‘Blitz’ DP Yorick Le Saux Breaks Down the Film’s Eye-Popping Tube-flooding Scene

As a cinephile who has spent countless hours immersed in the intricate world of cinematography, I can wholeheartedly appreciate the meticulous craftsmanship that goes into bringing a vision like Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” to life. DP Yorick Le Saux‘s dedication to authenticity and realism is truly commendable, especially given the challenge of recreating a climactic underwater scene in a Tube station.


When DP Yorick Le Saux first read Steve McQueen’s script for Apple’s Blitz, which follows a boy (newcomer Elliott Heffernan) as he seeks to reunite with his mother (Saoirse Ronan) amid Germany’s bombing of London in 1940, a climactic scene set in the Underground transit system stopped him in his tracks. Heffernan’s George takes shelter in a Tube station with hundreds of other Londoners when rushing water breaks through the station’s walls. 

Le Saux, the DP, reminisces about asking McQueen if they could find a way to accomplish this task, as the sequence required water and complex visual effects that might appear poor on-screen. Alongside production designer Adam Stockhausen, Le Saux aimed to create a genuine set environment for improved visuals and to make things easier for Heffernan, who was an inexperienced actor. As Heffernan had never acted before, Le Saux explains, he couldn’t perform well surrounded by a green screen. Instead, they needed to provide him with a real setting.

Recording the particular scene lasted approximately a week on an enormous replica subway platform, which turned out to be more streamlined than Le Saux had anticipated. He mentioned that his main hurdle was incorporating McQueen’s sudden suggestions at the last minute. “At one instance, Steve suggested, ‘Let’s turn off the lights.’ I responded, ‘But we won’t see anything!'” Le Saux chuckles as he recounts this moment. “It was exhilarating to witness him advocating for ideas that weren’t the conventional path.

Here’s my attempt at paraphrasing:

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2024-11-22 23:25