Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/679317
Designing this colorful stew was filled with design challenges: from re-creating the 1980s to turning Baton Rouge into East Texas. I'd faced similar issues while working with the same director, Jim Mickle, on his most recent film, Cold in July, another project adapted from a novel by Joe Lansdale, who wrote the thirteen Hap and Leonard books. Cold was also set in the 1980s in East Texas, but it was shot in Kingston, in upstate New York—surprisingly not a huge visual leap as the countryside is essentially the same...aside from the Catskill Mountains looming in the distance. So after exploring this world over the course of a six-week shoot for the feature film, I was thrilled to be able to explore it in more depth over the course of a five-month season of television. Thankfully, when the series rolled around, the production chose Baton Rouge for the location—fewer deer ticks, more alligators...snakes...southern...and closer to Texas. The first season only involves book one of the series, but I was lucky to have the complete series of books to use as a bible for reference. The staff was able to use the whole written series to chart the characters' lives and future events, the books enabling us to quickly round out personal traits and set dressing, and allowing us to focus on designing specifically for the characters rather than imagining their back stories. With this overall sense of the Hap and Leonard world, it was easy to plant Easter eggs amongst the first few episodes for fans who are familiar with the book series. I was also Set in the late 1980s, the pilot episode of Hap and Leonard is a darkly comic swamp noir of two best friends, a draft-dodging former cop and an angry, gay Vietnam War vet, one busty femme fatale, a crew of washed-up revolutionaries, a pair of murderous psycho killers, some lost loot and the fuzz. Opposite page: Hap and Leonard are played by James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams respectively. Right, top to bottom: A portion of a parking lot was covered with dirt and 400 "stand- in" rose bushes were planted by the film's greens crew. From a slightly lower angle, the plants blended into the cane fields behind to suggest a huge rose-growing operation. The season opens calmly enough, with Hap and Leonard picking roses. Inset: Writer Joe Lansdale based some of Hap's character (James Purefoy, shown here) on his own background, which includes experience growing roses commercially.