Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1542693
The vaulted ceilings for this fully in-camera 360-degree set became the most unique element of the design. With the lab occupying the top of a fully populated skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, the space needed to feel robust and fortified, should some experiment go wrong. In pursuit of a sort of absorptive feel we arrived at the labyrinthine, fluted pattern for the walls and ceiling. Cast by our brilliant plaster team into milled molds, the vast unpainted surfaces were luminous. When I saw how the raw plaster responded to light, I knew we could not paint it. Instead, we burnished it, creating a shimmering surface of raised highlights and matte valleys. The result felt akin to a devotional space; devotion to science. The Excelsior One of the most complex design challenges of the film was the Excelsior spacecraft. It needed to be a believable rocket with a cockpit and aerodynamic form that would be necessary to escape the Earth's gravity and atmosphere. It also needed to be a convincing zero-gravity research station, with workstations and a multitude of experiments that could be operated without gravity and upside down. The Excelsior also had to serve as a faster-than-light interstellar craft. And finally, it needed to be a distinctive icon of optimistic, retro-futurism that could serve as a stunning sculptural monument on the East River next to the Baxter Building when the craft was not needed for duty. When it came to the interior, it was important to show that the Excelsior is not a prototype; it is a finished product. While the workstations of the ISS and the interfaces of Apollo-era crafts were references, Loewy's Skylab and interiors from 2001: A Space Odyssey were the primary inspiration. The important distinction being that in those spaces, space travel has come to be commonplace, they are elegantly industrial- designed, indicating a deep familiarity with the technical and ergonomic requirements of space flight. The interior surfacing of the Excelsior resembles the clean, resolved finishes of commercial airliners more than NASA's early barebones craft. F. REED'S LAB. SET PHOTO BY JASON DUNNE. G. EXCELSIOR EXTERIOR. CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION BY COLIE WERTZ. H. EXCELSIOR INTERIOR. CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION BY JOSHUA VIERS, CREATED IN OCTANE AND PHOTOSHOP. MADE FROM A RHINO MODEL BY TEX KADONAGA, PATRICK DUNN-BAKER AND LIAM GEORGENSEN. F G H