Building the Bizarre, Beautiful World of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
In The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Disney’s live-action re-creation of the E.T.A. Hoffmann story and subsequent classical children’s ballet, Morgan Freeman plays Drosselmeyer, giver of enchanted gifts and leader of a star-studded cast that kicks off in picture-perfect Victorian London, giving way to the magical realms where Clara (Mackenzie Foy) hunts for a key to open a final bequest from her late mother: a filigree silver egg that obviously possesses significance beyond knickknackery and sentiment.
Bohemian Rhapsody‘s Production Designer on Re-Constructing the World of Queen
As Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, actor Rami Malek is incredible, an on-stage writhing echo of the groundbreaking rocker’s performances with the band Queen. Surrounding Malek in this uplifting rock biopic are exacting recreations of the bands’ 1970s and 80s-era haunts, from stadium concerts to a youthful Freddie’s London flat with his girlfriend Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton). Bookended by Queen’s seminal performance at Wembley Stadium in 1985 for the Live Aid benefit,
Bad Times at the El Royale’s Production Designer’s Brilliant Build
When Laramie, a vacuum cleaner salesman with an off-sounding drawl (Jon Hamm), steps behind the bar to make a pot of a coffee in the lobby of the El Royale, no attendant to be seen, it’s clear this fancy yet faded, empty hotel isn’t your average roadside motel, no matter how welcoming the vintage neon sign outside. For a traveling salesman, Laramie seems to know an awful lot about the history of his abode for the evening,
How The House With a Clock in Its Walls was Actually Built
Horror master Eli Roth, known for directing The Hostel and Cabin Fever series, trades gore for wonder in his newest work, a PG adaptation of John Bellairs’ 1973 YA novel, The House With a Clock in Its Walls. Starring Jack Black as Uncle Jonathan, a self-proclaimed warlock, and Cate Blanchett as his sharp, competent witch neighbor, Florence Zimmerman, the plot of House and the fate of its young protagonist,
The Better Call Saul Production Designer on Jimmy’s Changing Landscape
The inevitable transition from the affable Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) to the hardnosed Saul Goodman is becoming one of the most emotional evolutions on TV. As a whole, Better Call Saul is entering a season of transformation. Production designer Judy Rhee was charged with guiding Jimmy’s world through great personal and professional changes in season 4.
“In the timeline of the prequel, we’re getting closer to Breaking Bad,” Rhee explained.
How BlacKkKlansman‘s Production Designer Used the Power Dynamics of Race
BlacKkKlansman is a story of high stakes pushed to the absolute limit. Based on a remarkable true story, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) was the first African American officer on the Colorado Springs police force. A tense undertaking in itself, Stallworth was not content with breaking barriers. He capitalized on the opportunity and initiated a dangerous undercover operation to infiltrate the KKK, stunning even his colleagues. Production designer Curt Beech tackled these complex dynamics in incredibly imaginative ways that layer meaning throughout the design in subtle,
Mission: Impossible – Fallout’s Production Designer on Building a World of Mayhem
The sixth installment of Mission: Impossible premiered last Friday to critical praise and a series-best opening at the box office. Among the numerous elements that made MI6 a standout was the continuation of outlandish, death-defying, and yet quite scenic stunts, mostly performed by Tom Cruise himself, in the role of Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt.
Hunt’s nemesis, Solomon Lane (played by Sean Harris),
Skyscraper‘s Production Designer Elevates the Mythic Subtext to Insane Heights
Production designer Jim Bissell faced a 226-story challenge when Skyscraper writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber enlisted him to create Hong Kong high rise “The Pearl.” Oscar-nominated for his work on Good Night, and Good Luck and experienced in the ways of architecture-driven action through his contributions to Tom Cruise’s dizzying skyscraper stunts in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Bissell needed to come up with a tower every bit as dramatic as the movie’s human star Dwayne Johnson.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s Production Designer Takes on the Indoraptor
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom boasts more dinosaurs than any previous film in the Jurassic franchise—combined. While prehistoric mayhem set in the present is precisely what Jurassic fans expect, it’s a major challenge for the film crew. This was especially true for production designer Andy Nicholson, who was tasked with creating a literal house of horrors for director J.A. Bayona. With the action in Fallen Kingdom moving from Isla Nublar to the mainland,
Production Designer Ralph Eggleston on Creating the World of Incredibles 2 – Part 2
After a fourteen year interlude, director Brad Bird’s second installment starrring Pixar’s beloved animated superhero family, Incredibles 2, came out this week. As Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), and their children Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dashiell (Huck Milner), and baby Jack-Jack attempt to navigate a comeback, a first love, math, and a wild array of newfound superpowers (respectively), the audience is treated to a seamless retro-futuristic setting for the endeavors.
Production Designer Ralph Eggleston on Creating the World of Incredibles 2 – Part I
Fourteen years after Pixar’s The Incredibles anticipated Hollywood’s wave of superhero titles with the charming, animated, crime-fighting Parr family, director Brad Bird revisits the Parrs right where he left them — undercover, in a 1950s-era strip motel. At the beginning of Incredibles 2, Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) and Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), Mom and Dad Parr, have messily and unsuccessfully taken on a bank villain, and their superhero program is getting the axe.
Ocean’s 8 Production Designer on the Art of the Con Artist
Alex DiGerlando made his reputation as a production designer when he conjured the gritty swamp vibe for 2012’s Beasts of the Southern Wild. DiGerlando followed that stunning achievement with his spooky evocation of rural Louisiana subcultures in the first season of True Detective. Heist movie Ocean’s 8 represents a radical shift in milieu for the NYU-educated production designer. Working with director Gary Ross,
Westworld’s Production Designer Breaks Down Season 2
Production designer Howard Cummings’s thirty year career has encompassed an incredible range of varied and stylized work: from the fantastical designs showcased in Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief, to the grounded realism seen in such films as Francis Coppola’s The Rainmaker, to the expressive realism seen in his 20 year stint working with director Steven Soderbergh on movies like The Underneath,
Hereditary‘s Production Designer on Building the Scariest Movie of the Year
This is no exaggeration: Hereditary is the scariest movie in years and sure to become a horror classic. Writer/director Ari Aster brings a horrific tale of how we might just be unable to escape our familial bonds. He tells this through the Graham family—when Ellen, the mother of Annie Graham (an Oscar worthy Toni Collette) dies her private presence begins to haunt the whole family through her things, her secrets and perhaps even her spirit.
How The Voice Production Design Inspires Musical Creativity
Tonight, Spensha Baker, Britton Buchanan, Brynn Cartelli or Kyla Jade will be crowned the newest winner of The Voice. Whether you’re Team Blake, Team Alicia, Team Kelly, or even Team Adam, The Voice is always an inviting place to spend time every week. The talent is astonishing, the rivalry is riotous, and the environment is electric. Production designer James Pearse Connelly is responsible for transforming a singing competition into a glamorous music haven where dreams are born.
Avengers: Infinity War‘s Production Designer on Helping Build the Film’s Heartbreaking Drama
By now, audiences have gotten to know the newly complex Marvel villain Thanos (Josh Brolin), thwarter of the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Wakandans, the soulful psychopath who has haunted the Marvel Cinematic Universe practically from its inception. The third film in Disney’s Avengers franchise (and the 19th in the MCU), Avengers: Infinity War, is setting both box office records and (spoiler alert) records for how many beloved main characters can be killed off — at least seemingly so — in one 2.5 hour stretch.
Nailing the “Regular People Look” on Tully
For Jason Reitman’s new movie Tully (opening Friday), Charlize Theron gained 50 pounds to play Marlo, the bedraggled mother of three. By design, Marlo’s unkempt house reflects a character who’s way too exhausted to keep the place looking neat and tidy. Canadian production designer Anastasia Masaro explains the backstory. “Marlo’s home is meant to feel like she and her husband bought the house when their first kid was on the way and they really meant to fix it up.”
Tully‘s Production Designer Anastasia Masaro on Finding Magic in Life’s Mess
It’s been seven years since Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody, the creative forces behind Juno and Young Adult, last collaborated. Now, with Tully, the pair close out a thematic trilogy of sorts – stories that have, at least in some way, been autobiographical for the pair of creatives. “They have this kind of connective tissue between all of them,” Reitman said at the New York premiere of the film.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel‘s Production Designer Recreates 1958-era Manhattan
Production designer Bill Groom doesn’t remember much about 1958. After all, he was just eight years old when the feisty and fictitious Midge Maisel roamed the streets of New York. So when Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband Dan Palladino asked him to conjure mid-century Manhattan for their Amazon period piece comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which started streaming on Amazon earlier this month, Groom did what he always does: research. Lots of research.
Unsane‘s Production Designer & Set Decorator on Perfecting Paranoia
On the surface, the most notable thing about Steven Soderbergh’s Unsane is that the ever-experimental filmmaker captured the frenzied 90-minutes with the assistance of a handful of iPhones, a down and dirty technique that nevertheless gives the film what Soderbergh calls a “velvet” smoothness. It’s a daring choice from an ever evolving filmmaker, but Usane’s greatest strength isn’t all in its technical wizardry. It’s the film’s ability to send any viewer veering off kilter nearly as soon as the action onscreen begins – it’s all unsettling angles,
