Thule (2010)
DIRECTOR: Robert Scott Wildes
PRODUCER: Kyle Fischer
Synopsis: 1962. At the remote Thule Air Force Base in Greenland, whiteout conditions force a small band of Airmen behind closed doors, isolating them within the dim corridors and dissonant personalities of the compound. When a mail delivery lands off-target in the blizzard outside, desperation from a lack of contact with the outside world forces a group of young men into the zero-visibility weather in an attempt to get the mail. One of them leaves the lifeline, and doesn’t return. As the wind continues to confine the men, Thule observes the impact of their discovery of mortality, and the stress true isolation can impose on an individual.
Thule was a big short film. Shot entirely on a soundstage near LAX, an entire re-creation of the barracks of the real Thule Air Force Base in Greenland were reconstructed for production, complete with snow-drifted exteriors and stark-but-lived-in interiors (e.g. a mess hall, bunks, etc.), all sickly blue, green, and grey pallors bathed in fluorescents. The sets were a marvel in which to act… even just to walk around in and gawk… very reminiscent of the Antarctic outpost in John Carpenter’s The Thing. On the soundstage, next to the barracks, was an elaborately detailed minature model for “aerial” shots: with a fan blowing fake snow over it, and lensed with a fast-moving camera at a high frame rate, the entire landscape of Thule would come to life from above.
In Thule, I played the supporting role of Airman Page, the communications and tech expert of the group. In every scene I’m constantly tinkering with some radio or other device while wearing some handy welding goggles… you know, just in case. (boy I got sick of those goggles). I worked a couple of days on the project, and it was a cool experience. Robert communicated his direction well and had a firmly-planted vision for the film in mind, and Thule afforded me the opportunity to work with some outstanding actors, notably Chris Marquette (Alpha Dog), Noel Fisher (The Riches), and Scott Eastwood (Invictus).
One memory I have from this film was the amount of smoking our characters did. It was the mode of the time to smoke like a chimney, but to keep things “healthy”, we were smoking these herbal cigarettes. They were awful. For the sake of continuity, for most setups I was lighting a new one between takes. The entire base smelled like pot sausage or something, and my throat was thanking me for the next few days. But it didn’t diminish any of the fun working on the project.
Continuity photos from set:
