Decorating Pages: TV and Film Design

Production Designer Liz Toonkel's new film “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” is a whimsical film about a little shell who lives with his grandmother in an Airbnb and is on a quest to find his family. It is adorable! Liz and her team designed a magical little world for Marcel. Using household items at the scale of the shell and making a home and fanciful little gardener this adorable character. Liz is also the Production Designer of the HBO Max mini series “The Lady and the Dale”. The films’ wonderful use of multimedia storytelling mixed in with recreations of this fascinating life of a conartisit / entrepreneur makes for a must see.

In this episode I speak with Production Designer Laurence Bennet who is best known for his work on his Oscar nominated films “The Artist” and “Crash”. His current project "The Offer" on Paramount Plus, is a monumental effort to pay tribute to one of best films of all time “The Godfather”. This period limited series gives a behind the scenes of the making of this iconic film and shows how we all work to get our passion to the screen. For the past several years he has taught at Escuela Internacionál de Cine y Televisión, in San Antonio de Los Baños, Cuba—the multi-disciplinary film school founded by Gabriel García Márquez. We also touch upon how he designed the pilot of the 19 year running of “Gray’s Anatomy”, working with Robert Redford and how I actually worked with him on a show that was quickly canceled before it even aired ;)

In this episode I speak with Set Decorator William DeBiasio. His story is interesting because it goes to show it’s never too late in life to start in this business. With his desire and drive, coming from a retail background, he started at a prop house, then a set dresser,  continued to buyer and eventually a Set Decorator.  He had long stints on "The West Wing", "Alias", "Chuck", "Melrose Place", "Pretty Little Liars" and more. He currently is on the fifth season of “The Rookie '' which has its  season finale airing this week. WIlliam has extensive knowledge of Hollywood history and behind the scenes stories of some iconic shows and films like “I Love Lucy”, “Hello Dolly”, “My Fair Lady” and more. I never knew he had this talent!

This is part two of my interview with Director of Photography Simon Dennis. We deep dive into dorking out about our love for the film “The Conversation”. He talks about shooting “Peaky Blinders”and “Black Sails”, and the super cool set up he has on set to adjust color, and bring up references. I hope you caught last week's episode with him. We talked about how he got into being a DP, not knowing who Ryan Murphy was, then working together for five years on his project such as “Pose”, “Ratched”, “Hollywood”, ”American Crime Story: Impeachment”. You can watch his latest work "Candy" airing now on Hulu.

In this episode I speak with Director of Photography Simon Dennis. Simon has been working the last 5 years non stop in Ryan Murphy world and making it look stunning. Growing up outside of London, Simon was making films when he was young like a lot of us. He even admits to making his mom be the gaffer. Starting out making shorts, small films, and then springing into the mainstream with ”Dr. Who”, “Peaky Blinders”, “Pose”, “Politician”, “Hollywood”, “ACS: Versace”, ''Ratched". I worked with him on''ACS: Impeachment” and it was a delight. His new project is the limited series “Candy” which will air on May 9th on Hulu.

"Better Call Saul" - In this episode I chat with Set Decorator Ashley Michelle Marsh of "Better Call Saul". Originally from Oklahoma, Ashley Michelle March moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to pursue a career in TV and film as a Set Decorator. Starting as an assistant on the film “Observe and Report”, then coordinating on the TV series like “In Plane Sight” and “The Client List” she moved over to Set Dec Buyer on “Better Call Saul”, “The Night Shift” and “Longmire”. Ashley began decorating and jumped into “Mr. Robot”, “The Girlfriend Experience” and films “El Camino”, “The Ultimate Playlist of Noise''. “Better Call Saul” is airing now and Ashley should be very proud of this final season.

In this episode I speak with Set Decorator Kimberly Leonard. Growing up in Los Angeles, and being inspired by her uncle, Donfeld, a costume designer, Kimberly studied design at Parsons and then hit the ground running on features, “Wheel of Fortune”, “Married with Children”, even working in a prop house till finding the set decoration buyer position. Kimberly mastered the position on shows like “Star Trek: Voyager”, "Star Trek: Enterprise’, “Boston Legal”, “Bones”, “Weeds” and more. Kimberly started Set Decorating on the Robin Williams comedy “The Crazy Ones”. Her Set Decorating credits include “Jane the Virgin”, “The Grinder”, “Blindspotting”, ”Counterpart”, “The Mosquito Coast”, and just recently Hulu’s “The Dropout”.

This is part two of my interview with Production Designer Marek Dobrowolski. His new film that has just been released is “I’ll find you” about A Catholic opera singer and Jewish violin virtuoso dream of performing together at the legendary Carnegie Hall in New York City, but the German invasion of Poland tears them apart. Shooting the whole film in his native Poland Marek was able to select historically accurate locations for scenes and give the film its period feel. We also talk about his start as a theater designer which led to a series of nine fairy tale TV movies in a year! We speak about his designs on “Mr. Mercedes”, “Last Action Hero”, “Under the Dome”, “Hitler: Rise of Evil” which he won an Emmy for his designs and more. He is also designing the last season of “The Walking Dead” which was in last week's episode.

In this episode I speak with Production Designer Marek Dobrowolski. Marek has designed a number of historically rich stories that have taken him to locations all around the world. After winning an Emmy for his work on “Hitler: Rise of Evil”, he continued his epic designs with Steven Spielberg’s “Into the West ' which he was also nominated for.His other designs include “The Craft”, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, “Justified”, “World Without End”, ”The Company”, “Under the Dome”, “The Last Ship”, “Mr. Mercedes”, the current season of “The Walking Dead”. His latest film, “I’ll Find You”, is a wonderful story of love conquering all set in the Nazi background of World War 2. He shares that he got to go home to Poland for filming and was able to have a full Polish crew. He is a wonderful storyteller, as you will hear, sharing about his designs and research for each of these marvelous projects.

In this episode I speak with Oscar winning Set Decorator Shane Vieau. Shane’s work has a dynamic effect on screen which you can currently see in his Oscar nominated work on "Nightmare Alley". He has decorated huge films like “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”, “Crimson Peak”, “Suicide Squade”, “xXx: Return of Xander Cage”, “The Shape of Water”(Oscar) and “It: Chapter Two”, He also decorated 2015’s Best Picture “Spotlight”and that lil’ indy film “Juno”.