Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1504681
G E O R G E & T A M M Y | P E R S P E C T I V E 7 7 As their lives separated, these reflections were used to isolate them, as in two particularly heavy scenes where both Tammy and George deal with their substance abuse. Tammy's bathroom/ dressing room was an important set in her legendary home First Lady Acres. It's where she retreats in private and where she falls into Richey's web of manipulation. The crew installed a double mirror behind her and shot through it, so there was an infinity effect of mirrors in front of and behind her. Thanks to the two-way mirror, it was all done in camera—without the need for VFX, creating an image that showed a fractured, fragmented, tortured soul. Similarly, when George is in Nudie's tailor shop, he's constantly framed by the mannequins in the shop—inanimate representations of fame that surround and torment him. The production shot in mirrors and through glass almost daily, but one set that pushed this concept to the limit was on the musical number "Till I Get It Right." The set was just mirrors and a multi-tiered platform on a black stage—Tammy is glamorous, successful and powerful—yet completely alone. Another way the series showed their separation and loneliness was by using scale. The Landmark penthouse suite was definitely high on the list of the team's favorite sets. But here was an instance where we leaned away from the real in order to highlight what was happening between the two— again rooting the design in the progression of our characters and their love story. Of course, it's a fabulous set—it's a 1972 Vegas penthouse, but it wasn't just visual. People often underestimate how hermeneutic our job as designers, Art Directors, decorators and everyone in the departments we work with is. When I really studied the scenes that unfolded there, I realized that this was the most alone that Tammy ever was—a real turning point. She and George were invited to be the first country headliners in Vegas, and he didn't show up. I wanted her to be the most out of place she would ever be visually in the series. The color palette and the decoration were much different than their fabulous but grounded residences. But more than that, the size of the room is what I knew would really drive this home. I wanted her to feel tiny in this room—swallowed up by it. She's got the world D E F