Where do not worry shoot? Inside Palm Springs Building

Despite its amazing architecture, Palm Springs has rarely been effectively filmed – even Palm Springs has been filmed elsewhere. But no longer. Olivia Wilde’s dystopian fiction “Don’t Worry Darling” makes great use of well-preserved mid-century buildings in California to showcase her vision of 1950s suburban bliss that blankets something menacing beneath. Endless sunny skies, wide avenues lined with swaying palms and turquoise pools are clues to the idyllic life of the residents of the fanciful Victory Project, as are the young, attractive couple played by Florence Pugh and Harry Styles.

Production designer Katie Byron, art and decor teams and location manager, Chris Pow, have worked hard to be able to shoot in mid-century historic buildings, and furnish them with period-appropriate items – despite the difficulty of filming in pure historical settings.

Byron drew inspiration from many of the architects and designers most associated with Palm Springs, especially Albert Fry, who inspired her to incorporate a boulder into the couple’s bedroom. “Albert Fry is a huge design champion for me,” she says. “Obviously I love Neutra, I love Schindler. Being Albert Frye to be part of a thriller felt like a great idea.” The Frey-style buildings in the film include the Palm Springs Visitor Center at the entrance to the city, which was originally a gas station, and Palm Springs City Hall.

Byron says “Don’t Worry Baby” plays on the juxtaposition of beauty and danger. “The Manhattan Project is something we had in mind,” she says. “The idea of ​​a really secluded community that has a very natural beauty, but there is also a risk.” Wilde realized it was worth spending the money to shoot in historic buildings, says Byron, “There wasn’t a version of us doing this in Lancaster. A lot of people might not fight as hard as you do for things like that. She really understands the importance of space. Architect”.

Below, Byron divides four locations for the film.

The volcano house – victory headquarters

Located in the late 1960s outside Barstow, California in Newbury Springs, Volcano House was formerly owned by TV host Huell Howser, and was built atop a volcanic cinder cone. In one dramatic scene, Bowie ran home, the base of the Victory Project headed by Frank (Chris Pine), on a narrow gravel road.

“It’s a special place,” Byron says. “It’s a real house that’s on a real volcano and it really has this very risky road to get to it. The only thing we did in that space was we dismantled the roof and built the stairs that lead up to the roof and extended the roof, and then put the mirror front up. Otherwise, we were very careful Working with these historical sites we really had to respect these places and anything we did to them we had to do very carefully. That was one of the challenges, but also one of the things that we loved so much was interacting with these spaces and making sure we were good patrons” .

“The Volcano House was the worst place a production could have chosen,” Byron says, “It’s two hours away, and then you have a little road going around that volcano to the top, and where do you put the showers, trucks and fist gear? Most of the productions were totally thought out. That this is the craziest thing ever, but we were willing to waste time on the logistics of getting this location.”

Kaufman Desert House – Chris Pine’s House

Designed by Richard Neutra in 1946, the Kaufman house is immortalized in Slim Aarons’ “Poolside Gossip.” The owners have included Barry Manilow, but the well-preserved modern home is rarely used for a shooting.

“It was very special, as Neutra was clearly a very good reference for the design of the film,” Byron says. “It was a design inspiration for Victory, but it was also kind of a character inspiration. When you explore a location, you take pictures of every inch of the space, you measure all the cabinets and all the built-in items and you learn what kind of hinges he likes… which felt really cool, like Establishing a personal relationship with a legendary architect.”

“We were shooting in one of the most historic buildings in California,” she continues. “The restrictions on how we can film it and what we can do indoors were definitely the highest I’ve ever worked with. The rules actually set the entire film together with the idea of ​​’we respect all the places we go’.”

Byron remembers location manager Baugh sending “message after message” to the house representative “making it clear how seriously we wanted to take their place, and after several letters we were allowed to film there.”

Canyon View Estates – Alice and Jack House

Built in the 1960s by famous Los Angeles and Palm Springs architects Palmer and Crissell, the Canyon View condominiums on a cul-de-sac off South Palm Canyon Drive had the perfect appearance to serve as the centerpiece of the Victory Community.

For the interior decoration of the Alice and Jack Chambers home, Byron drew inspiration from Alexander Girard, a mid-century designer known for his sunburst motifs and festive colors. “There are lots of crystal miniature figurines of animals and birds and there is real fun with the aesthetic,” she says, crediting interior designer Rachel Ferrara and setting up decoration buyer Ashley Bussell to place the meaningful items. Byron says Wilde also had ideas about the look she wanted. “I was drawn to very private things. We bounced crazy ideas about each other, and had a relationship where we feel brave and able to suggest wild ideas. She’s one of the most visual directors I know. She really enables us to understand what the movie is about, and the true meaning behind each That, and then we were able to make some crazy decisions,” Byron says.

The production design team has included things viewers will never see, just for clarity. “One of the special things about the set is that the drawers are full of toys, just in case they decide they want a scene where they play Uno together on the floor,” Byron says. “It was all there – stuff that was ready to use if someone wanted it or just to set the mood.”

She felt that other elements to note in their home were the patterned glass windows, which are not usually seen in more luxurious homes but convey a subtle hint of danger. “I felt like I wanted to give the sitters their time to shine,” she says. “Everyone is trying to shake off vigilance and I’m begging everyone to question it.” Byron had the antique-look stacked-cushion sofa made for their living room, which also had a custom sofa and an enviable built-in wood standard dresser.

All the elements of the house combined increase the underlying anxiety. “I kept imagining what it would be like to go crazy in a place like this, with such sharp corners and sharp edges, or in a serious fight with someone,” Byron says. “You have a giant boulder in the bedroom – you don’t want to fall out of bed and hit your head on that. It’s not a home you bring a child into. It’s luxurious and beautiful but there is a danger in it.”

Dolls house nightclub

When Victory residents are invited to a lavish evening at a nightclub, the slogan on the front of the band’s drum set reads “The Doll House Band.” The Real Dolls House, which closed in the mid-1960s, was a modest, whimsical-themed restaurant that was popular with stars including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. in the early days of the desert town. But it wasn’t as generous as the movie version, which depicted a charming art deco-style Cicada restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. Byron says the mandate was to create “a nightclub full of fun, hustle and bustle for men.”

“We’re in that space where Alice is living an epiphany and everyone is losing their mind as she runs to the bathroom to collect herself. We really wanted to have a real distance between what she was going through and what other people are going through and this idea of ​​who’s losing their mind at the moment – is it her , are they? “