With digital technology making it easier than ever to shoot on sound stages, many productions never leave the comfort of climate-controlled sets. But some directors still insist on dragging cast and crew into the harshest corners of the planet, all for the sake of authenticity. If you find yourself heading into such an adventure, preparation is everything, and the pros have a few lessons worth noting.
The first tip is simple but crucial: watch the weather. Remote locations tend to magnify the extremes, and misjudging the season can wreck an entire shoot. Producer Teddy Schwarzman learned this the hard way while working on Gold. He explained how they began prepping in Thailand, certain they had dodged monsoon season. They built a massive set on a ridge for the main drilling scenes and had a great first day. By day two, the rain started and didn’t stop. The nearby river rose 25 feet in 25 hours, wiping out everything. Day three wasn’t spent filming at all; it was spent floating over what was left of the set in a canoe, salvaging whatever pieces they could.
Another lesson is that even when filming outdoors, it’s fine to “cheat” for practicality’s sake. The Revenant famously shot only in natural light and in chronological order. While that gave the movie its raw, immersive feel, it also sent the budget soaring by around $100 million. As the schedule stretched, snow began to melt and the crew had to travel the globe chasing winter landscapes. Leonardo DiCaprio called it an endurance test and said that everyone knew from the start it would be demanding. He credited director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s obsession with authenticity and working in real environments, but admitted that unpredictable weather made an already difficult production even harder.
Location scouting might be the most critical step when planning a shoot in extreme conditions. It’s not just about finding the most cinematic view — you need to consider logistics and climate stability. Director Hany Abu-Assad, who shot The Mountain Between Us, said their scouts found a Canadian location with a guarantee of snow year-round. It wasn’t just fresh snowfall either. Some of it was thousands of years old and never melted, ensuring the crew would never have to chase winter like The Revenant team did.
So if you ever find yourself filming in unforgiving terrain, remember the essentials. Pick a location with the lowest risk of weather sabotage, choose somewhere with consistent conditions, and make sure the crew stays as comfortable as possible. And perhaps the most important rule of all; hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
