Diksha Sundriyal
Prime Video’s ‘Radioactive‘ follows the story of Marie Curie. Beginning from her early years, it traces her journey through the time she met Pierre Curie, made remarkable discoveries, won Nobels, and changed the world forever. Apart from showcasing her exceptional achievements, the film also gives us an intimate look into her personal struggles, beginning with the sexism she had to face in her field, to the sudden loss of her collaborator and husband, to braving through the hatred of the country that she later helps in the world war.
While portraying these ups and downs in her life, director Marjane Satrapi made a point of making it all look beautiful. From the glowing radium vial in Marie’s pocket to the summer picnic by the lake with Pierre, the aesthetic of the film was a critical component of the storytelling. If you want to know where ‘Radioactive’ was filmed, here’s the answer.
Where Was Radioactive Filmed?
The story of ‘Radioactive’ is mostly set in Paris. The scenes also shift from Warsaw to Nevada to Stockholm to Hiroshima. The filming, however, did not take place in any of these cities. The production set camp in Hungary, with Budapest and Eztergom sitting for different places in the world. Some scenes have also been filmed in southern Spain.
Budapest, Hungary
Most of the action in ‘Radioactive’ takes place in Paris. To get the tone of the late 19th to early 20th century, the crew needed a place that could easily replicate that sense of era and architecture without too much tinkering or artificial set building. They found this natural ambiance in Budapest, where most of the shooting took place on location. The city of Esztergom was also used in recreating the major moments in the life of Marie Curie. The future scenes, where we see the ripple effects of Curie’s research work, were also recreated there. The scenes of the Chernobyl disaster were recreated in a studio set.
Almeria, Spain
While we witness Marie Curie’s dedication to science and the fruits of her labor, the film also shows us the effects her work has had over the years. It takes us through the good as well as the bad ways in which the future generations expanded the role of radioactivity. In one of the scenes, we are taken to Nevada in 1961, where the site is being prepared for testing of the atom bomb. Spectators sit at a distance with safety goggles on, while the soldiers and the administrator view the spectacle from a bunker. For the blast site, they have prepared a model of a small town, furbished with houses and mannequins for people inside them. They call it the Doom Town. For the filming of this scene, the production took to Almeria in Spain, where a lookalike set of the Doom Town was used to capture this moment.
