Lord of the Flies, which dives into the intense survival journey of a group of schoolboys, is a storyline replete with thrills and suspense. The series takes its inspiration from William Golding’s novel, which already has a huge fanbase for the roller-coaster ride of emotions that the characters go through as they try to survive in the brutal environment, completely unprepared.
It cannot be denied that Lord of the Flies, which predominantly brings life to the survival story of the boys as they navigate through a tropical forest, is going to have the visual of a forest as the primary backdrop. The filming of the series was done in such a manner that the viewers are able to experience the storyline in an authentic manner. Here are the details of the filming locations of Lord of the Flies.
Revisiting the key filming locations of the upcoming BBC adaptation, Lord of the Flies
As Lord of the Flies focuses on the survival journey of a group of boys after they get stranded on a tropical island after a plane crash, the depiction of nature becomes a crucial aspect of the series. To bring life to the element of nature, the series was primarily filmed in Malaysia, where the team “trekked through jungles” for many days before these locations were found.
Executive producer Joel Wilson notes that the whole process to find the proper location for the filming of Lord of the Flies took “about six months”. They had to visit “different places in the world” that had “tropical beaches” that could bring life to the storyline. Langkawi, which is an archipelago of islands in Malaysia, became the primary location for the filming process of the series as it had the suitable backdrop needed for the storyline.
This location was the perfect choice, as it has the mountain, which would make the viewers believe when the kids get up on it, as noted by Joel Wilson. He continues to say that the primary requirement for the location for filming was a place that has “a beach that wasn’t too tidal” so the filming process could be done seamlessly.
Besides this location, there were many other locations where certain parts of Lord of the Flies were filmed. Windsor Great Park, which was previously used for many other projects, was used for flashback scenes. Similarly, St. Albans Cathedral was also a crucial filming location to depict the flashback scenes.
Joel Wilson, while discussing St. Albans Cathedral being used as a filming location, notes that Bishop Wordsworth provided them with the “crest from the time” during which the storyline is based on, so that “it’s period correct”.
The plane crash in Lord of the Flies, which is yet another significant moment in the series and is also the propelling factor in the storyline, was filmed at Duxford Airfield in England. Though many locations were used for the bits and pieces in the series, the primary location was in Malaysia. Marc Munden opens up about the experience of filming in Malaysia, saying that the “extreme humidity and heat” were a hindering element in the filming process as “everyone was soaking wet every day”.
It cannot be denied that the aspect of using a real location for the filming process of the series enhances the overall appeal. Lord of the Flies is set to drop on May 4 and will be available for streaming on the global streaming giant Netflix.
Some of the cast members of this series are Winston Sawyers, Lox Pratt, Ike Talbut, Thomas Connor, Noah Flemyng, etc. Besides the cast, yet another striking element of this series is the music, which is by the very talented Hans Zimmer, along with Cristobal Tapia de Veer and Kara Talve.
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Edited by KOUSHIKI ROY