Natali was ecstatic when the Canadian Film Centre's Feature Film Project announced that CUBE was to be the final film in the second phase of the project, but there was no time to waste.

"I figured with the script and desired prep time we would need about six months before we were ready. Except, it ended up that I had three months to do everything re-write the script, prep and shoot. We didn't even have time to sit down for a drink and celebrate. It was nobody's fault, just the way it was. Getting everything together so quickly is really a testament to my producers."

The film was shot entirely in a warehouse at Wallace Studios which added some character to the shoot. "Wallace Studios agreed to let us use their warehouse space, which isn't actually a studio, and it could get a little bit noisy. Especially when the trains went by. It turned out to be a pretty good thing because it made the whole set shake and added a little bit of ambiance," jokes producer Betty Orr.

With Natali's background as a storyboard artist, he had a very specific idea for how the set should look. His vision was realized by production designer Jasna Stefanovic. "What she came up with was really amazing," says Natali. "As soon as you stepped on to the set it felt like you were submerged in this other world. It was perfect."

In terms of production management, the greatest strength of Cube was that it could all be shot on one set to keep costs down. However, as soon as pre-production began the creative team quickly realized that they had to make their dollars stretch. were the same as other independent films and had to make their dollars stretch.

"We didn’t have the budget to shoot for more than 20 days," says producer Mehra Meh. " and we had a gruelling schedule, so we knew that the last days would be tough. This sort of hung over us like a black cloud. It ended up that we had two main units shooting about 10 feet apart from one another, literally elbowing each other for room. It was like two freight trains almost colliding.

The other major challenge was the physical and mental strain of working on a set with no real frames of reference which remains fundamentally unchanged for the entire duration of the shoot.

“It was hallucagenic,” jokes Natali. "But if you are working in a very confined environment, you inevitably have to become more inventive and people accept it when you do more outrageous and bizarre things. The audience becomes used to the space and they want to see it in a new perspective. That's the challenge," Natali says.

"That's what makes this film so cool," director of photography Derek Rogers says. "It's all shot in a single cube. We took something really small and made it immense. It was like working in a puzzle because the actors could only enter and leave the room through one door. The best part is that people will watch this film and won't realize that it was all done in one room."