Summary
- "Hacksaw Ridge" is a World War II drama that takes creative liberties but stays true to the heroism of Desmond Doss during the war.
- The movie was filmed in various locations in Australia, including Goulburn, New South Wales, Richmond, and Sydney Olympic Park.
- Some scenes were also filmed in the United States, including the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina.
Hacksaw Ridge's World War II action and true story drama primarily unfold in Okinawa and Virginia, but the movie was filmed in neither location. Narrating the actual events of Desmond Doss' life and service during World War II, Hacksaw Ridge is an uplifting tale of bravery, camaraderie, and faith. Like most movies with the "based on a true story" motif, Hacksaw Ridge takes a few creative liberties to raise the impact of its patriotic and faith-based themes. However, it still stays true to most aspects of Desmond Doss' life and accurately depicts his heroism during World War II.
Since Hacksaw Ridge walks through several true-story events of Desmond Doss' timeline, from his early years in Virginia to his heroic World War II endeavors in Okinawa, it features several different parts of the world during its runtime. The movie's depiction of all of these global locations seems so realistic that it is hard not to wonder where it was actually filmed. Hence, here is a detailed breakdown of the real filming location where Hacksaw Ridge was shot.
Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia
Hacksaw Ridge's principal photography began on September 29, 2015, and lasted for 59 days. For its filming, production designer Barry Robison transformed several locations from Australia to make them appear like Virginia and Japan from the World War II Era. Since the battle of the Hacksaw Ridge was very well documented, Robison was able to find several resources to accurately bring the World War II battle to the big screen. After extensively location scouting outside Sydney, Robison and his team found a place called Goulburn, which seemed perfect for portraying the central ridge.
As per reports (via Architectural Digest), Robison and the art department behind the movie first created a nine-by-12-foot model, which Mel Gibson used to "play out how he wanted the battles to play out on the field.” The film's crew had initially set their eyes on a real ridge beside the Main Southern railway line north of Goulburn, which had been created by railroad engineers for ing railway tracks. However, despite being perfect for Hacksaw Ridge's filming, the ridge could not be used because the filmmakers needed it on the movie's battlefield set. Therefore, they created a new cliff face by digging a sixty-foot wide quarry thirty feet in the ground and using molds from the real ridge.
Stuntmen from the movie had to move up and down the cliff's precipice during a crucial scene that recounts how Desmond Doss worked tirelessly at the Hacksaw Ridge and saved his men by pulling them down the rock face using a makeshift stretcher. Considering the risk involved in the scene, Hacksaw Ridge's production had hired geotech engineers to determine whether the quarry was safe for stuntwork. After a meticulous assessment, the engineers deduced that the location had a “high” or “very high” risk of instability, which was fixed by the engineers for the filming to continue (via Fortify Geotech).
Richmond, New South Wales, Australia
The opening moments of Hacksaw Ridge highlight the early years of Desmond Doss' life in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he first acquired his faith and reinforced his beliefs in the Ten Commandments after growing up in a Christian household. Similar to most other scenes of Hacksaw Ridge, these early moments were also filmed in New South Wales. Located in Australia's Hunter Valley, the small town of Richmond was the perfect location for recreating Lynchburg, Virginia. However, since Australia and the United States have several streetscape differences, the production designers for the movie not only changed signboards in the region but also altered the outside appearance of many stores to make them look more American.
Richmond's West Market Street, Windsor Street, and East Market Street were closed down for Hacksaw Ridge's filming. As seen in the above Twitter post, many local news channels also spotted Mel Gibson and other cast and crew from the movie in the filming location. Apart from Hacksaw Ridge, New South Wales' Richmond has previously been the filming location for several other Hollywood films like The Great Gatsby and Children of the Corn.
Disney Studios, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Australia's Disney Studios (formerly known as Fox Studios) was the production base for Hacksaw Ridge's filming, where the film occupied four sound stages and several production areas. Centennial Park, located right around the corner from the studio, was also used for filming a scene from Hacksaw Ridge where Desmond Doss' family visits a cemetery. The filmmakers behind Hacksaw Ridge did an incredible job at doubling the studio and its nearby locations as Okinawan battlefields. However, a few other movies and shows have also achieved a similar feat in the past. Before Hacksaw Ridge, the World War II miniseries The Pacific did something similar by recreating Japan in the studio, and even The Wolverine disguised Australian locations as the Japanese islands.
Bringelly, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Hacksaw Ridge's battlefield scenes were primarily filmed at a private land in Bringelly. Although the film's crew had made relevant agreements with the landowners of the region before filming, the movie's producers enraged some environmentalists after they cleared over 80 trees to turn the location into a desolate, war-torn battlefield. To make up for the damage, the movie's producers agreed to rehabilitate the location once Hacksaw Ridge's filming was done. While these minor roadblocks presented some unforeseeable challenges to the film's crew, Bringelly proved to be the ideal location for the battlefield scenes because it was well hidden from other parts of the city.
Newington Armory, Sydney Olympic Park, Australia
Desmond Doss' military training is one of the most pivotal arcs in Hacksaw Ridge as it recounts how the heroic figure stuck to his belief systems despite being bullied and looked down upon by his fellow men. According to the movie's storyline, this training arc ensues in Fort Jackson. However, similar to other scenes in Hacksaw Ridge, Desmond Doss' training was entirely shot in Australia itself, where Newington Armory's grounds at the Sydney Olympic Park were disguised as Fort Jackson.
Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina, USA
In Hacksaw Ridge's opening arc, Desmond and Dorothy go on a hiking trip in Lynchburg's mountains, where they suddenly find a massive waterfall. The waterfall portrayed in this scene is the Looking Glass waterfall from the Pisgah National Forest. According to reports, Hacksaw Ridge is the only film that has documented the waterfalls in the backdrop of one of its scenes. Given how all the other pivotal moments in Hacksaw Ridge were filmed in Australia, primarily in New South Wales, it is hard not to wonder why this one scene was shot in the United States.
Sources: Architectural Digest, Fortify Geotech
