The Furniture: The Elephant Man and an Interior City

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)

There’s an image from The Elephant Man I can’t get out of my head. 

Well, there are a few. David Lynch and Freddie Francis didn’t exactly slouch here. But there’s one moment, quite early on, that struck me with its oddness. Dr. Treves (Anthony Hopkins) has snuck into the legally-tenuous circus of Mr. Bytes (Freddie Jones), just as the police are about to shut him down. The deeper one ventures, the strange the surroundings look. Here we see a cop navigating this temporary labyrinth of light and shadow...

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The Furniture: Death by Taste in The Talented Mr. Ripley

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)

As we gear up for a Patricia Highsmith centennial, here’s a not-exactly-fun fact. Only one adaptation of her work has been nominated for Best Production Design at the Oscars: The Talented Mr. Ripley. (An earlier version of this article erroneously stated that Carol had also been nominated for this award, as the author had unconsciously, but happily, written The Danish Girl out of his memory. Carol was nominated for costume design, not production design.)

Production design is central to Anthony Minghella’s adaptation of the first Ripley novel, given that so much of the plot hinges upon taste. The young Tom (Matt Damon) ingratiates himself to Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) with his self-trained taste in jazz. Freddie Miles’s (Philip Seymour Hoffman) knowledge of his friend Dickie’s taste in furniture is what gets him killed. Ripley’s games of subterfuge and impersonation depend upon his understanding of style and class - and his own fluctuating taste in other people will lead him to the film’s violent end.

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The Furniture: 10 Favorite Sets of 2020

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)

Our year in review list-making continues but this is not a “Best Production Design” list. The thing about production design is that it's hard to compare. Obviously all films are collaborative, but at least in such Oscar categories as “Best Original Score” and “Best Actress” you’re focusing on the work of easily identifiable individuals. “Production design” is the combined achievement of a whole slew of production designers, art directors, and set decorators, and more.

But beyond that, different productions task designers with using wildly different tools. How do you compare sets built on a soundstage to the careful decoration of a real historic home? The physical sets of period pieces with the digitally-conceived spaces of science fiction? Animation! It’s dizzying.

So herewith this is a list of ten favorite movie sets of 2020, using the loosest definition possible. It’s in alphabetical order, because ranking is stressful. Enjoy...

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Oscar Chart Updates: Production Design and Film Editing

We've been discussing each Oscar chart this past week or so so let's finish up the visuals with Production Design and Film Editing.

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Beyond Mank, which features Oscar nominees Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale recreating Classic Hollywood this field remains something of an 'anything is possible' mystery. Best Picture heat often helps in the 'below-the-line' categories. But, even acknowledging that fact, many of the hottest Best Picture contenders like Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, One Night in Miami, Minari, and Nomadland, have by their very intimate story natures, not a lot of visible art direction happening. It's not that they aren't beautifully designed but you know how at the Oscars it's pretty standard that "MOST = BEST"...

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The Furniture: Ellen Revolts Against the Upholstery in Leave Her to Heaven

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)

This week marks the 75th anniversary of Leave Her to Heaven, a technicolor noir blockbuster with set decoration so opulent, you will find yourself shouting at the upholstery.

It has other virtues, of course: Gene Tierney’s wickedly genre-shifting performance, Leon Shamroy’s shadow-wielding cinematography, Vincent Price’s height, etc. But the last time I watched it, I couldn’t take my eyes off the sets. The film takes place in a fever-dream of post-war prosperity before the fact, an endless parade of over-decorated vacation homes.

Frankly, it should have won the Oscar for Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration, Color...

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