Making of ‘Train Dreams’ Iconic Tunnel Shot

In Train Dreams, capturing the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest (filmed on location around Washington State) at the beginning of the 1900s meant shooting with entirely natural light and being malleable to the demands of the landscape. This shot, selected by cinematographer Adolpho Veloso, was a happy accident: The following scene — in which Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) is working with a railroad construction crew and witnesses his Asian American colleague thrown from a bridge — required a lot of preparation for stunts and safety, meaning there was significant downtime on set beforehand.

“That tunnel [pictured] was right next to where we shot the bridge scene. I was constantly searching for other things to do while we were waiting — trying to grab different moments, sometimes just nature, sometimes a little moment with Joel,” Veloso explains. He had the idea to bring some of the cast over to the tunnel and shoot them while the sun was beating down on them. “That’s probably what [the characters] would do for lunch, they would get some shade to protect themselves,” he muses. “It says a lot about the way we shot the movie: Clint [Bentley] is a director that really tries to encourage a lot of improvisation.”

Adds Veloso: “I think what nature and real locations gave us was the ability to just look to the side and find something more beautiful. Nothing beats being in the right place at the right time.”