Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1529668
Along with the Deetz house, the crew also needed to rebuild the red covered bridge, restore the girls' school, and expand the row of shops that included Maitland's hardware store. (In the story, the hardware store was now a coffee shop.) The original building was in a bad state of repair, so we had to construct a replica shell around it. In America, Paul Richards oversaw the Art Department, with Joseph Kearney as the construction manager and Lori Mazuer as the set decorator. Along with the sets in East Corinth, we also needed an entire neighborhood to serve as an expanded part of the fictional town of Winter River. Back in London, the team was busy preparing for the studio shoot. One of the first sets to be filmed was the ground floor interior of the Deetz house, a set that had troubled me since I first read the script. How do you top what was done in the first film? Revered for its originality, the house transitioned from flowery chintz to extreme modernism. Exploring ideas with Tim, including some of the more extreme design trends in America at the time, the answer lay, as always, in the story. The house needed to reflect the family's evolution over the past thirty years since the first film, maturing the established aesthetic from before. Gone was the post-modern revamp inflicted on it by Otho. Instead, the house was restored to its original colonial styling. During my research, I was drawn to the work of New York-based design studio Apparatus. Its eccentric yet sophisticated furniture felt like a perfect fit for our new narrative. I combined the idea of draping the house in a Christo-esque black mourning shroud with lighting that evoked the notion of spirit orbs, and color drenched the entire interior in a custom-mixed blue-gray. This approach allowed the film to achieve the perfect balance between Victorian Gothic and high-end contemporary design. Following the first round of studio shooting, the crew had a brief stint on location in and around London, where we filmed Delia's art show, Astrid's boarding school, along with building the New England church and graveyard. I'd always known the exhibition was going to be particularly challenging, because in the original film Delia's work had become iconic for being ridiculous, yet wildly flamboyant. It was going to be tricky to get this right, because it still needed to feel absurd while also seeming real and self-assured after thirty years of the character expressing herself. Delving into Delia's mind to breathe life into her exhibition was ultimately a collaborative process between Tim, myself and Catherine O'Hara, with Catherine coming up with a series of ideas to reflect Delia's perspective on modern-day issues. Back in the studio, we found ourselves at the most extravagant part of the shoot, the afterlife! The design rules had been established in the first D. DEETZ HOUSE LIVING ROOM. ILLUSTRATION BY EVA KUNTZ. THIS VERSION HAS THE FURNITURE WRAPPED IN BLACK RATHER THAN THE WALLS. IN THE END, IT WE WENT THE OTHER WAY ROUND. E. & F. DEETZ DINING ROOM. SHOWING THE RESTORED ORIGINAL CABINETRY AND PANELING. BUILT ON STAGE AT WARNER BROS. STUDIOS LEAVESDEN. SET PHOTOS. D E F