Design and filming
Crawl is the first Paramount film to be shot in the country of Serbia. Principal photography began in August 2018 and concluded in September after 41 days. Maxime Alexandre was the cinematographer. The majority of filming took place in the city of Belgrade, particularly on a set located in a warehouse facility for shipping containers in the Port of Belgrade. On July 30, 2018, days before production officially began, the set was visited by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and United States Ambassador to Serbia Kyle Randolph Scott. Vučić said he was "extremely glad" of the studio's decision to film in the country.
Using Arri Alexa cameras, including an Alexa SXT and an Alexa Mini, the film was shot with Leica Summilux-C lenses and Alura lightweight zooms on a Steadicam and a Technocrane. Within the facility, three soundstages were equipped, "the largest one for the exterior house and neighborhood, another for the house exterior and interiors, first and second floor—also used for underwater filming—and a third stage for the basement and roof scenes". Pepper mentioned that the warehouses used were the size of football fields and that the houses, gas stations, and trees were built on set.
Alan Gilmore was the film's production designer. To make the usage of water realistic, he watched several photo documentaries from New Orleans to research natural disasters and the effects a hurricane could have on houses without sustainable protection to make sure "it looks exactly right and causes the right damage and the right effects". For the main location, a house was constructed inside one of the warehouses and the production crew added a water tank they were able to fill to flood the house as filming progressed.
Overall, seven water tanks were built, of which two were filled simply to carry water, four were used for each section of the house, and a larger three-meter tall 60-meter by 80-meter tank was used for the neighborhood. According to the Serbia Film Commission, most of the film was shot after the house was flooded with the main water tanks, with 5 million liters of water being used on a daily basis. Scodelario found the shoot "the most physically demanding" of her career: "I was broken at the end of every day. We were shooting 16- to 18-hour days. I was on set all day, every day. I lost about 12 pounds shooting the movie, but I gained some of it in muscle, which I was quite impressed with. I broke a finger; I came home every day bruised, bloodied and cut open." She has spoken of how she "beefed up" her character as much as she could, eschewing makeup and playing most of the film in her bare feet, explaining: "I fought to have her barefoot [...] I didn't want protection on my feet. As a girl who's a swimmer, she's going to wear flip-flops and once she has to crawl around, she's going to kick them off." Additional filming took place in the United States, specifically around Tampa Bay in Tierra Verde, Lake Maggiore in St. Petersburg, and Thonotosassa, where exterior scenes and B-roll footage was shot. Scenes involving characters driving were shot in front of green screens, with some footage being filmed with stuntmen while actors were still in Belgrade.
Practical alligators, including the baby alligators, were created for a mere four to five takes in the film. To simulate the CGI alligators, scenes varied between Serbian stuntmen wearing green spandex suits, divers recreating alligator movements underwater, the director holding a pole attached to a pillow wrapped in green fabric, and actors reacting to fake alligator heads on sticks. Most of the weather elements seen in the film, including the wind and the rain, were provided on-set during filming, while the setting, trees, and hurricane itself were computer-generated. After filming concluded, the visual effects were handled during post-production for three months by Rodeo FX, supervised by Thomas Montminy Brodeur and Keith Kolder, who created a total 244 shots for the film.
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