Shubhabrata Dutta
Directed by Michael Pearce, Apple TV+’s thriller drama ‘Echo Valley’ tests a mother’s love for her child in the aftermath of an “accident.” Claire Garretson, an addict, returns home one night with blood on her shirt and tells her mother, Kate, that her boyfriend is dead. While Kate is in shock, she does what she can to keep her daughter safe, which includes getting rid of the body the latter has brought with her in the car. Unfortunately, Kate is seemingly spotted by a guy who threatens to reveal the truth to the cops. She must ensure that word doesn’t get out and even speaks to her estranged husband, Claire’s father, who doesn’t know what has happened. However, it is clear from his words that Claire cannot be fully trusted, which naturally puts her version of what happened to her boyfriend in doubt. The visuals of ‘Echo Valley’ highlight the dark and chilly narrative and manifest the murky situation Kate finds herself in.
Echo Valley Filming Locations
While ‘Echo Valley’ is set on a farm in southeastern Pennsylvania, it was filmed in New Jersey, specifically in Hunterdon County, Morris County, Hudson County, as well as Buckinghamshire in England. Under the working title ‘Wildvale,’ principal photography reportedly began in late May 2023 and continued for several weeks before wrapping up by the end of June of the same year. The crew used the counties inside out to incorporate the expanse that works almost as a metaphor for the far-reaching consequences of Claire and Kate’s actions. Buckinghamshire was used for scenes requiring sound stages.
Hunterdon County, New Jersey
In Hunterdon County, located in western New Jersey, the production team reached out to various towns and boroughs like Stockton, Lambertville, and Clinton. In the borough of Stockton, a farmstead on Seabrook Road seemingly doubled for the farm where Claire and Kate live. The team also made a casting call for 10 to 14-year-old girls with horse-riding experience for a few scenes. Sydney Sweeney, who plays Claire, had to learn to ride horses as well. ““There was this horse there named Moose, and Moose and I became best friends,” she told Vanity Fair. “I loved it. It made me want to have a farm and have a bunch of horses,” she added.
Morris County, New Jersey
Morris County was the second base for the crew. It headed to Rockaway, a borough in the northern part of the county, and captured many scenes, including several at the Mount Hope Pond, a beach and waterbody area in the Mount Hope Historical Park. While the park is located at 75 Teabo Road, in Wharton, the pond itself falls under Rockaway Township. The scenes involving the pond, where Kate throws the dead body into, were seemingly filmed there. A casting call was made for teenagers with lifeguarding experience. Rockaway also served as a backdrop for ‘It Ends With Us.’
Hudson County, New Jersey
Additional scenes were reportedly filmed in Jersey City, the seat of Hudson County. Nicknamed America’s Golden Door, it is a port-of-entry city known worldwide for the Statue of Liberty. Other notable landmarks include Katyń Memorial, Liberty Science Center, Lincoln the Mystic memorial, Peter Stuyvesant Monument, and the Van Wagenen House. The city holds various popular festivals, like the Jersey City Jazz Festival, Jersey City Latin Jazz Festival, and Jersey City Mural Arts Festival. If you are a nature lover, the city boasts several parks, like Liberty State Park, Hamilton Park, Van Vorst Park, and Lincoln Park. Movies like ‘Dark Horse,’ ‘Joker,’ ‘Cat Person,’ and ‘Nonnas‘ were filmed on location.
Buckinghamshire, England
For scenes requiring controlled environments, the production team reached out to Pinewood Studios, located at Pinewood Road in the village of Iver Heath in England’s Buckinghamshire county. The scenes where Julianne Moore, who plays Kate, dives into a lake, were filmed in one of the stages, possibly the 6-meter deep Underwater Stage, which holds 1,2000,000 litres of water. “That was fascinating for me. You take this deep breath, and then you go down there. They push you all the way down, and you do all your acting…It was definitely a challenge for me,” she told Vanity Fair. Pinewood Studios offers 30 diverse and flexible stages, three customizable backlots, and large workshop and office spaces. There are ready-made sets like an art gallery, a club bar, a ballroom, a garden, and a black park. Some projects that have utilized the studio’s resources include ‘The Amateur,’ ‘Black Bag,’ ‘The Madness,’ and ‘The Perfect Couple.’
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