One Million Years B.C. is a 1966 epic journey fantasy film directed by Don Chaffey. This movie is a remake of the 1940 American fantasy One Million B.C. and was made by Seven Arts and Hammer Film Productions. The movie, starring Raquel Welch and John Richardson, is set in a made-up world where there are dinosaurs and cavemen. The film follows Akhoba, the Rock Tribe’s leader, who also happens to be Tumak’s father, who drives him out of the tribe’s cave.
Tumak is a member of this tribe. After roaming for several days, he comes across numerous female Shell Tribe residents who live on the coast. His ordeal has left him in a horrible state, and Loana, the Chief’s daughter, takes him in and nurses him back to health. This makes her fiancé Payto jealous, and eventually, the two of them engage in a heated argument, leading to Tumak’s banishment. Loana makes the decision to follow him, though, and he is followed back to his people’s caves. Tumak becomes the new leader after Loana teaches the Rock people to respect while they are there. But that is the plot of the movie, let’s talk about the filming locations of One Million Years BC.
Where Was One Million Years BC Filmed?
In particular, the Namib Desert, South Island, and Cape Town were used in the filming of One Million Years BC in New Zealand, Namibia, South Africa, and Thailand. Principal photography appeared to have started in early 2006 and took 102 days in total, 20 days longer than the production crew had anticipated. This delay was partially due to some constraints Emmerich and his crew faced in Africa while filming.
The director reportedly wanted to film the entire thing in Africa, but the authorities disallowed him from shooting a crucial scene that required the use of a helicopter. In order to film those particular scenes, they had to go all the way to New Zealand. Let’s now tour the precise locations that serve as the backdrops for the movie’s prehistoric settings.
Also Read: Where Is Say Anything Filmed? Locations Revealed
Namib Desert, Namibia
One Million Years BC’s production crew shot a big portion of the movie in Southern Africa’s Namib desert in order to capture certain important scenes. It appears that the actors and crew only used the area of the vast desert that is located in Namibia, despite the fact that it extends over 2,000 kilometers along the Atlantic shores of Namibia, South Africa, and Angola.
They specifically filmed a number of significant scenes on the Spitzkoppe. It is a collection of granite mountains situated in Namibia’s Namib Desert, halfway between Usakos and Swakopmund. The pyramids, miniature recreations of the pyramids, God’s palace, the slave quarters, as well as the Nile River were all built by the production team in Namibia. According to reports, the structures were constructed in Munich and then shipped to the African nation in 15 distinct maritime containers.
South Island, New Zealand
The South Island of New Zealand South Island served as another location for the action movie’s filming. The cast and crew of “10,000 BC” camped in Te Waipounamu, a region in South Island renowned for its lakes, glaciers, and summits, for shooting purposes. The crew used a variety of locations on the island for location shooting, including the adventurous town of Queenstown at 2127 Cadrona Valley Road and additional locations in and near Wanaka in the Otago region. Additionally, Southland, the nation’s most southern region, was used for some of the filmings.
Cape Town And Thailand
A few significant scenes were also filmed in Cape Town, one of South Africa’s three capital towns. It is often referred to as the Mother City, and thanks to its expansive and adaptable landscape, it is a popular location for filming numerous kinds of movies and TV shows. Hitman, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Homeland are a few of the prominent films that have been filmed in the nation’s capital. There are rumors that the One Million Years BC cast and crew also used several Thailand locations. According to reports, the Southeast Asian nation’s deep and dense jungles are where the rainforest scenes were filmed.
Other One Million Years BC Filming Locations
The exterior sequences were filmed in the winter months on the Canary Islands Lanzarote and Tenerife. The Echium wildpretii plant appears in the movie as a tribute to Tenerife’s distinctive native vegetation. However, the vegetation is present in scenes filmed on a beach in Lanzarote. Actually, the only time this plant bloom is from May to June. It can be found in mountainous areas of Tenerife that are higher than 1,600 m.
The studio had to build a 6-7 foot high volcano on the back lot of the Associated British Picture Corporation studio because there were no active volcanoes in the Canary Islands. Wallpaper paste, oats, dry ice, and red dye were combined to create the eruption’s lava flows, lava eruptions, and lava fields. The dinosaur visuals were captured by Harryhausen in his home studio in London.
Also Read: Only Murders in the Building Season 3: How it Will Continue?
