The Alaskan wilderness plays a significant role in the survival drama Heart of the Beast, starring Brad Pitt as Sergeant Major James Belmont. However, instead of filming on location in Alaska, the production team chose to recreate the wilderness in New Zealand’s South Island, near the town of Glenorchy.
David Ayer, the film’s director, notes that “the wilderness is essential in the film. There’s a visual journey of moving through the land, and the land gives us immense challenges.” To capture this, the team used various locations on the South Island, including Lake Wakatipu and Mount Earnslaw.
The film’s production designer, Greg Berry, wanted to ensure that the journey of James and his dog Odin felt realistic and conveyed the dual sensibility of nature. “We wanted there to be moments of lightness and darkness,” Berry says. “There’s a lot of visual expansion and contraction in the visual storytelling depending on where we are in their travels.” Ayer says, “We were always using the environment to help tell the story.”
Filming Locations
The team filmed various scenes in different locations, including Lake Sylvan and Lake Gunn, which were used to recreate the plane crash. The actual plane was crashed into a studio tank, but some of the flying scenes were filmed in real locations, with Brad Pitt on board.
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The campsite where James and Odin initially land was filmed at Lake Wakatipu, which borders both Queenstown and Glenorchy. The Dart River was used as the meadow’s riverbank, and Chinaman’s Bluff stood in for the field where James plays with Odin.
The production team also used Jordan Creek Forest in the area of Paradise to film a scene where James encounters a fellow traveler, played by J.K. Simmons. The forest provided a thick, wooded area that added to the realism of the scene.
According to Ayer, the short production period of 45 days added to the energy of the film. “It was a real race, and we were in very remote places,” he says. “It almost had a documentary feel to it. The biggest challenge was showing up every day knowing you were going to be exhausted and cold and on broken ground.” Brad Pitt was an inspiration to the team, as Ayer notes, “Brad was an incredible inspiration. He was cold, wet, tired, hungry, but he never left the set. We wanted to capture Brad’s amazing work and not let him down because he really put it all out there.”
The film’s use of New Zealand’s South Island as a stand-in for Alaska adds to the sense of realism and danger, making James and Odin’s journey compelling. The team used various locations to create a believable environment for the film.
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Recreating the Alaskan Environment
To recreate the Alaskan environment, the production team used a combination of real locations and studio sets. The plane crash, for example, was filmed both on location and in a studio tank. The team also built sets, such as the log crossing, to create specific scenes.
One of the most challenging scenes to film was the river crossing, where James is forced to coax Odin across two decaying logs above a rushing river. The challenges of the stunt meant that most of the scene had to be shot on a soundstage, where Berry built the log crossing. The team used a combination of real locations and studio sets to create the scene, with Brad Pitt and one of the dogs that played Odin performing the stunt on safety lines.
The production team used a gifted bush pilot who understood how to fly in those conditions.
The Earnslaw Burn, a valley and glacier near Glenorchy, and Mount Earnslaw were used as the backdrop for the flying scenes. A camera was placed in the plane, and it was chased by a helicopter to capture the shots.
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Challenges of Filming
Filming the plane crash was a complex process, involving two locations: Lake Sylvan as the approach and Lake Gunn as the crash site.
The production team faced challenges while filming, including inaccessible locations and harsh weather conditions. They had to helicopter into some locations, and Brad Pitt had to swim in cold water to film certain scenes.
The private ski resort known as the Invincible Snowfields was used for the duo’s encounter with a bear. The resort’s remote location and rugged terrain made it an ideal location for filming the scene.
The film’s climax features James and Odin dragging themselves from the swamp onto a scenic vantage point, which was filmed in Paradise Trust. The location had an overlook, an expansive field, and the road all connected, making it a perfect spot to film the scene.