Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512164
The design of Lizzie and Mollie's home was inspired by the surviving homes of Gray Horse and photographs of Osage homes of the period. We found a prairie location by a stream on a large cattle ranch between Fairfax and Pawhuska and oriented the house like Lizzie's house was in Gray Horse. The house was designed as two stories, as the steps up played a part in the approach to her bedroom. The house had tall windows to the outside for light and high ceilings. There was a wood stove for warmth and a long open porch for summer sleeping. Outside, there was a barn, a garage, a small home for a domestic and a traditional Osage 'summer home.' Nearby, the crew built a traditional roundhouse and other Osage structures on the reservation setting and created an Osage cemetery on a distant hill. Art Director Landon Lott illustrated my ideas about Fairfax, Mollie's house, and other sets and they were sent off to Marty in NYC. Marty came to Oklahoma about two months before shooting and was completely up to speed on what we were doing. The largest set was the town of Fairfax, and because so many buildings had been destroyed in the past one hundred years, Pawhuska was selected as a substitute, with the encouragement of Chief Standing Bear and others. The film was given two blocks of abandoned buildings to build as our street. We found several that had usable interiors and claimed them for sets. We fixed what we could and constructed fronts of buildings in the empty gaps on our blocks. We also built a period train station matching the original in Fairfax, which was destroyed. sixteen hundred feet of track were put down to handle the steam engine and Pullman cars that came in from Arkansas. One of the central locations in the story was a pool hall where Ernest and others hung out, another was a barbershop. I remembered as a kid, in a small Midwestern town, getting my haircut at the pool hall—I suggested combining them. Marty instantly responded positively to the idea of putting them together. Marty and Rodrigo Prieto, the cinematographer, came on many location scouts and were always ready to talk and brainstorm about the locations. It was very helpful and time-saving. In Fairfax, the production shot the small neighborhoods, Mollie's Fairfax home, the Masonic Lodge, the doctor's office, the small Catholic church and a few other things. I liked bringing what we could into Fairfax where the story took place. When we arrived in Fairfax, almost all of the houses were white, and research revealed that would not have been correct at the time of our film. We proposed to the residents that we would paint two sides of their houses one of the colors in our palette, and after A. FAIRFAX MAIN STREET BLOCK PARTY. ILLUSTRATION BY LANDON LOTT. B. POOL HALL BUILDING IN PAWHUSKA LOCATION. SET PHOTO. C. POOL HALL INTERIOR. PRODUCTION STILL BY MELINDA SUE GORDON/ APPLE TV+. D. BARBERSHOP AREA OF POOL HALL. PRODUCTION STILL BY MELINDA SUE GORDON/APPLE TV+. E. FAIRFAX CATHOLIC CHURCH. SET PHOTO. F. RETA'S HOUSE AFTER EXPLOSION. PRODUCTION STILL BY MELINDA SUE GORDON/APPLE TV+. G. COURTROOM. DIGITAL MODEL BY SPENCER DAVISON. H. COURTROOM. ILLUSTRATION BY LANDON LOTT. I. COURTROOM IN PROGRESS. SET PHOTO. A B C D