National: Irish man brings visual magic to blockbuster Netflix movie

As the film industry continues to adapt in the modern age of streaming, Kilkenny native Rory Doherty has found himself at the forefront of it all.

The Glenmore man, with a background in architecture, recently landed the position of being a junior draughtsperson for the Netflix exclusive blockbuster Lift.

Starring Kevin Hart as a master thief, Lift is a high stakes action film with a rip-roaring plot where the majority of the action takes place at more than 30,000ft above sea level.

In the movie, there are pivotal scenes where a private jet and a commercial airliner take centre stage and Rory had a huge part to play in them.

As a junior draughtsperson, he was tasked with contributing to the designing and drawing up of various sets in the movie, including the aircraft.

“The production itself took about six to seven months from start to finish,” Rory explains.

“The production company itself was actually owned by Kevin Hart so he had a huge role to play in the movie.

“We shot the scenes primarily in Belfast at Harbour Studios and Loop Studios and it was a huge operation.

“My task was essentially to help design something that looks real but really isn’t.

“With the aircraft scenes, attention to detail was paramount and so much homework went into making the sets both feel real and fulfil the vision of the creative team.

Picture via Rory Doherty

“The crew I worked with in Belfast are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and we worked collaboratively to bring all our ideas together.

“Communication was encouraged and it was a great creative environment to be a part of.”

According to Rory, the detail put into every single set is simply ‘indescribable’.

“You just can’t put it into words how much effort and time and collaboration goes into making these sets look so real,” he said, “but it is so rewarding to see the vision come to life and see it all come together.”

The overall production process for the film was not all plain sailing however as shooting took place during the pandemic and was subject to delays due to the vast amount of people involved.

“Until you see for yourself how many people are involved across all the departments to bring all the production elements together, you’d struggle to believe it,” Rory emphasises.

“During the peak period of production, we must’ve had approximately 1,000 people involved in the production during shooting.

“It was almost like a small city coming together all with the one goal and that was incredibly cool to be a part of.”

According to Rory, you’d get to see members of the cast walking around on set and he himself even had meetings where Kevin Hart was in attendance, but all eyes were firmly on the end goal.

“At the end of the day, as cool as it was, everybody was just so focused on their jobs at-hand for the movie so it was difficult for it all to fully sink in.

“You knew you had your job to do and you also knew that everybody else had their jobs to do and we were all so focused on our tasks at hand and completing them in time and to the best possible standard.

“I’d just like to once again give a huge shout-out to all the staff across the production and within the art department. They were all great.”

Unfortunately, the pandemic wasn’t the only speedbump the movie hit prior to its release.

It had been scheduled for release back in August of last year but that release date was postponed as a direct result of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike in the United States.

Lift was subsequently successfully released on Netflix on January 12, 2024.

For Rory, the wait to see how every single element of the production came together in the final product was so very worth it.

With his qualifications in architecture he has many career options that he can explore, but he is also very much open to returning to the film industry for future projects.

Check out some of the fantastic set design Rory was involved in by catching Lift for yourself on Netflix now!