Fort Bridger. Jim Bridger's trading post/mercantile. Authenticity was key for these sets depicting the harsh realities of the 1850s rugged West. Note the hand-hewn furniture and then, as this is behind-the-scenes, the movie lamp creating "moonlight". Courtesy of Netflix.
This is America…1857. Up is down, pain is everywhere, innocence and tranquility are losing the battle to hatred and fear. Peace is the shrinking minority, and very few possess grace — even fewer know compassion. There is no safe haven in these brutal lands, and only one goal matters: survival. AMERICAN PRIMEVAL is a fictionalized dramatization and examination of the violent collision of culture, religion, and community as men and women fight and die to keep or control this land. --Netflix
“It’s not a Western,” said Director Peter Berg.
He’s right.
It’s an American epic.
At a crossroads near the Oregon trail, among others, fur trapper Jim Bridger built a trading post in the 1840s. By the late1850s, it had become Fort Bridger, a military outpost with rudimentary services...a blacksmith, a butcher, a barber/surgeon, and Bridger’s mercantile, a wagon train resupply point, and source for vital basics for travelers, settlers and the indigenous tribes that surrounded it. These were hardscrabble lives for the most part, and one remained ever-watchful and resourceful.
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Set Decorator David Hack SDSA became immersed in this history when he stood with Director Peter Berg on an empty field where Berg explained that they were going to re-create Fort Bridger as accurately as possible. “We’re not doing a western. This is a survival story.” David read diaries and other personal accounts of the time and committed to making their stories come to life, truthfully, realistically. And they did.
Watch the video above for an amazing, compelling conversation with David and his mentor Carla Curry SDSA, Set Decorator of YELLOWSTONE, 1883, 1923, and so much more. And come back this weekend for more images and a couple of David’s immersive stories!
