"Felt so much pressure": Superman production designer Beth Mickle on building Fortress of Solitude

Beth Mickle, the production designer of Superman, has shed light on the process and the challenges of building the enormous Fortress of Solitude in the latest James Gunn film.

The Fortress of Solitude is an imperative and remarkable site in the life of Superman, which marks the turning point for the character in making the life-altering revelation about his true self. It is a frozen and isolated structure that is situated in the Arctic.

In a conversation with Variety, Beth Mickle talks about the vision and the intent behind making the set of the Fortress of Solitude in the most authentic way possible, as she states:

“We felt so much pressure to pay homage to the original and to keep audiences happy,”

Let us find out more about what Beth Mickle revealed about the making of the Fortress of Solitude set in Superman.

"It was cheaper than a CGI set," reveals Beth Mickle

While speaking to Variety, Beth Mickle shed light on the process and the challenges that took in making the monumental ice structure in the superhero's storyline, the Fortress of Solitude.

In the interview, she mentions that helmer James Gunn did not particularly want to solely rely on CGI, but rather proposed a challenge to make the structure into a pragmatic, physical form. Nonetheless, achieving the authenticity of the structure whilst maintaining its practicality was a colossal trial.

In order to create the Fortress of Solitude, the earlier prototype of the structure created in Richard Donner's imagination of it in his Superman films was kept in mind. In that version, the structure looked as if a crystal solid jutted out of the ground.

So, in the reimagining of the structure in the present James Gunn's version of Superman, Beth Mickle has attempted to create something that is true to the OG version, along with some newness embedded into it.

Mickle reveals that in the making of the structure, they stuck to real materials, as a total of 242 crystals were used in its making. She also mentions that this process was more cost-effective than using CGI tools, as she says:

“Building it was a massive challenge. We built 242 giant crystals, they’re all real.”

“ All the resin that existed on the Eastern seaboard in 2023, we bought it all,”

“It was cheaper than a CGI set.”

The filming of the Fortress of Solitude was done in the archipelago named Svalbard, Norway. In fact, we witness the legendary icy structure at the onset of the film, when a battered and vulnerable Superman is resting on the snow-laden ground. However, Krypto comes to his rescue and brings him to his frozen abode. And that is when we witness the gigantic Fortress of Solitude.

Furthermore, in the conversation, Beth Mickle remembers David Corenswet's warm reaction when he first laid eyes on the structure, as she reveals:

“Nobody was in there because they were going to be shooting an exterior. I turned around and saw David walking up the steps in his long red cape.”

“He came over, was so gracious and complimented the set.”

This is not the first time Beth Mickle has worked with James Gunn, as she collaborated with him in his 2023 film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. She has also served as a production designer for films including Drive (2011), Motherless Brooklyn (2019), and Suicide Squad (2021).

Towards the end of the interview, when Variety probed to ask about whether James Gunn is going to make a sequel to this film, Beth Mickle responded in a hush-hush manner, along with a chuckle, by uttering: