Hollywood is considering new measures to resume filming

LOS ANGELES: Cinema tycoons, directors and lawyers are looking for radical solutions to reopen Hollywood as soundscapes gather dust and studio profits slide weeks after the cameras stopped rolling because of the coronavirus.

The film industry has been stuck in California since mid-March following strict stay-at-home orders, with film and television shootings being particularly vulnerable to the pandemic due to the cast and crew required.

But even as politicians reflect on a gradual loosening of restrictions, insiders say the exorbitant costs and responsibilities of Tinseltown mean that the movies could be very different from what came before, and be in several months.

“You can’t make a” Star Wars “or Marvel movie tomorrow morning,” said Nicolas Chartier, Oscar-winning producer of “The Hurt Locker”.

“Logically, there is too much responsibility and too much fear,” agreed co-producer Stephen Nemeth (“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”.)

“I can’t see a movie like ‘Dune’ being produced now. I can’t see another epic movie like ‘Mad Max’ – these movies are 250 crew members and 250 extras. We just can’t control.”

Although California was praised for its response to the pandemic, the heart of the film industry still recorded 45,000 cases, centered disproportionately around Los Angeles.

As such, insurance companies are refusing to cover future production stoppages caused by epidemics of coronavirus on the shelf – delays that could cost successful projects millions of dollars.

Employee-signed “coronavirus waivers” have been touted as a way to protect studios from prosecution, but have not been proven, particularly when A-list stars are involved.

Replacing crowd scenes with computerized background actors is another option, but “would cost a fortune,” said Chartier.

“In my opinion, the great films as we know them – to the extent that they will be back as we know them – will not be until there is a real vaccine,” added Nemeth.

‘Moral dilemma’

A possible interim solution is temperature, virus or antibody tests for those who enter the sets.

Social distancing on set is tested in Sweden and Denmark, where production has resumed on sterilized sound stages, and studios are discouraged from hiring people over the age of 70 or suffering from health problems.

Steven Soderbergh, director of the 2011 prescient pandemic thriller “Contagion”, leads a task force to explore similar options in Hollywood.

But these restrictions are far from practical on crowded film sets, and could lead to discrimination and other dangers, warned producers Jean de Meuron and Elena Bawiec.

“The most vulnerable crew is the” below the line “crew – the gaffers, the grips, the electrical, the camera,” said de Meuron.

“You can’t put a distance of six feet … the focus puller is right next to the camera operator, they’re a few inches from each other.”

“How are you going to change that?”

Crews of workers “who have tested positive for antibodies and provide certificates” could become a reality, suggested Bawiec.

“But will there be people who get infected on purpose so they can get the virus and then be immunized?

“It is a moral dilemma.”

“For peanuts”

Filmmakers are forced to experiment with new places, techniques and even genres that lend themselves to a locked world.

Most involve drastic reductions. Nemeth plans to shoot a film at home in the Hollywood hills, where he can host a cast and a skeleton team during a short shoot.

“We could have hyper-regional and hyper-close productions … it would work in Silver Lake, Malibu, Hollywood Hills,” he said, referring to the hotspots of local cinema.

“I am doing it and I promise you that I am not alone.”

Chartier intends to make a film “for peanuts” shot via Zoom or Skype in which four couples discuss a murder.

“The actors will film themselves at home, with their own clothes and without makeup,” he said.

The Hollywood tradition is filled with heroic filmmakers who have overcome huge obstacles to shoot great films, but Chartier does not get carried away.

“Either it will be a good script and the story will be good and it will be interesting, or we will be bored after 15 minutes and … too bad!”