Pakistan in 1922, I think it was.

My father was a very energetic man. He was attending furniture all the time. He was flying gliders that we can I was encouraged by the energy my dad had.

I can't claim to have been as a but we certainly gave it really good try. Creative people often have a moment in their younger years when someone points out to them that they clearly have a talent for it. And I understand that you had one, didn't you, Stewart? While painting for an opera, the school that I went to, regular school, had a tradition.

Gilbert as many schools, I found myself painting the Guard, the exterior of the Tower of London and yeah, just to finish, the yogurt of the Guard. Brickwork stonework. When somebody notices you and me at a young age and says, that very effective, I got one or two of those mentions, and that was the start, really.

It's delight to look back on it and realize that you were flattered by something which developed into something. After getting that early practice painting sets at school, were there any opportunities in your hometown to paint maybe other local theaters? Because often people work in that before going into the movies, don't they? There were two theaters in Orange, my hometown. One was gilbert and Sullivan talked about There was another theater, regular theater, one of which I used to have a job painting scenery.

The first job done had a professional engagement. It was a weekly production. I used to paint scenery.

This Elizabethan Apron stage called the Meadow Market. There was a designer in place that a lady and a welcome, but she was kind and sharing with me, which I appreciate. In that same period, Laurel and Hardy, that's what I'm remembering.

Came on a tour of England with a broker skin. I think stan laura had huge sums. Alimony, may I ask, did you see them in the flesh? I didn't get a complimentary evening, but I did see them break up.

So you've realized by this point that you obviously have a talent for art. But I can't imagine there were many filmmaking or art schools necessarily in your hometown. So did you begin to look further afield? College of Art I applied to because I found out that they had a West Darty film design course, which would have been a three week undergraduate course.

To my amazement and pleasure, I was taking on at the Royal College. So that was start of career film. I got into this course at the Royal College.

Getting into a college of art is difficult enough, but it can potentially be even more difficult to get your first job on a film set. So how did you go about that? By then I was lucky enough to have written a letter to Michael Stringer, who was designing Superman, christopher Reeves Superman letter asking if there was any possibility that was the bad years. Got a job and things relaxed a bit.

Michael Stringer, the designer of this production of Casino Royale. That film is dire. How many people have seen it? And I thought nobody saw it.

Anyway, I started this junior task for making the tea for Michael Stringer, who is the British designer for Disney. And Michael, that was, of course, your first foray into the business which began your epic career. And there's obviously so much we could talk about that I'm going to take a little inspiration from Eustia.

As before we began the recording, you were telling me an amazing story about your work on Gandhi with Richard Attenborough. So would you be able to talk about that project again by any chance? The chosen designer. Michael spirit.

Around the various departments in various studios, recruit trying to recruit somebody who would go to India. And surprisingly, a lot of designers said no. They passed on it and I was rather not miffed.

I would like to have done that. I imagine it was relatively inexperienced that they didn't ask me. Time went on and did, and then Terry Marsh was asked to do that and declined.

He moved to America and was doing very good films. Green Mile, he recommended me there for two, and I was very excited. A little scared, no doubt, but that was the start of my gun design career.

What was it like to actually film Gandhi in India? Because now, these days, the legacy of the movie is it's super famous for many really hard scenes with thousands and thousands of supporting artists, isn't it? It was a very difficult sheet, not rather than script, but very long, endless manager with huge crowds, not least a funeral, which came from Notorious for its epic call sheet, along the epic call sheet, just to dive in for anyone listening who doesn't know what Stewart is referring to. This is the call sheet for the Gandhi funeral scene, which is the longest of all time. And the call sheet is the list of everybody that needs to be on set on a certain day, whether that's actors, the director, the crew, all of the background artists, etc.

And I'm just going to read off of a few of the numbers from that call sheet day. So 3000 Home Guard, 1500 Gandhi peace Movement, 30,000 controlled spectators, 50,000 hiyana spectators, 7500 scheduled car spectators, 250,000 specially invited guests, et cetera. Stewart how on earth did the production bring these people together to be there? It's absolutely crazy.

The Rajpower, which is the Pluck, the POW mile of Deli, two mile, approximately. There was an event there, a festival, which happened. Generally, we took advantage of this.

Invited people, held a raffle, I think, to draw a crowd which is already anticipated to be very large. They came. The army, I think, numbered 1000 people.

More than that, sorry, a million. Quarter of a million. I think thereabouts the estimate.

That was an incredible story. Stewart thank you very much for sharing it. And you mentioned it was Gandhi that began your film design career there.

But was it also the Elephant Man in production at a similar time for you in the early 80s? Do you have any recollections of that job? It was the Elephant Man was we were all in our 30s, Jonathan Sanders and the producer behind it all, smart books, and it was all good news in those years. New American producers coming to London, period, would always be shown the only available streets of Mopping. And on the opposite side, rather high, we always put that on the list of Victorian 60 units.

There was little cliche. It was one that the industry survived on. Would have been some estate mountain, ready made cobble street warehouses and said they were then she arrived, I think, nervous kind of cliche, in his view of the world, was very different.

We showed him the London hospital which still exists. The very hospital. Am I right that this is the hospital where you can actually see the skeleton of the Elephant Man? It is.

That was a great surprise for Dangling Bench. But first we'd been refused the custodian. Then she secured a meeting not to make.

I'm sure that research trip must have had a lot of effect on the way you guys portrayed John Merrick in the film and the feel of the movie through your sets. Do you remember John Hurt wearing the makeup at all? They were then set out to make the iPhone makeup and came the day when it was finished. John Hurt asked to wear it was too heavy work in it, no animation in place at all.

And it was declared no girl. There was a makeup artist who made him proceed before and was enjoying some successes. And he came in and work diet, rope, sponge, to go from a very real story to the more fantastical.

I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about working on, of course, Harry Potter. Stewart and one of the questions I wanted to ask is what is the first time you ever heard about the notion of harry Potter. I was offered the job.

My daughter had a job addicted me success. Have you heard of it? She said she had just about down to the local ones with a bookshop and bought two copies and got on a plane for Los Angeles store. Met with Chris Columbus, who was producing director and had a good meeting with Briscolomas.

Then went off on decorating my grandson Beta at the time, he was expected, but not more. I was there in the paper in anticipation. I said goodbye, went about my business and heard nothing more.

And at the end of three weeks, I think got a call to say yes. I was scared, but not scared enough to stop. Well, you certainly didn't stop.

Stuart, as that first film became the next. And of course, the rest is history. But to take it back to those early days on the first movie, I'd love to hear about the map that JK.

Rowling drew for you. Yes. We were sitting in the foyer.

I think it was obviously was curious about I asked if the map would die. She proceeded on a scrap of paper and Abbey, she proceeded to draw in the top left hand corner drawing start quickly over the lake, the dark forest. The front gave in the back where the big courtyard of the final battle takes place.

And say this she gave me this map and I was very thankful for it. As you might imagine could not have been clearer. The instruction I was getting from a few copies, not many.

It was terrific. She had, on occasion been useful source of accurate information. Made me amazing.

So with this map in your hand you could obviously then go off to design what became your famous sets, one of which being Dagen Alley. And I wanted to ask, is it really true that some American producers wanted to do it on the boring streets of Soho instead of building it at a studio? They did. They happened to be in Soho.

One of the two American languages dashed over and looked at Fred Street if it was and said, look, it could be diagram. I understand why they got excited about it, but it isn't somewhere else. It certainly is.

And out of all of the sets that you designed for the Potter franchise do you have one that's your favorite, by any chance? Like come on to yourself the levels. But the whole business was designed for someone else's first entrance. Doesn't even say that.

Spherical 1960s chair. Thank you for sharing that, Stewart. Now, to wrap up on red carpet rookies I always like to ask my esteemed guests for certain pieces of advice they've picked up in their career.

And of course, in your long decades of work in the film industry. I imagine you certainly have. But is there one specific thing that you would like to pass on to perhaps the next generation of draftsmen, art directors designers or other people working in the business.

One thing I've learned is take with you the best possible help with them. Do not, as many people have, surround themselves with less than top flight people. There are fabulous skills on display.

They're there to be used and enjoyed. You must see it recognizing teamwork, indeed. What a beautiful, positive way to finish our conversation.

Stuart, thank you so much for giving me some of your time today. It was an absolute honor, to be honest, and thank you for your advice, your stories, and the cinematic creations that you've brought into all of our lives. I really do hope that you enjoyed sharing it.

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