During the production of FOOTSTEPS, Vanessa Ruane (production associate and assistant to director John Badham) took behind-the-scenes pictures on location in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Check out her candid shots of the cast and crew!


Scouting locations a month before the actors showed up, director John Badham and executive producer Ken Raskoff (who is NOT short, but is in full Nanookery for the Halifax winter) look around an old Royal Canadian Mounted Police Command Post in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Can this place be turned into an isolated Cape Cod beach house inhabited by world-famous writer Daisy Lowendahl? Although they look skeptical, John and Ken finally pick the location and, in the ensuing month, convert it into the film's primary location.


The conversion from Royal Canadian Mounted Police Manor (a functional group home like a fire station) into beach estate took over a month. Here, in the very early days of pre-production, a large open space is being converted into the great room, where Daisy must fight for her life when she encounters a stranger lurking.


Director of photography Ron Stannett (left) and production designer Eric Fraser (right) contemplate their daunting tasks. Eric needs to create a viable study where some of Daisy's best writing takes place. Additionally, the house needs creaky stairs, dark corners where anyone might be lurking, a basement where the electrical controls to the house might be rigged and a separate boathouse where key clues might be found. Ron must take this bright setting and make it seem like night. No wonder they both look scared.


As cameraman Ian Bibby looks at the composition of the shot, Director John Badham and actor Bryan Brown discuss the nuances of a scene being shot in the great room. Notice the minimal lighting. The Lowendahl beach house scenes take place entirely at night. In this moment, there is a blackout, which may--or may not--be accidental.


Bug Hall is happy that his girlfriend, Carmen, left the warmth of sunny Florida to come visit our location in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In February. Here, Bug provides some much-needed warmth during a break in the shooting. Last we heard, Carmen was still thawing.


No one has a minute to waste between takes. Director John Badham and actor Bryan Brown go over the details of the scene while key makeup artist Kathy O'Connell (farthest right) works with Bryan, script supervisor Heidi Schiller (center) takes notes on the blocking and to her left, cinematographer Ron Stannett discusses the shot with his crew.


Visiting Fox Studios executive David Madden and executive producer Ken Raskoff go over the call sheet for the next day. Because most of the film takes place in the same location, the filmmakers were able to shoot almost entirely in chronological order.


Set dresser Hugh Jones and dolly grip Eric Emery getting ready to hit the set with a vengeance. Eric has to lay down tracks (like railroad tracks) for a moving camera and Hugh must make sure to restore props which may have been moved to accommodate the camera. Viewers love to notice when there are errors in "continuity". (There may be one or two in FOOTSTEPS, but we're not about to tell what they are.)


Bug Hall takes a look at his script during a break in the shooting. With only four characters in the film, each actor has a lot of lines to remember.


A weary first assistant director Elizabeth Scherberger surveys her domain. In her headset, Elizabeth is hearing from the hair and make-up trailer on the status of the actors, is getting a read from camera and art departments on when they'll be ready for the next shot, is trying to anticipate the director's needs and is keeping her eye on getting the day's work done. Elizabeth and John Badham have worked together before.


With a tent over the house to create perpetual night, it's so dark that script supervisor Heidi Schiller needs to step into a lighted powder room to check her notes. The script supervisor, in addition to following the dialogue during all shooting, keeps a record of every shot tracking the film's continuity.


Vanessa Ruane -- production associate, photojournalist, director's assistant and all around good egg. This is Vanessa's fourth picture with director John Badham. Once moving to a location, Vanessa takes over like the proverbial white tornado and within a week, knows more about the city than the locals. By day three, Vanessa knew where all the restaurants were, where the vegetarian grocery store was (although Vanessa has been known to eat meat), where the farmer's market in Halifax was, the advantages of the various gyms in Halifax (of which there were quite a few) and had made soup on a daily basis during preproduction. Every production should have at least one Vanessa.




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