Damsel required a range of filming locations to bring the fantasy adventure to life, combining both studio facilities in London with location shooting in Portugal to create the desired effect. The adventure features plenty of action-packed scenes and some great visuals evoking a very familiar aesthetic of medieval European fantasy.
Filming Locations Explained
Troubadour Meridian Water Studios, London
Troubadour Meridian Water Studio, used for filming Damsel | Image from the official Troubadour website
You will know that particularly with fantasy adventures, it is impossible to film everything on location, as many special effects are used to create the world the characters live in. Productions rely on studios and sound stages to film these effect-laden scenes, and Damsel is no exception.
Scenes featuring the interior of the Kingdom of Aurea’s grand castle, Elodie’s home kingdom, and the vast caves were all filmed at the London studio Troubadour Meridian Water, using a mix of practical effects, location work, and the usual green screen to create a more realistic feel, especially with the scenes between Elodie and the dragon.
Portugal
Batalha Monastery | Image via Expedia
To help the production feel authentic, a European location was used as much as possible to immerse viewers into the fantasy world of Damsel. The castle of the Royal Elodie Family was inspired by Manueline architecture, a style unique to Portugal, so filming there made sense. The Batalha castle in Portugal, Capillas imperfectas, doubled for the one in Damsel, and some exterior shots were also done at the famous Batalha monastery.
The area is also famous for its cave system, and you have to wonder if there were some shots done in that very system, to help authenticate the cave scenes in the final movie.
Tomar was also reported as a filming location and may have been the location for the Kingdom of Aurea. Mountain ranges in Sortelha also helped create the fantasy of the film, becoming the home for the dragon in the finished product.
Production Details
The named producers for the film are Joe Roth, Jeff Kirschenbaum, and Chris Castaldi. Roth co-founded Morgan Creek Productions in the late 80s and was chairman of 20th Century Fox from 1989 to 1993. He also worked for Walt Disney before forming Revolution Studios and Roth Films.
Jeff Kirschenbaum would work closely with Roth throughout his career, and you will know Chris Castaldi from films such as Iron Man, Avengers: Endgame, and Man of Steel. Star of the film Millie Bobby Brown is also named as an executive producer.
Here’s a brief timeline of how Damsel made its way to Netflix:
- In November 2020, casting had already started on the film, and Millie Bobby Brown was named as Princess Elodie.
- Principal photography started in early 2022.
- Filming reportedly started in February 2022 continuing through to July 2022, with a scheduled release in October 2023. However, this schedule was changed due to the effects of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, so this date was canceled.
- In October 2022, it was announced that a book to accompany the film would be released.
- In April 2023, further casting details emerged including Ray Winstone, Brooke Carter, and Angela Bassett.
- On December 13th, 2023, Netflix officially confirmed Damsel‘s worldwide release date.
- Damsel was released on March 8th, 2024.
