Room With a Crew: Architecture & Setting in Film

[Smilla]

A film's setting, or any cool houses, apartments, or buildings featured therein, can have a visceral effect on me. I think setting is one of the most underrated aspects of film (right up there with music.)

One of my favorite pieces of architecture in any movie is the house featured in The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. It's completely gooorgeous. (The surrounding neighborhood is also nice.) Even finding out THtRtC was one of the infamous New Right Backlash Films couldn't derail my love for it. Even the other awesome house in that movie is pretty.

I'm also a big fan of the scenery in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. The dreary, gothic quality of the sets did wonders for the film's creepy ass mood. In one of the interviews Johnny Depp did for SH, he said he loved the fake village, too ("I wanted to live there.")

ETA: Someone who loves this topic even more than I do.

[Oxynia]

Sorry but this subject may be a bit too esoteric for the board...you can always discuss it in the thread for the individual films instead.

[Brookie]

Unlocked per sumire's request. Let's see where this goes; it could be something cool!!

[Deleted]

Goodo. I was disappointed to find earlier that the topic had been locked.

Many's the time I've been distracted or diverted by the decor or setting of the interiors and exteriors of movie 'homes'. Often it's been the one redeeming feature.

In fact I recently came across a blog where they were discussing 'movie kitchens'. Of course I can't find it now.

[Carolinian]

While I thought the movie was only OK, I loved the sets and locations for Julie and Julia, especially the Julia ones. Last Christmas I discovered that my BiL had worked on the movie. I quizzed him but it had been long enough that he didn't remember a lot of details. He did say that the copperware shop Julia visits is in Manhattan, and that they had to build elevated pathways for Meryl Streep to walk on so that she'd appear taller. The production designer for J&J, Mark Ricker, is also production designer for The Help so I have hopes for it- at least visually.

[Atreides]

She may be a one-trick pony with her white, upper middle class settings, but damn if those Nancy Meyers films aren't pretty. Father of the Bride, What Women Want, Something's Gotta Give, and It's Complicated all have these to die for homes with decor to match.

This thread reminds me of something I read about the Miami Vice movie that came out a few years ago. The viewer was so bored by the movie, even by the love scene in the shower. But damn if they weren't captivated by the amazing shower tiles they used!

[Deleted]

Oct 10, 2010 16:18:37 GMT -4 Atreides said:

This thread reminds me of something I read about the Miami Vice movie that came out a few years ago. The viewer was so bored by the movie, even by the love scene in the shower. But damn if they weren't captivated by the amazing shower tiles they used!

Ha! I remember those tiles too, they were awesome. That whole bathroom set was gorgeous.

[GoldenFleece]

Here's a short-lived TV and Movie Kitchens Blog. The Set Decorators Society of America also has a site with photos.

Life As We Know It had one of those light, airy houses that was maybe a notch or two below a Nancy Meyers movie. The characters did address the economics of living in a place that big (turning off some of the lights would have helped!).

[sumire]

I feel kind of bad that I asked for the thread to be unlocked and then didn't post, but my mom was visiting. Glad to see other people who enjoy movie architecture and interiors! (And exteriors, I guess.)

My quintessential movie-setting experience was the time I went to a Clockwork Orange/Shallow Grave double feature. I found the whole 60s look of A Clockwork Orange off-putting, so I spent the whole running time detached from the movie, whereas I fell in love with the Shallow Grave apartment, so the movie sucked me in and beat me up. I haven't seen either movie in ten years, and I wonder if I might react differently now.

I'm also a big fan of the scenery in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. The dreary, gothic quality of the sets did wonders for the film's creepy ass mood. In one of the interviews Johnny Depp did for SH, he said he loved the fake village, too ("I wanted to live there.")

Huh, now I want to watch Sleepy Hollow again. Speaking of Tim Burton, I still have much love for that crazy arching staircase in Edward Scissorhands.

One of my favorite pieces of architecture in any movie is the house featured

[/color] in The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. It's completely gooorgeous. [/quote]
There was a house in that trailer? I'm sorry, I couldn't see it over the high-waisted pants.

[kanding]

I loved the Lake Tahoe house in Godfather II. So much that it distracted from the story, and that is my favorite Godfather movie!

I also fell in love with Karen Blixen's house and everything in it in Out of Africa. Pretty much right down to the textiles and mosquito nets.