Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/765720
P E R S P E C T I V E | J A N UA RY / F E B R UA RY 2 0 1 7 87 Jackie's adventure began for me at the end of August 2015. The shooting had to start on November 23, so there were only eleven weeks of prep. I had to understand the project, the film's universe with the director, to dream about it, to budget it, analyse, document the project, find archives and the White House plans, make the spotting in Paris, but also in Washington and Easton, MD, near Baltimore, build, sculpt, paint, work on the fabrics, find the furniture and props, finish the last details and deliver the set. Director Pablo Larraín wanted from the beginning an interpretation of the period, the 1960s, and the personality and tastes of Jackie Kennedy, but also the spirit of the Kennedys' era in the White House. We therefore needed very precise documentation, archives, photos of the period, but also go as far as possible into the Kennedys' intimacy, to make more explosive the pain and the strength of this woman. All of my key French collaborators were old friends: Mathieu Junot and Emmanuel Prevót as Art Directors, Véronique Melery as set decorator, Philippe Auclair as head of construction and Nathalie Roubaud finding the documentation. We all started to draw the plans of the various studio sets, such as the Oval Office, but also the private White House apartment of the Kennedy family, as well as the Lincoln Bedroom and every corridor of the second floor. They are more than 165 feet long, and almost took the whole 6500 square feet of Studio 5 of the Cité du Cinéma near Paris. We also built (with all the details) the East Room, which was modified to become the State Dining Room. Specialists could see some differences with reality, but they are extremely similar from the style of the era (the White House has been through lots of renovations since). Opposite page, top: The fully dressed set for the White House State Dining Room, on stage in Saint-Denis, France. Center: Digital elevations for the set, and a plan showing how the same set was revamped into the East Room, a larger space on the White House's first floor with very similar detailing to the State Dining Room. Bottom: Construction underway on the East Room set. This page, clockwise from top left: A pencil drawing for one of the console tables custom built for the White House Dining Room set; there are several of these consoles in the Dining Room: a large one with two eagle supports and more than one single eagle console table. Pilaster capitals for the East Room/Dining Room were sculpted and cast. All of the dressing was carefully matched, including the plates which were custom-printed to match the 1962 CBS tour of the White House. The room's ornate frieze and mantles were all reproduced from photographs. At the beginning of shooting, a new set not originally planned was required, so the Dining Room was transformed to a new sitting room with new curtains and dressing.