Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546606
The building gave us so much in return, everything except a grand suite. Working with some existing details in a conference room, the crew revived the wood finishes and installed a palatial grand suite. Creating the sleek and sexy bathroom from scratch was as much a pleasure for me as it was for Twila, turned on her head by a surprise fling. We gave it a richly sexy palette with custom oxblood and orange painted tile, bringing the color and diamond tile pattern into the bedroom with a vintage wallpaper pattern recolored to match. The show spent a good amount of time out on location, and we tried to make each space deserve the time of our audience. The striking Turkish, Russian and Hungarian designed bathhouses; the Sheremetyevo Airport and Tupolev Tu-134, Aksana's dacha, our Rossiya concert hall did well. I particularly enjoyed finding the series of spaces we created for the KGB. While doors proliferated in Andrei's office, Sasha's office was an open bullpen, wrapped by a mezzanine, that made it clear he was being watched. We found a wonderful matching set of green desks for the bright teal space at a Hungarian Ministry of Geography building that was being torn down. Along with saving those, assistant set decorator Bence Horn worked with fabricators on the over-desk lights to match references from Soviet factories. The forms created a wonderful rhythm in the space. Then, of course, were the Kompromat processing facilities. In Episode 1, the series introduced the concept of these facilities. Temporary spaces, set up to process the huge volume of audio and video tapes that the KGB accumulated, we staged the first instance in an abandoned water treatment plant outside the city. A delightful change of pace came after that, when we found ourselves surrounded instead by Tsarist- era luxury. Tasked with creating "Russian opulence like Bea has never seen," the Art Department made a Soviet restaurant in the Metropolitan Ervin Szabó A. HOTEL INTOURIST MOSCOW. GRAND SUITE. BUILT ON SITE AT THE HOTEL BUDAPEST. SET PHOTO. B. HOTEL INTOURIST MOSCOW. GRAND SUITE BATHROOM. SET PHOTO. C. SHEREMETYEVO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. SET PHOTO. D. AKSANA'S DACHA. PRODUCTION STILL. E. SASHA'S OFFICE. PRODUCTION STILL. F. KGB'S UNDERGROUND KOMPROMAT FACILITY. CONCEPT PLAN BY FERENC NOTHOF. G. KGB'S KOMPROMAT FACILITY. WORK STATION. PRODUCTION STILL. B A D C