Wizarding rollercoaster for Alan

A CLARECASTLE man’s creativity and attention to detail has seen him become the backbone of the artistic design team for the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter 20-acre theme park in Orlando.

Alan Gilmore, 39, has been involved in a number of high profile productions over the past 15 years or so, with the most challenging being his work as artistic director on the Harry Potter series of movies. His contribution to the movies made him the ideal person to be the artistic director on the first true to life ‘world’, based on the visuals and concepts of the films of the same titles.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened to the public on June 18, but Alan had been working on the project for two years before any outsiders got to see what all the fuss was about.
The park has been in development for five years and features Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey as its signature ride, along with the Dragon Challenge, an intense dual rollercoaster; Hogswart Castle and the fictitious Scottish village of Hogsmeade, among many other attractions.
Alan is the son of Noel and Hilary Gilmore, who live in Clarecastle. His artistic flair seems to have been inherited from his parents, with his father having worked on various graphic art designs for companies “many years ago” and his mother still widely known for watercolour illustrations and her own intricate attention to detail.
The creativity has also spread to his siblings. His brother Shane is a well-known sculptor and has a number of pieces included in Ennis as part of the Sculpture Trail initiative. His sister, Hilary is also an artist and is currently teaching in Limerick but does private artwork also.
Alan studied architecture in DIT Bolton Street in Dublin. He, along with three other graduates from his DIT class, made contact with people in the Irish film industry and landed themselves work on the set of the Michael Collins film, recreating the GPO.
“That job lasted about six months and given the praise for the set, I’m sure it helped my career develop from then on,” he comments.
Over the years, he has worked on The Bourne Ultimatum, three of the Harry Potter movies, Alfie, Captain Corellis Mandolin, Maybe Baby, Spy Game, The End of the Affair, Animal Fam, Notting Hill and The Avengers among others, including many television programmes and commercials.
He admits it was amazing to get work with the Harry Potter series. “I was brought in originally as a set designer but was promoted to supervising art director. Harry Potter has been such a world wide phenomenon and I have been priveleged to be part of all that buzz. I thought that nothing could top that but working on bringing all of that into a form of reality at The Wizarding World in Orlando is a totally different level again,” Alan says.
His job on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was to design the buildings. “I had all the film design team working with me as well as the production designer, Stuart Craig. The design was essentially a collaboration between us and we followed it right through to finish. I got to be involved in many other aspects of the project too, right down to the menu design and how restaurants, rides, streets and everything would look,” he remarks.
He describes The Wizarding World as a “bit like Bunratty Folk Park on a much much larger scale with the magic of Harry Potter added in”.
“It is a unique idea – taking the film visuals and creating it into something real. It is the first time that this has been done,” he noted.
Alan lived in Orlando for the two years he was working on The Wizarding World, with his wife, Joanna and three-year-old son, Phelan.
“They have been there at different stages of the design and, of course, after it opened. Phelan doesn’t get Harry Potter yet, but he’s beginning to be interested in castles and loves the magic and excitement of it all there,” Alan adds.
For now, Alan is between jobs and admits he doesn’t know what’s next in his career.
“We shall see and I am, of course, open to approaches. I won’t go looking for work yet but I’ll keep my ears open and see what comes my way,” he says.
With his portfolio and experience, it’s doubtful that he’ll have any trouble finding work on more high profile films. In Alan’s case, it certainly is a case of Watch this Space. Who knows, maybe he’ll bring a little piece of that Harry Potter magic back to Clare some day?