The Artist
Laurence Bennett (Production Design); Robert Gould (Set Decoration)

Jean Dujardin as George Valentin in The Artist

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Stuart Craig (Production Design); Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)

Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo
Dante Ferretti (Production Design); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration)

Asa Butterfield as Hugo Cabret in Hugo

Midnight in Paris
Anne Seibel (Production Design); Hélène Dubreuil (Set Decoration)

Marion Cotillard and Owen Wilson as Adriana and Gil in Midnight in Paris

War Horse
Rick Carter (Production Design); Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)

Celine Buckens as Emilie in War Horse

Patrick Bateman's living room in "American Psycho."

I was inspired by Flavorwire’s recent article titled, 15 Apartments on Film That We Wished We Owned, written by Colette McIntyre.  It covered some of my favorite apartments and homes in movies as well, and I could happily write a post for each one of them (and who knows, I may!), but the first one I thought I would tackle is “Patrick Bateman’s minimalist bachelor pad,” as Ms. McIntyre called it, in American Psycho from 2000.

A view of Patrick Bateman's living room from the other direction.

When it’s not covered in plastic sheeting …(yikes!) we get to see the furniture, from all over the world, that makes up his house.  To the left of his sliding glass doors, we see a chair from Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House, in Helensburgh, Scotland.

The Hill House chair, 1904, in its original setting of The Hill House master bedroom.

I love the contrast between the master bedroom of The Hill House, with its stenciled walls, and stylized floral motifs, and Patrick Bateman’s cold, plain, white living room.  It shows what an iconic piece the Hill House chair really is; it can stand alone as a piece of design.

The two black leather side chairs and matching ottomans were designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1929 for the German Pavilion for the International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain.  The Barcelona chair’s original aesthetic matches much more closely the aethetic of Patrick Bateman, but they were still seen in a much warmer environment, with golden marble and rich woods.

The Barcelona chairs and ottomans in situ, 1929.

The third piece of famous design in Bateman’s living room is the coffee table.  It was designed by Italian designer, Paolo Piva, c. 1980 for B&B Italia, and is called the Alana coffee table.  From what I’ve been able to find, Piva seems to give his pieces human names.  He was born in 1950, and his designs were most popular in the 1980s.  The time in which he was designing is especially interesting in relation to American Psycho, because while the movie was made in 2000, it was set in the 1980s.

Alana coffee table, c. 1980 by Paolo Piva.

Bateman’s furniture tastes cover many countries and many time periods, but it is the Alana coffee table that would have been brand new when he purchased it.

Gideon Ponte was the production designer for American Psycho and Jeanne Develle, the set decorator.  The American 1980s is not my area of expertise in decorative arts, and I wonder if the Hill House chair and Barcelona chairs would have been readily available for purchase at the time, and also if they would have been seen as the status symbols that they are now, and as I’m sure Patrick Bateman meant for them to be.

Behind Eric Northman, the vampire character portrayed by Alexander Skarsgård, is a painting by Alex Ross.

In the upper left corner of the image above, from True Blood’s Season Three, Episode 9, “Everything is Broken” there is a painting that is hard to miss.  It hangs in Fangtasia, the vampire bar in True Blood’s world of Shreveport, Louisiana.  The painting depicts George W. Bush as a vampire, sucking the blood and life out of the Statue of Liberty, and was originally published as the cover to New York’s The Village Voice in 2004.

The painting is by famed comic book and graphic novel illustrator, Alex Ross.  A fan of Norman Rockwell growing up, Ross has gone on to illustrate for Marvel Comics as well as DC Comics.  He has also worked on movies like Spider Man and Unbreakable.  He is quoted as saying, “I’ve been called ‘The Norman Rockwell of comics’ more than a hundred times. I’m not going to suggest I’m on the same level as Rockwell, but attempting that sort of realism in my work has always been part of my approach.”  I like this comparison of Ross to Rockwell in relation to the use of his painting in True Blood.  If Norman Rockwell was depicting the idealized innocence of America, Alex Ross has perfectly portrayed the pure evils of modern society.  That’s just the sort of Rockwell Eric Northman would go for.

For a glimpse at the forthcoming season of True Blood, check out CNN’s Marquee Blog or watch this trailer.  Season 4 being on June 26 at 9 PM.

Like I said, the furniture.

Lands End in a recent photo shows the home in its condemned state.

The mansion was in Sands Point, New York, along Long Island’s Gold Cost.  It was called Lands End, and it was built in 1902 by architect Stanford White for the executive editor of the New York World newspaper, Herbert Bayard Swope.  News of the possible demolition was featured on the Today Show on March9.  It was first brought to my attention on March 12 on a fellow blogger’s website, Cinema Style, where the forthcoming Baz Luhrmann version of The Great Gatsby was discussed.  It was reported today on the CBS show, Sunday Morning, that it had been demolished.

A view of Lands End in better days.

Even though the look and location of this house may have inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald, it was not used in the 1974 film starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, as Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan.  Lands End would have served as inspiration for Tom and Daisy Buchanan’s house on East Egg, where the “old money” lived.

Rosecliff mansion of Newport, Rhode Island.

However, the house that was chosen for the film as Jay Gatsby’s mansion, was Rosecliff, a mansion commissioned by Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs, was completed in 1902 by architect Stanford White.

This is surely no coincidence, being built in the same year and by the same architect as Lands End.  But, I do wonder why the production designer, John Box, of the 1974 film chose not to, or was unable to use Lands End.   Another oddity is that while Lands End was in “East Egg,” Jay Gatsby lived in the nouveau riche “West Egg.”  Somehow, I think, the house chosen to portray Gatsby’s mansion would have been an even better replica of the Buchanan mansion.

Heatherden Hall in England became the Buchanan mansion in the 1974 movie.

The location for filming of the Buchanan House, in the 1974 movie, was actually in England at Heatherden Hall.

Beacon Towers built by architect Richard Howland Hunt, 1918.

The mansion thought to have been the inspiration for Jay Gatsby’s abode, was Beacon Towers.  Built for Alva Vanderbilt Belmont by architect Richard Howland Hunt in around 1918.  Richard Howland Hunt was the eldest son of Richard Morris Hunt , who had completed the Biltmore Estate for the Vanderbilt family in 1895.

Richard Morris Hunt is one of the most important architects in American architectural history.  He was the first American to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and brought back with him its sensibility.  Though much older than Stanford White, both men were designing the gilded mansions of the elite along the coasts of New York and Rhode Island – a tradition which also carried on into the next generation, as evidenced by Richard Howland Hunt building Beacon Towers.

Hammersmith Farm of Newport, Rhode Island was used in 1974 as Jay Gatsbys mansion.

In the 1974 Great Gatsby movie, two mansions were used to portray Gatsby’s mansion.  In addition to Rosecliff, Hammersmith Farm was used, and to me seems a much better recreation of Beacon Towers.

Hammersmith Farm, by architect Robert Henderson Robertson, 1887.

Hammersmith Farm was built in 1887 for John W. Auchincloss, by architect Robert H. Robertson.  Auchincloss, as it would turn out, was the the great-grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy’s stepfather, Hugh D. Auchincloss; and Hammersmith Farm was Jacqueline Kennedy’s childhood home.  It was later the location of the Kennedy’s wedding reception and their summer house while JFK was President.

Robert Redford, as the Great Gatsby in the 1974 movie at his West Egg mansion.

While we are still granted the presence of Rosecliff, Heatherden Hall and Hammersmith Farm, Fitzgerald’s original inspirations have been lost.  Both Beacon Towers and Lands End have been demolished, in 1945 and 2011, respectively.  And I can’t help but wonder if – or hope – that perhaps the 1974 movie helped to raise the importance or value or, at the very least, the recognizability of the mansions used as its sets.

Satellite view of Beacon Towers and Lands End in Sands Point, New York. (Before the demolition of Lands End.)

With the satellite view above, one can see just how perfectly Beacon Towers and Lands End were situated to inspire Jay Gatsby’s longing views of Daisy Buchanan’s pier with the green light on it.

Taking that famous last line of the book, that all the journalist and bloggers have reminded us of over the past few months, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past,” let us hope that future movies help to preserve historic architecture, by casting them as characters, as those were in the 1974 movie as the mansions of East and West Egg.

The daughter without a mother.

The entire story seems based on an amalgam of the Grimm Brothers’ stories: Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood, to name a few.  The daughter without a mother.  The single father raising her.  The wicked queen and her loyal, devious, but ultimately useless oafs.  The cabin in the woods.  The fortress that must be escaped.

The father, raising his daughter alone.

And of course, the final climactic scene between innocent good and jaded evil.  In this case, at an amusement park, that leaves it all out there, nothing hidden.

The evil queen of the CIA.

The evil queen and her henchman.

The amusement park, known in the movie as Grimm’s Amusement Park, could not make this movie’s references to fairy tales any more obvious.  Hanna’s mission is to get to Grimm’s house.  It is a fairy tale that takes place in an amusement park whose theme is fairy tales.  The park, in reality, is called Spree Park, and it is in East Berlin, Germany.  It was deserted in 1999 and, as explained on Focus Features’ website, it was chosen by the director, Joe Wright and the production designer, Sarah Greenwood to be the surreal and haunted location of the major scene in the film.

At Grimm's Amusement Park in the mouth of the Big Bad Wolf.

Once we arrive at Grimm’s Park, forget any subtle allegory.  The evil queen emerges from the wolf’s mouth.  She’s evil, and fair Hanna is good.  Who will adapt and who will die?

Also, it is coincidence that Cate Blanchett’s character, the devilish CIA agent, wears Prada shoes?  Brilliant!

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First, let’s start with the decorative arts.  This movie is filled with design.  (Oh, and I just want to say that I’m not going to spoil anything …the story is too good for me to deprive anyone of that suspense!)  The story revolves around a wealthy Swedish family, the Vangers, so of course they live in some fabulous buildings.  The family’s main home, is so grand and austere, you would think they were royalty.

Erstaviks castle in Nacka Municipality, Sweden, that played the part of the Vanger family home.

When we are introduced to the Vanger son’s home we get a glimpse of modern design.  Martin Vanger’s home was supposed to have been built in 1979, and is unlike any other space we visit in the movie.

Every year for his birthday, Henrik receives a pressed flower in a frame. Uhh ...he's pretty old.

While researching the family and unsolved crime, the journalist, Mikael Blomqkist, stays on the family estate in a small cabin, down the road from Martin Vanger.  It is here that we see some historic designs.  The wallpaper in this cabin is by the Swedish (born Austrian) architect and designer, named Josef Frank (1885-1967).  Frank’s work in architecture, and especially in furniture, textile and wallpaper design had a profound impact on the Swedish Style of the mid 20th century.  But this so-called Swedish style did not begin with Frank.  It  began around the time of his birth in the 1880s with William Morris (1834-1896) in England. As William Morris shaped the public taste of Victorian England, he influenced a movement that was spreading across all of Europe.  The Arts and Crafts Movement stressed the importance of handmade craftsmanship and an appreciation for nature.  (To sum up the movement in far too few words!)  These beliefs can be clearly scene in his wallpaper.  Creating in the traditional style, William Morris’ wallpapers were made from vegetable dyes and used the hand woodblock technique.

William Morris' "Daisy" wallpaper, 1864

William Morris and the British Arts and Crafts Movement directly influenced the Swedish painter and interior designer, Carl Larsson (1853-1919).  He, in following Morris (he was 20 years Morris’ junior), created an artistic house.  Larsson and his wife, Karin, filled their home with their artistic touches.  Where previously only the “fine arts,” painting and sculpture, would have been used to decorate a house, they painted and decorated walls, furniture and textiles.  The Larssons also documented their entire house in the book, Ett hem, published in 1899.  Their use of Swedish folklore and their belief in the beauty of nature can be seen in every print Larsson put into the book.

"In the Corner" by Carl Larsson, 1894 and published in Ett hem, this is a view of the drawing room. Notice the hand painted stove to the right. It is covered in botanical prints, similar to Morris' "Daisy" pattern wallpaper. (This artwork is now at The National Museum Sweden.)

With the publishing of this book, and the introduction of his style and views on home life to the Swedish people, Larsson helped to create a modern Swedish style.  (I do also need to point out Larsson’s debt to the English illustrator Kate Greenaway and her depiction of English childhood surrounded by Queen Anne architecture.)

Here is another view of the stove in the drawing room, with painter, carpenter and Carl Larsson himself in the mirror.

Okay, okay, back to the movie!!  So, with that brief history of Morris and Larsson in mind, imagine my excitement, when Blomkvist walks into his cabin and we see a view of the paper covering the walls.

Josef Frank wallpaper in Blomkvist's cabin

Josef Frank would have been familiar with Larsson and Morris’ work.  And as a last generation of the Arts and Crafts Movement, he held on to the love of brightly colored, stylized natural motifs and it shines here brightly in his botanical print wallpaper with a print called Vårklockor.

Josef Frank's wallpaper pattern, Vårklockor, from the 1940s. It was manufactured by the Norrköping Wallpaper Factory.

This is such an interesting choice to me.    In reconciling the design against the movie’s plot, it is curious that the wallpaper put up in a Vanger cabin was designed by Josef Frank, a man of Jewish descent.  (Part of the story behind the Vanger family is its involvement with the Nazi party …and I’ll leave it at that.  Like I said, I don’t want any spoilers!)

Another view of Blomkvist's cabin, with Josef Frank's wallpaper.

There is another scene in which we see this wallpaper, but this time it has a dark background.  Also, the bench in this scene caught my eye.

Once again we see Frank's Vårklockor pattern, along side an Eastlake style bench.

Up close, as seen below, the wallpaper is very vibrant.  But,  I like the aged look it has in the film.  Still, the pattern is distinct, and it is certainly Josef Frank’s design.

Josef Frank's Vårklockor pattern wallpaper with a black background.

The bench, in the picture above, where Lisbeth Salander is seated, will again take us back to England.  And, I can’t imagine how I made it this far into my story without mentioning Lisbeth!  She is a fantastic heroine, and I think one of my favorites.  Curiously enough, one of Carl Larsson’s daughters was named Lisbeth, and is featured in the prints of Ett hem.  ( I love little coincidences like that.)  I can’t say for certain whether the bench is Swedish or English, but it definitely finds its provenance in England.  As part of the firm, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., designer and architect, Philip Webb (1831-1915), created the Morris Adjustable Chair in 1866.

The "Morris Adjustable Chair" from Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., by Philip Webb, 1866.

Notice the similarity in the chair rail, arms and legs of the Morris Adjustable Chair to the bench Lisbeth sits on …and yet there are differences.  The bench takes its slimmer silhouette from the Firm’s Sussex line.

The Firm's Sussex chair line, designed 1865.

Yet, that still doesn’t quite cover it.  I think the bench we see in the movie was very much influenced by Charles Eastlake (1836-1906).  And his influence too would have been felt by Carl Larsson.  Eastlake, an English architect and designer was William Morris’ contemporary.  His book, Hints on Household Taste, published in Great Britain in 1868, presented the idea that the decor of a home should have a continuity in style.  His ideas not only help spread the word of the Arts and Crafts Movement, but it would have influenced Larsson in the decorating of his family home too.

This is an American example of the Charles Eastlake style, and I think a very close look-alike to the bench in the film. (Circa 1880 from D. Dexter's Sons, it is now a part of the Brooklyn Museum's collection.)

Finally, the parallels to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo gave me chills!  Not in a, “oh I’ve already seen this but it’s still great” kind of way, but in a way where new life was brought into a mystery and love story so dark, it chills you to your core beliefs.  Henrik Vanger bears a resemblance to Jimmy Stewart’s main character in Vertigo, Scottie Ferguson.  And just like Scottie, Henrik finds himself so entranced with a dead woman, his niece, that he has put his life on hold trying to find her and bring her back to life.  It is the botanical prints that he loved so dearly as a gift from Harriet that now haunt him on a yearly basis …and also offers the production designers of this movie a brilliant reason to incorporate such historically charged botanical wallpaper into the set design.

There is a necklace that plays a role in the story of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and while it is not as central to the story as the necklace in Vertigo is, it is still a game changer.  The necklace Cecelia (Henrik’s niece) is wearing at one point is the same necklace that Harriet is wearing in a photograph, this brings back Michael’s memory, just as Carlotta’s necklace brings back Scottie’s.  Michael is reminded of his childhood, when his nanny was the same Harriet Vanger that he is now searching for, and two women’s identities are woven together into one.

Sources:

The Arts & Crafts Companion, Pamela Todd, Bulfinch Press, 2004

Carl and Karin Larsson: Creators of the Swedish Style, Michael Snodin and Elisabet Stavenow-Hidemark, Bulfinch Press, 1997

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Here’s a fun one: gummy bears.  It’s weird how much they’ve been popping up in my life lately.  I originally saw the chandelier below on a design blog, called Likecool, this past March.  Then in August, I saw stills from Nickelodeon’s TV show, iCarly, of the main character’s bedroom and knew I wanted to write about it.  In September, a friend sent me a link on giant gummy bears.  I’ve since seen a commercial on TV for adult gummy vitamins.  And finally, it culminated in a nostalgic discussion of the cartoon Gummi Bears and their Gummi Berry Juice with my co-workers.  It’s funny how life works like that, as soon as you become aware of something, you see it everywhere.

Gummy Bear Chandelier, Designed and made by Kevin Champeny, Acrylic, Edition of ten, For sale at Jellio.com

Anyway, back to design.  What is it about gummy bears?  I’ve always liked them, and clearly, I’m not alone.  I had a bracelet made up of acrylic gummy bears growing up.  They’re like shiny, glowing gemstones, that are sweet and gooey.  As a child, I don’t think it could get much better than this.  And even though I was growing up in the 80s, thirty years later, they are still as popular as ever.

Gummy Bear Bracelet, available on Etsy.com

Of course, it’s not like I was the first child to have this fascination.  In the early 1970s, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (based on the 1964 book by Roald Dahl) came out in theaters and we all caught our first glimpse of a Gummy Bear tree.

Gummy Bear trees in the foreground at Willy Wonka's factory

Carly Shay’s bedroom, is every little girl’s dream room.  Colors abound, like an over-sized jewelry box, every surface in that room sparkles or twinkles.

Carly Shay's bedroom, and yes, that's a trampoline at the end of her bed. Photo Credit: Lisa Rose/Nickelodeon

While the chandelier is a known design object, as well as some of the other lamps, the rest of the set was created by a very talented and young-at-heart, art department. (Here are their credits on IMDB.com.)  With Harry Matheu as Production Designer, Jason Howard as head of Set Decoration and Art Direction by Jim Jones, they managed to create a candy palace.  A sort of Dylan’s Candy Bar as a bedroom.

Carly's wall of gummy bear lights, a shrine to gummy bears! Photo Credit: Lisa Rose/Nickelodeon

These lights, pictured above, are also available at Jellio.com and are LED, battery operated lights. The practical adult in me thinks, “oh good, so there’s no electrical cord to mess with.”  But, eight year old me thinks, “cool! so you can put them anywhere and take them with you anywhere too!”  I like the eight year old me.

Gummi Lights, also by Kevin Champeny

The plot of the episode of iCarly where the gummy bear room is revealed, “iGot a Hot Room”,  starts with Carly’s older brother making her a gummy bear lamp of his own design, for her birthday.

Carly's birthday gift from her brother, Spencer, based on her favorite candy, the gummy bear. Photo Credit: Lisa Rose/Nickelodeon

But when Spencer’s gift ends up setting her room on fire, her bedroom is re-created into the gummy bear wonderland that we see pictured.

And just in case your sweet tooth wasn't filled with a cavity yet, there's this setee that looks like an ice cream sandwich. Photo Credit: Lisa Rose/Nickelodeon

If you’re wondering how to make this room in your own house, Nate Berkus created his version on his show.

Now …who else has a craving for gummy bears?  What’s your favorite flavor?  Mine’s pineapple.