section_path: Production
section_name: Production
paragraph_text: Production
  
  Zach Dean wrote a spec script for The Gorge that was later voted onto the Black List of the most-liked unproduced screenplays in 2020. In March 2022, Scott Derrickson was set to direct and produce the film alongside Skydance Media. In August, Miles Teller was cast to star, as well as serve as an executive producer. In October, Anya Taylor-Joy joined the cast, and Apple Original Films signed on. Sigourney Weaver was added to the cast in March 2023.
  
  The film includes a scene where the characters bond across the gorge, with the two playing chess and banging on improvised drum sets, recalling breakout roles of the actors: Taylor-Joy as a chess prodigy in The Queen's Gambit (2020) and Teller as a drummer in Whiplash (2014). Teller and Taylor-Joy have said that the scenes were written before they were cast, that they felt the scenes were a bit on the nose and tried to get them changed, and that Derrickson insisted the scene remain.
  
  Filming began in March 2023 in London, with production at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, where the tower interiors were built on a stage. The Rauma River in Norway served as the location for the forest and gorge exteriors, while Llandudno in Wales stood in for Èze in France. Visual effects were done by DNEG and Framestore with production VFX supervisor Erik Norby.
  
  Zach Dean wrote a spec script for The Gorge that was later voted onto the Black List of the most-liked unproduced screenplays in 2020. In March 2022, Scott Derrickson was set to direct and produce the film alongside Skydance Media. In August, Miles Teller was cast to star, as well as serve as an executive producer. In October, Anya Taylor-Joy joined the cast, and Apple Original Films signed on. Sigourney Weaver was added to the cast in March 2023.
  
  The film includes a scene where the characters bond across the gorge, with the two playing chess and banging on improvised drum sets, recalling breakout roles of the actors: Taylor-Joy as a chess prodigy in The Queen's Gambit (2020) and Teller as a drummer in Whiplash (2014). Teller and Taylor-Joy have said that the scenes were written before they were cast, that they felt the scenes were a bit on the nose and tried to get them changed, and that Derrickson insisted the scene remain.
  
  Filming began in March 2023 in London, with production at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, where the tower interiors were built on a stage. The Rauma River in Norway served as the location for the forest and gorge exteriors, while Llandudno in Wales stood in for Èze in France. Visual effects were done by DNEG and Framestore with production VFX supervisor Erik Norby.