This true-crime documentary features historically accurate miniature sets
Meet the miniaturists who recreated Bernie Langille's world from old home movies
"The ultimate triumph is when somebody looks at it and says: 'That looks real, I didn't know it was a miniature'. Then you know you got the realism bang on."
Filmmaker Jackie Torrens gave miniaturists Shelley Acker and Iris Sutherland an unusual job — to build historically accurate miniature sets for her documentary Bernie Langille Wants to Know What Happened to Bernie Langille.
Bernie Langille died under mysterious circumstances more than 50 years ago and his grandson, also named Bernie Langille went on a search to uncover the truth. Was his namesake murdered?
The story from the documentary takes place in 1968 and most of the locations were no longer in existence so Acker and Sutherland had to work from old home movies to build the 1:12 scale sets. They also needed to consider the needs of the film crew — walls and ceilings had to be removable so the director could film from different vantage points.
Watch the video above to learn more about their process and see Langille's world.
