Appearance
Zardoz
Written, produced, and directed by John Boorman, Zardoz (1974) is a wildly ambitious science fiction fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic Earth of the year 2293. Sean Connery stars as Zed, a brutish "Exterminator" who worships a giant flying stone head called Zardoz — until he stows away inside it and discovers the hidden world of the immortal elite, the Eternals, upending both their society and his own understanding of the world.
Developed by Boorman after his abortive attempt to adapt The Lord of the Rings, the film was shot entirely in the Republic of Ireland on a budget of under $2 million. Burt Reynolds had been cast as the lead before withdrawing due to illness, with Connery — looking to reinvent himself after years as James Bond — stepping in the week before filming began. Stanley Kubrick was reported to have served as an uncredited technical advisor.
Location(s)
Zardoz was filmed entirely in County Wicklow, Ireland, using the area's dramatic landscapes, country estates, and coastline to conjure its fractured, dreamlike vision of the distant future. The production was based at Ardmore Studios in Bray.
Glencree Centre for Reconciliation, Enniskerry, County Wicklow
The community of the Brutals — the savage, earth-bound lower class — was filmed at Glencree, a former reformatory in the hills above Enniskerry. Now home to the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, the site's austere, institutional architecture gave the Brutals' settlement a raw, unsettling quality. Map Location
Brennanstown Riding School (Hollybrook Hall), Kilmacanogue, County Wicklow
The gracious country estate where the immortal Eternals reside in their "Vortex" was filmed at Hollybrook Hall, near the village of Kilmacanogue close to Bray. The house, now a riding school, provided a lush, manicured contrast to the wasteland outside. The exterior shots at the very opening of the film were taken near John Boorman's own home in Ireland. Map Location
Luggala Estate, County Wicklow
The dramatic mountain lake and surrounding wilderness of the Luggala Estate in the Wicklow Mountains were used for the wasteland sequences. The estate's wild, exposed terrain gave the film much of its otherworldly atmosphere. Map Location
Brittas Bay, County Wicklow
The ruined town and library sequences were filmed at Brittas Bay on the Wicklow coast, where the crumbling remnants of the set evoke the fallen civilization the Eternals have retreated from. Map Location
Director
John Boorman
Cast
Sean Connery
Charlotte Rampling
Sara Kestelman
John Alderton
IMDB
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