Movie Sets

IVER HEATH, England -- It takes a lot of planks and plaster to bring James Bond's adventures to life. The latest 007 movie, "Quantum of Solace," is being shot amid high security at a sprawling studio complex near London, where vast soundstages have been transformed into a medieval Italian town, a corner of South America and the high-tech headquarters of British intelligence.

They're hoping wet weather doesn't turn "MASH" into mush today in Calabasas. But rain or shine, a tribute to the 25th anniversary of the popular television series' finale will be staged at the show's Malibu Creek State Park filming location, organizers promise. The former "MASH" set is about two miles into the park, next to a dirt road that turns muddy when it rains. Several stars from the series, Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit and William Christopher, have indicated they plan to attend.

IN the new movie "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day," Amy Adams plays an entirely delectable American starlet looking for love and fame in pre-World War II London. Her performance lives up to her character's name, Delysia (say it out loud: dee-LEE-see-ah), and indeed, the apartment she inhabits is as scrumptious as a box of fine, liqueur-infused French chocolates.

IN THE Wachowski brothers' new movie, "Speed Racer," the eponymous main character (Emile Hirsch) and his family seem to live in a modern ranch house in midcentury suburbia. The hallmarks of the era are there: graphic wallpaper, bold colors, bamboo accents and streamlined furniture upholstered in nubby fabric. But there's also a futuristic television and a spotless workshop where Speed's dad, Pops (John Goodman), makes battery-operated race cars that can defy gravity.

CAN MERYL STREEP dance? Can Pierce Brosnan sing? Who cares? The reviews for "Mamma Mia!" may be mixed, but the film version of the Broadway musical is a smashing mash-up of design ideas. At Casa Donna, the Grecian getaway where the breezy summer romance unfolds, the clotheslines and guest rooms are dressed in fabulous fabrics: white cotton with bold accents in blue and red, sun-faded floral and stripe prints, bright folk patterns and embroideries from the Mediterranean and points east.

UNDER a high, hot September sky, Disney Studios has clearly surrendered. Deep in the heart of the back lot, all those striding, BlackBerry-monitoring employees give way to denizens of a different sort. Pirates of every hue, hair configuration and state of personal hygiene. Pirates in velvet, silk and leather. Chinese pirates and African pirates, French pirates and Arab pirates, 150 of them all told, some rock star, some scurvy dog.

Designing the world's greatest toy store is hard enough, but when the movie is called "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium," the set better feel, well, magical. "No pressure there," quips production designer Therese DePrez ("Happiness," "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"). "I'll never forget walking into the empty soundstage and saying to myself, 'Two months from now, there'll be a world here . . .

Public health officials have suspected for weeks that a hepatitis A outbreak among 19 workers on a San Marino movie set might be linked to lettuce that came from a prominent Northern California grower. But a contractor for the San Benito County company, Pride of San Juan, said this week that it had never been notified of the outbreak, let alone investigated as a possible source of tainted produce.

Quick: What does a gaffer really do? How about an assistant camera person? In a company town where people stay for the credits (and even applaud the names in the fast-rolling small print), you'd think we'd all know. But as often as not, the world behind the scenes is lost in the illusion on screen. So we asked six technical craftspeople to step forward and talk about their jobs with Times staff writer Susan King, while staff photographer Mark Boster brought them into the frame.

Karen Higgins Construction coordinator Credits: Currently working on the comedy "Brothers Solomon"; just wrapped "Nancy Drew." Other films include "Anger Management," "50 First Dates" and "Good Night, and Good Luck." Job description: "The short definition is that I am head of the construction department, and the construction department is basically responsible for building the sets for a film or for TV or for commercials -- I do primarily film.