The epic Ridley
Scott sci-fi series Raised by Wolves,
which goes live on Showmax this week, was shot in Cape Town and its
surrounds, and is the biggest budget show ever to film in South
Africa.
The story follows two androids tasked with raising human children on a
virgin planet, after Earth has been destroyed in a religious war.
Magnificent South African locations like Stellenbosch and Lourensford Wine Estate outside Somerset West form the haunting backdrop of planet Kepler 22-b. It is a real planet around 620 light-years from Earth that scientists speculate could potentially support life, though we don’t yet know what its surface actually looks like.
Scott directed two of the greatest science fiction movies yet made, Alien and Blade Runner, making Raised by Wolves one of the most anticipated series of the past year.
Scott told Forbes about
Lourensford: “We found a range of mountains that were in your face for about a
kilometre, and every morning this tablecloth of cloud would come in, it would
just roll over them, and I went, ‘Oh my God!’ It was surreal, it was
otherworldly, so half the work was done, just by the location.”
But what really makes the South
African landscape feel alien to foreign audiences are the quiver trees (also
known as kokerboom trees). “What I loved in the (South African) desert were the
trees, which were something in the aloe/cactus family,” says Scott. “I said, ‘I
have to have those trees.’ We got permission to transplant some onto a piece of
terrain less than a kilometre from the foot of this beautiful mountain range…”
The interiors of The Ark were constructed at Cape Town Film Studios, while Raised by Wolves also shot at locations like The Good Hope Centre and the old Maitland abattoir, in collaboration with acclaimed local production company Film Afrika (see https://filmafrika.com/).
Scott’s long-time
collaborator Dariusz Wolski, who was also director of photography on The
Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, was nominated for a 2020 Camerimage
Award for the series pilot.
Film Afrika line producer Cheryl Eatock confirms Raised By Wolves is the biggest budget show ever to film in South Africa. For context, she says, season 1 created nearly 700 full-time equivalent jobs, 52% of which went to youth and 66% of which went to historically disadvantaged individuals. The series also hired 1200 businesses, predominantly small, medium and micro-enterprises.
25 historically disadvantaged individuals received hands-on training, facilitated by the non-profit The SA Film Academy (SAFA), an accredited training provider established and managed by the SA production service companies to ensure growth in the industry. And 18 SAFA alumni worked as full crew members of Raised By Wolves.
Eatock confirms Collin is
already back in the country prepping for Season 2: great news for the South
African economy, as its international service sector that has been brutalised
by the pandemic, and for all sci-fi fans.
“This
chart-topping series beautifully weaves together Ridley’s hallmarks of sci-fi
and horror while offering fans one of the most original storylines they’ve seen
in some time,” says Sarah Aubrey, head of HBO Max.
“I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Season 2.”
Season 2 is also pioneering a more sustainable approach to filmmaking. On season 1, GreenSet, a local non-profit film industry sustainability organisation, in partnership with Wrap Zero, diverted tonnes of organic waste from landfill to organic gardens; avoided the use of an estimated 193,000 single-use plastic water bottles; installed a solar cell tower at Lourensford; and donated 97 tonnes of wood to charities for reuse.
For season 2, GreenSet, in partnership with Credible Carbon, has developed a ground-breaking carbon calculator, with 63 key film-industry specific environmental indicators, to measure the carbon footprint of the production.
Raised by Wolves has already been nominated for three 2021 Critics Choice
Super Awards: Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Series, Best Actor: Sci-Fi for
Travis Fimmel (Vikings’ Ragnar) and Best Actress: Sci-Fi for Danish
actress Amanda Collin, whose character, Mother, was hailed by The Wall
Street Journal as “the most memorable female/female-like space
entity since Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in Alien.”
Four-time Oscar and Golden
Globe nominee Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, The Martian,
Prometheus and Gladiator) executive produces and directs the first
two episodes of the series. As Inverse
put it, Raised By Wolves is “phenomenal… Ridley Scott’s best sci-fi
since Alien… there’s no TV show quite like it.”
The cast includes:
- Abubakar Salim (Jamestown, Fortitude)
- Niamh Algar (Pure, MotherFatherSon)
- Matias Varela (Narcos, The Borgias, Assassin’s Creed)
The mentioned cast will co-star alongside a host of South Africans, including:
- Clayton Evertson (Arendsvlei)
- Susan Danford (Still Breathing
- Litha Bam (Intersexions)
- Garth Breytenbach (8, Troy: Fall of a City)
- Tristan de Beer (The Girl from St Agnes, Rage)
- Tanya van Graan (Die Spook van Uniondale, Zulu)
- Tarryn Wyngaard (DAM, The Watch, Dwaalster)
- Jenna Upton (Cape Town)
- Anlia van Rensburg (Getroud Met Rugby)
- Loulou Taylor and Daniel Lasker in breakthrough roles.
As NME says, “Ridley
Scott’s AI stunner is on a different planet… one of 2020’s most unmissable TV
experiences.”
Watch Raised by Wolves S1 on Showmax.
