Despite the drama with Angelina Jolie and his estranged set of kids, Brad Pitt's new movie "Allied" comes out as a success and leaves moviegoers marveling over the beautiful costumes and sets. Set in 1940's Morocco, the film crew, along with Robert Zemeckis, director of Back to the Future, Forrest Gump and Contact, also traveled to Morocco to shoot the epic spy drama.
The story revolves around Max and Marianne, spies who meet in Nazi-occupied French Morocco, tasked to assassinate a German Ambassador. Their mission takes them to some of Casablanca's poshest establishments, featuring its most exclusive beachfront clubs and most expensive wine and food, according to Entertainment Weekly. (READ: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's Kids Caught in the Middle of Messy Divorce)
The two spies meet at the Rivoli, featuring a scene of red tapestries, elegant gold and crystal chandeliers and mirrors, while being set in the city's crisp white architecture and sandy desert dunes. The beautiful Casablanca scenes contrasted perfectly with the darkness of wartime London later on in the film. (READ: Five Things To Know Before Traveling to Morocco)
Gary Freeman, the production designer, started by researching Morocco's culture and style in the 1940s. He tells Architectural Digest that It soon became very obvious that Casablanca wasn't this spit-and-sawdust city that we associate with Morocco. It was actually quite a splendid architectural master plan with lots of Deco and modernist influences." From the design team's studies, it seems Casablanca has always been as vibrant, sophisticated and classy in the 1940s, as it is today.
For the filming, the crew wanted to go for Tangiers and Casablanca itself, but found that these cities were all too modernized. In the end, production was set for the Canary Islands, which had great desert landscapes and more traditional streets and buildings that would fit the 1940s era. These rustic surroundings provided a brilliant backdrop for the actors, especially for Marion Cotillard who was decked in more solid, vibrant colors against the sandy, pure backdrop of Morocco.
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