The coronavirus vs Mickey Rourke
How one movie defied the odds to continue filming under social-distancing conditions
A MICKEY Rourke-fronted horror-fantasy set during World War II, Warhunt inadvertently made some history of its own. When a Covid-19-induced lockdown was announced during the film’s early stages of production in Latvia, director Mauro Borrelli and his cast and crew began working closely with the local government to keep filming. Under strict safety measures, Warhunt, against all the odds, wrapped in April 2020.
“We had to ensure that production was as safe as humanly possible,” Borrelli explains. “We were very lucky because we were in the country with the actors already, before they blocked the border.”
To make conditions safe, the set underwent a complete transformation, from individual make-up stations and motorhomes for the cast to protective gear allocated to everyone involved. If anyone showed symptoms of the virus they were instantly asked to quarantine themselves.
“At the start of every day, everyone checked in with a doctor to have their temperature measured before sanitising their hands and receiving face masks,” says the director. “Then they’d fill in a declaration paper stating where they’d been over the last 24 hours and if they had any symptoms. Everyone would have their temperature measured again before lunch.”
For the actors, face masks needed to be removed when in front of the camera, so Borrelli altered certain scenes to make his cast feel more comfortable.
“It was very interesting to see how Mickey and the actors didn’t lose their ability to perform — in fact, I think that we managed to get some of their best work,” he says. “You couldn’t recreate the bonding that happened on set. The movie is a World War II fantasy, and we were beginning to feel like we were in a war ourselves, like fiction was becoming reality.”
Through their ability to continue shooting during the crisis, Borrelli believes it offers a beacon of hope to the industry. It’s also given him the experience of a lifetime.
“We used a lot of smoke in the film, and to look through the smoke from my director’s spot and see all of the crew there with face masks on felt like a movie in itself. It was like a dream.” With filming paused across the world, a Latvian Mickey Rourke horror could be a glimpse of filmmaking’s near-future.
WARHUNT DOES NOT CURRENTLY HAVE A UK RELEASE DATE