RAISING THE BARS
How a prison was re-created on a Queens soundstage
ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA Sunday, 10 p.m., Showtime
IN Sunday night’s episode of “Escape at Dannemora,” an inspection of the prisoners’ cells prompts inmate Richard Matt (Benicio Del Toro) to hide his paints — he passes the time making portraits at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY — on a catwalk outside his cell. Alone on the narrow platform, Matt sees that there are vents in the cells out of which one may climb and he begins to plot the shocking escape that took place on June 5, 2015.
Production designer Mark Ricker went to extraordinary lengths to recreate the threestory prison block where Matt and David Sweat (Paul Dano) lived. They cut through walls and steam pipes, eventually tunneling their way to a manhole cover on a street outside Clinton’s walls. Prison superintendents allowed Ricker to come inside the jail to observe the infrastructure, but he wasn’t permitted to bring a camera, cell phone or even a measuring tape.
To get a sense of the scale and size of the place, he used his notebook to measure and sketched like crazy from memory. “I created a ruler out of my book,” he says. Additonally, archival photographs from the Dannemora Historical Society gave him a wide view of the prison interior as well as what the windows looked like. The rest was up to him and his talented team of set designers and decorators. It all came together on Stage K at the Kaufman Astoria studios in Queens.
Ricker, 50, spoke to The Post from the set of his latest film, the “Untitled Roger Ailes Project,” which stars John Lithgow as the embattled Fox News CEO and Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson and is shooting inside the former headquarters of the Los Angeles Times in downtown LA.
Clinton has hallways that are more narrow than what we usually see when television shows do prison. Is your set an exact replica?
It was probably 95 percent exact in terms of detail. The real cells are 6-by-8 feet. We made them 7-by-9 just to give us a prayer for shooting. The walkway that connects the cells was even a little bit wider, to give us breathing room and fit a dolly down. We built 47 cells. When we cut through the back of the cells, the catwalk was a joining system for another set of cells. We tried to match the piping and the electrical system. We had three stories of catwalks. Matt and Sweat climbed down those and went into the prison basement.
The men escaped through a steam pipe. How did you design that?
We had to build the steam pipe in sections. It was the true dimension. We started with cardboard tubes. I was the first one to go into them. They were absolutely claustrophobic. Once you go in a couple of times, you know it’s not going to collapse and you trust it, the shape and curve of the pipe. It cradles you on your back. You have to get past the claustrophobia. Truth be told, we had to get a bigger one for Benicio. He literally couldn’t get in there. We did another cardboard tube for him and used a lot of camera trickery.
How did you provide room for the cameras and mikes?
There were no closets to hide everything in. Between cells No. 22 and 23 was a wall that was 3-inches thick. If there was a scene in cell 22, the camera could be in cell 21. We were constantly removing walls for the cameras. Sweat and Matt’s cells were on the third floor of the prison block. You’d look down three stories. It made it very hard for the crew. How long did it take to build the cells?
It was probably three months of basic construction. There was no way to fake it. We just had to build the whole thing. We had a steel skeleton. All the stairs were welded. The set decorating department came in with all the sinks and toilets. And beds. The piping that had to be climbable and safe. All the brick was paper and pulp. The windows were recycled casement windows. We shot the [prison block] scenes in five weeks. The crew would show up and be as depressed as the actors.
2DIRTY JOHN Sunday, 10 p.m., Bravo
SERIES PREMIERE. Debra’s ( Connie Britton, below left) seemingly perfect life is disrupted as she falls hard for handsome doctor John Meehan ( Eric Bana, below right). What Debra doesn’t know could hurt her as Meehan ensnares her in a web of psychological manipulation. Based on a popular true-crime LA Times podcast. With Julia
Garner and Jean Smart.
3RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER Tuesday, 8 p.m., CBS
Narrated by Burl Ives, who is also heard as the voice of Sam the Snowman, this special is one of the only two Christmas classics that are still worth watching. The other, of course, is “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Not bad for a show that first aired in 1964.
4THIS IS US Tuesday, 9 p.m., NBC Kevin ( Justin Hartley) arrives at the village where Jack ( Milo
Ventimiglia) served in Vietnam. Randall ( Sterling K. Brown, right) debates Councilman Solomon Brown ( Rob Morgan). 5A MILLION LITTLE THINGS Wednesday, 10 p.m., ABC Recurring nightmares force Maggie ( Allison Miller) to face a trauma from her past. The state of her poor health is revealed at the tasting party for Regina ( Christina Moses) and Delilah’s ( Stephanie Szostak) new restaurant. With James Roday.
6CHRISTMAS IN ROCKEFELLER CENTER Wednesday, 8 p.m., NBC
Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker ring in the holidays with the lighting of a Norway spruce from Wallkill, NY. A cavalcade of entertainers take the stage, including Diana Ross and Tony Bennett, who will still be singing when the world ends. Don’t miss the fabulous
Rockettes (below) as they do their thing on ice. 7THE CONNERS Tuesday, 8 p.m., ABC Jackie ( Laurie Metcalf) persuades Dan ( John Goodman) to build a chicken coop in the backyard so the family can eat organic eggs. Darlene ( Sara Gilbert) is forced to deal with a sleazy customer at her casino job.
89 1 1 Monday, 9 p.m., Fox
After dealing with a stampede at a toy store, Bobby ( Peter
Krause) contemplates his future with Athena ( Angela Bassett, above). Eddie ( Ryan Guzman) wonders if he should permit his son to see his mother.