Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538080
I N T E R I O R C H I N A T O W N | P E R S P E C T I V E 2 7 The wonderfully complex, multilayered and— yes, sometimes completely bonkers—world of Interior Chinatown comes from the brilliant mind of National Book Award-winning author Charles "Charlie" Yu, who not only penned the original novel but also adapted it for television, with Taika Waititi as pilot director and executive producer. The series follows protagonist Willis Wu, an ostensibly ordinary Chinese-American waiter who, in searching for his missing older brother, stumbles upon a police investigation that begins to unravel the false nature of the reality he lives in. It's Law & Order meets The Truman Show, and as the series progresses, its "meta"-ness takes center stage, shifting the show from one genre to the next in a reflection of Willis's inner psychological struggle as he grapples with how to tell his own story. In other words, a piece of cake for production design! Fortunately, Charlie and his team created an immensely helpful lookbook and story bible, explaining the rules of his "show within a show." Worlds Within Worlds Willis is a background character living in the fictional town of "Port Harbour," which is itself inside the world of a cop procedural called Black & White, but he doesn't know it, at least not at the start. So first, the Art Department had to create the TV world of Black & White, which had to intentionally feel like a TV set, meaning a little fake, partly devoid of character, and a bit flat. One of its main sets was the precinct, which was modeled after every '80s and '90s cop show. Adding to the complexity, the set starts with early A. CHINATOWN STREET AND GATE ON THE UNIVERSAL BACKLOT. SET PHOTO. B. CHINATOWN GATE ON THE UNIVERSAL BACKLOT. SET PHOTO. C. CHINATOWN STREET ON THE UNIVERSAL BACKLOT. SET PHOTO. B C