For 40 years, the Charlie’s Angels franchise has been a glamorous and action-packed display of female empowerment. Alas, fierce lady spies still need to change with the times. That’s why director Elizabeth Banks had a specific goal when she met with production designer Aaron Haye (Bohemian Rhapsody) about her new adaptation—which isn’t a reboot or remake but rather a continuation that incorporates the events of the original 1970s TV series and two breezy movies from 2000 and 2004.
“She wanted to respect the original Angels but make it feel more like one of those globe-trotting and adventurous franchises like Mission: Impossible or James Bond,” Haye tells Architectural Digest from the Vancouver set of his new project, the miniseries The Stand. “So we took it up a notch.”
Mission accomplished. In Charlie’s Angels (which opens Friday, November 15), three new crime fighters (Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska) get into high gear in alluring European locations in hopes of saving humanity. “Elizabeth was into the idea of Old World meeting the new,” Haye explains of Banks, who also plays the Angels’ superior, Bosley. “This is a theme we hit on many times.” He notes that the Berlin museum used as the exterior of the secretive Townsend Agency headquarters was under construction during filming, so “we could really play with this idea of a building being modern and sleek and turn it really rough and industrial.” The interior was constructed inside a “massive space” that had been a factory, with train tracks still built into the floor.
For the headquarters of the sinister Brock tech company (capable of generating a virus that could wipe out millions of people!), nothing less than spectacular neoclassical architecture would do. Haye proudly notes this was the first production allowed to film at Hamburg’s new Herzog & De Meuron Elbphilharmonie Opera House, a modern structure built on top of existing warehouses. It’s distinctive for the visually arresting white sloping rooftop, used as a makeshift exit in a scene. The inside? “We built our own space, which was a blast because we got to take this iconic building and create our own version of it.”
The personal chalet of the villainous billionaire Brock (Sam Claflin) was equally impressive and intimidating: Haye picked a hunting castle located outside Dresden, Germany, that once belonged to a Prussian king for the exteriors, re-creating the interiors on a soundstage. (Notice the deer antlers on the wall.) He used scanned digital photography, projection mapping, and light installations to ensure the room looked alive onscreen. “We wanted to make the space as contemporary as possible and accentuate every corner of the architecture,” he says. “It looks like some of the deer are jumping through the frame.”
That old-meets-new idea even extended to the Angels’ safe house in Hamburg, Germany, where the women retreat post-gunfight. Haye was inspired by an old brick barn that had been converted into a small living area. “We doubled down on that idea and loved the raw plywood finish, so we built a place that we haven’t already seen a million times,” he explains. “This felt secure yet contemporary; structured, chic, and sleek yet still unfinished.”
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The Angels don’t stay grounded for long. Soon they chase a lead suspect through the streets of Istanbul. “We loved the colorful façades of the houses,” he says. “They’ve been there for a hundred years, and some of them are in decay and others had been restored lovingly. Again, it’s the old versus new.”
An Istanbul market featuring a domed ceiling was the site of another chase scene, but the real high-stakes drama occurred during pre-production. “While scouting in Turkey, we heard at the last minute there was a political disagreement and had to pull up stakes,” Haye says. “We ultimately changed the entire building schedule and delivered two stages full of architecture a month early. It added a bit of stress to life.”
And yet Haye says he wouldn’t have traded the experience for, well, the world. “As soon as I got off the first call with Elizabeth, I told my wife that I wanted to do the movie because it sounded like so much fun,” he adds. “And it was.”
