Tyler Perry Style

I have been a huge fan of Tyler Perry (and who doesn't love Medea) for years so I was delighted to recently interview his long time set decorator (12 movies and counting) Lance Totten.

San Francisco via an Atlanta soundstage becomes the setting for Tyler Perry's new romantic drama Good Deeds. Mogul/director/actor/screenwriter/producer/and even songwriter Tyler Perry stars as businessman Wesley Deeds, a wealthy entrepreneur who lives a very controlled and predictable life as the head of the family owned Deeds Corporation. His life changes when he meets a down on her luck single mother (Thandie Newton) which gives him the courage to live the life he has always wanted.

Jamie Kennedy, Gabrielle Union, Tyler Perry, Eddie Cibrian and Rebecca  Romijn

Thandie Newton

"Production designer Ina Mayhew and I agreed that it was important to sell the fact that Wesley Deeds was wealthy, but in an outside-of-the-box way," notes Totten about the design process. "His environment had to be high-end but in a very sophisticated way, not at all flashy or new money." The designers came up with designs of a "sleek organic nature" to denote a Northern California setting.

Totten and his buyers (Mary Stacy and Rachel Goodman) discussed the idea of weaving Deeds' desire to travel as a major character point for the interiors. Since he had to stay home and run the family business, wanderlust would no doubt set in so they incorporated antique globes and framed vintage posters and maps into the design mix. "The original paintings in Deeds' apartment (all by local Georgia painter Bill Turner who they discovered at the Arts Festival in Piedmont Park) had sort of a haunting loneliness to them that reminded me of that wanderlust Deeds was feeling,"says Totten.

For Deeds master bedroom, Mayhew added a double-sided fireplace to divide the rooms while keeping a feeling of openness. A capiz shell light fixture from Z Gallerie and a contemporary bed setting take front and center in this contemporary room. "The bed was one that TP (Tyler Perry) responded to in my initial presentation photos: a leather designer piece from Roche-Bobois. It was actually very simple, and like all Italian contemporary stuff, very low to the floor," details Totten. "Mr. Perry likes the style of Italian furniture, but because he's 6'5", I've learned over the years that he doesn't like being low to the ground, so we had a wooden platform built to raise it up... because that particular bed wasn't really as funky as what we wanted to do, we had the giant headboard made and screwed to the wall behind it. It's just plywood, batting, and the right color of faux suede."

The offices of the Deeds corporation represented a huge challenge for the designers. Atlanta had plenty of empty office space but needed a San Francisco skyline which meant giant trans-light backdrops outside the windows. Perry wanted an open floor plan both aesthetically and for practical purposes (in order to maneuver cameras) so everything was built on a soundstage. The majority of the furniture was rented (which included some cook Knoll accent chairs) and Herman Miller threw in three chairs for product placement. A credenza was rented from Room and Board and Totten loved it so much that he had it reproduced. "As is often the case with Tyler Perry, we could not find a desk that was high-end enough for him that we could also afford, so we custom built one as scenery," says Totten. " If you think about it, decorating a set for a billionaire character who's been created by a real-life billionaire can be rather daunting!"

The majority of films naturally have to be made with a budget in mind. "It's not like we have the time or money to create interiors as if they were actually for Tyler Perry the person, but you've still got to sell the illusion," explains Totten. "Having said that, I still spent over $10,000 at Masterpiece Lighting on the sconces and hanging pendant fixtures throughout the offices. That's not including table or floor lamps which came from all over. We'll mix a $400 lamp from Bungalow with a thrift-store vintage one or a $40 lamp from Home Goods and it all just works somehow."

The work of artist Anthony Liggins was used for the office interiors

Good Deeds is currently playing in theaters and Medea sits this one out.


Photo Credits: Lance Totten, Quantrell Colbert-c 2011 Very Perry Films

Designing Dallas: GCB Style

Botox, backstabbing, big Dallas design and the Bible are just a few of the things television viewers will soon associate with the letters GCB. Move over Southfork Ranch, Dallas is ready for yet another close-up.

Formerly (and controversially) known as Good Christian Bitches and Good Christian Belles, Sex and the City producer Darren Star’s wickedly bitchy comedy/drama GCB stars Leslie Bibb (Iron Man) as high school mean girl Amanda Vaughn who returns home as a recently divorced mother of two and finds her former high school friends have turned the tables of torment.  Based on Kim Gatlin’s best-selling book Good Christian Bitches (Brown Books, 2008), the show co-stars Kristen Chenowith as Amanda’s archrival and Annie Potts as her mother Gigi.

Annie Potts as larger than life mom Gigi

Set against the bigger than life worlds of the one percent elite of “The Big D,” production designer Denny Dugally and set decorator Bryan John Venegas (the pair created the Walker family interiors on ABC’s Brothers and Sisters) designed houses and offices for the five central characters – Amanda (who lives with her mother), a high powered real estate agent, a CEO, a homemaker, and an arch rival across the street. The adage of home as character certainly applies as the design duo used narrative design and set decoration to portray the personalities and motivation of each character.

Can you ever go home again?:
Leslie Bibb as former mean girl returns home to the fold

The production team spent four days scouting historic and modern homes and soaking up local color in the tony Dallas enclaves of Highland Park, Preston Hollow, and University Park. “We visited homes, churches, country clubs, offices, stores, etc. and immersed ourselves in everything Dallas,” says Dugally. “While the pilot was shot entirely on location, Los Angeles doubles for Dallas in the series. “It was not an easy task as Dallas is known for it’s large expanses of property, many without high fences or security and lots of brick architecture. Los Angeles is full of palm trees that don’t do well in Dallas. We were able to find several wonderful and appropriate houses and a great church in the Los Angeles basin that serve as the exteriors for our show,” she says.

For the home of Amanda’s colorful mother, Dugally wanted the “interiors to remain very upscale but traditional.” Front and center is the ornate, winding staircase topped with a gold leafed dome. Asian accents, custom designed wallpapers by Astek in Los Angeles and white wainscoting are just a few of the design elements used for the warm gold, crimson and cream toned décor.

Bigger is Better: Gigi  aka Annie Pott's grand stairway
with its custom made stair rails and gold dome ceiling

Ammo and Antlers: Gun toting Gigi's Trophy Room 

Kristen Chenowith’s Carlene gets a dramatically designed interior complete with a baby grand piano to practice hymns for Sundays in the church choir and a fireplace in almost every room. For the dark green and purple interiors, Dugally theorized Carlene “would have hired an interior designer from New York.  The result is a very highly styled interior with richly colored grass cloth, custom wallpapers, dark wood floors and pops of bright colors accenting against the dark elements in the room,” says Dugally.

Kristen Chenowith as Carlene

Shades of Dorothy Draper meets Dallas: Carlene's living room

Carlene's Bedroom: Walls painted in black and deep purple with black floral comforter
 as Dugally notes because "with her blond hair, Kristen looks gorgeous against it."

For shrewd and decisive Cricket (Miriam Shor) who is CEO of her own company, “we chose to keep her designs modern, cold and calculated just like Cricket,” explains Dugally. The mid-century modern styled bedroom features a custom queen size bed with a classic Texas touch -- a headboard made of cowhide, black leather, and studs. And to further illustrate the narrative design, a framed set of shark’s jaws adorn the walls of her contemporary grey and blue office.

In business, a display of shark jaws on the wall says it all

The heart of housewife Sharon’s (Jennifer Aspen) home is the kitchen and the designers opted for a French Country Style with a softer look to match her personality. In a setting that would make Martha Stewart pea green with envy, Dugally designed a kitchen with 3 double ovens, a huge range, a countertop deep fryer and a walk-in restaurant style refrigerator and pantry along with a white Carerra marble topped island – faux finished of course.

A kitchen Martha Stewart would envy

While Dallas certainly earns its bigger is better notoriety, Dugally steered away from the term “McMansions.” “The houses we saw in Dallas were real mansions, not McMansions, in their sheer scope and scale,” notes Dugally. “They weren’t out of scale for their neighborhood because every house in their neighborhood was huge! It was my task to create the look of a mansion on a smaller budget and reduced scale while maintaining the integrity of the houses in Dallas.”

Cricket's Mid-century modern meets Western interiors complete with faux granite
and flagstone framed fireplace and Corbusier inspired cowhide upholstery above and below. 

One of the more pivotal and challenging sets was the design of the church that had to be big in both scale and demeanor. Dugally and Venegas visited a dozen churches for research and created a believable house of worship with 42 stained glass windows, an altar for the choir, and pew seating for 120. The church was painted and aged to make it look over forty years old. 

Let Us Pray: The design team aged the church set and added 42 stained glass windows

Expect to hear alot of "amens" and "bless her hearts" among the gilt and glamour in this alternate southern universe. GCB airs Sunday, March 4th at 10 pm eastern and 9 pm central. Note: This was a reprint of my article How to Fake 1% Opulence, Dallas Style in this week's Hollywood Reporter. And yes, that is CNN mogul/ex-husband of Jane Fonda/America's cup fame/buffalo raising Ted Turner on the cover. Is he making a comeback?

Photo Credits: ABC, Hollywood Reporter, Denny Dugally

And the Oscar goes to...

On Sunday, February 26th the much deserved statuette will be awarded to a lucky production designer, set decorator and costume designer at the 84th Academy Awards presentation or as I like to call it, Hollywood's Super Bowl Sunday.

In the event you need a recap for the nominations for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction, be sure to check out my articles Behind the Scenes: Oscar's Best Costume Nominees for Fox News Magazine and Oscar's Preview: The Year's Best Sets for Architectural Digest.

While Hugo appears to be the favorite for Art Direction and W.E. for Costume, I think The Artist may take home the lion's share of awards.

Costume Designer and nominee Mark Bridge's designs and sketches
for Peppy above and below in The Artist

Production Designer Laurence Bennett's homage to
the twenties classic Our Dancing Daughters in The Artist

Los Angeles designer Waldo Fernandez created this year's Architectural Digest Greenroom (where the winners go to relax and not sure if the losers make an appearance). I particularly love the hand-painted book jackets of film images from Rocky and Butterfield 8 created from the Academy of Motion Picture Archives by Juniper Books. For the 99 percent of us who will not be backstage, you can catch a glimpse here.

Best of luck to all the nominees and happy Oscar weekend!!!

P.S. Many thanks to all of you who attended my lecture at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art last night. What a great event and very impressed with your city and loved all the Arthur Elrod houses.

Photo Credits: Architectural Digest, Weinstein Company

The Design of the Descendants

As with most films, the setting often garners top billing as an additional character. Such was the case of Hawaii in director Alexander Payne's story of love, loss and legacy, The Descendants. George Clooney plays Matt King, a land baron who reacquaints himself with his two daughters when his wife is in a coma after a boating accident off of Waikiki. Shot entirely on location Honolulu and around Hanalei Bay, production designer Jane Ann Stewart no doubt enjoyed the perks of her job and spent eight months in pre-production, soaking in the unique culture of the land.

The King family lineage traced back to early settlers of the islands, hence the name "The Descendants." Stewart used this as a reference point for the design, adding history through color, accessories and detail. She gave the home an "old plantation style" look, recreating a Zuber-like mural of explorer Captain Cooke's time on the islands in the dining room. "I wanted it to feel like it had been there since the ships arrived," says Stewart. "I want people to want to go back to that house over and over again." Mission accomplished.

The original house belonged to another "descendants" type family and the wood had been stripped and painted with a semi-gloss white that was restored to original condition by the production team. Set decorator Matt Calahan had the enviable task of locating the furnishings from shops all over the island. "When you're dressing a set, you just layer it with lots of history, a little bit of the orient, some Americana - especially from the '50s and '60s," notes Stewart.

Family photos grace the walls throughout
the house to denote a lineage and history

Modern colors were added to several of the rooms for an updated look

Island touches: A hexagonal coffee table displays seashells
Love the mid century club chairs

Leaf pattern area rug, floral fabrics and celadon wall
color bring the vivid nature indoors

The Descendants won two Golden Globes and has been nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for George Clooney.

Photo Credits: Fox Searchlight

Whitney on Film

While everyone knew Whitney Houston as a great voice, she was also an actress and will be returning to the big screen later this August after a sixteen year hiatus in the film Sparkle (Sony, 2012). Starring American Idol winner Jordin Sparks and singer CeeLo Green, Sparkle is a remake of the 1976 film about three church choir singers who form a singing group and deal with drugs and fame. The original film starred Fame's Irene Cara and Phillip Michael Thomas from Miami Vice.

Whitney played a pop diva who hires Kevin Costner as her guard after threats from a stalker in her first film The Bodyguard (1992). Written by The Big Chill's Lawrence Kasdan with Steve McQueen and Diana Ross in mind, the film was notable for her mega-hit song "I Will Always Love You."

Kevin Costner as a former Secret Service agent turned personal bodyguard

With Costner in a scene at The Ivy in LA

Perhaps her best film was the 1995 chick flick Waiting to Exhale. Based on Terry McMillan's novel, the film follows four African American women and their relationships. Houston holds her own in this film with Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine and Gregory Hines and naturally there is a great soundtrack.

Director Penny Marshall's The Preacher's Wife followed in 1996 with Denzel Washington and Courtney B. Vance. The film was a remake of The Bishop's Wife with Loretta Young, Cary Grant and David Niven and considered a moderate hit.

Houston with Denzel Washington in The Preacher's Wife

With actor Courtney B. Vance as the preacher

R.I.P. Whitney.

Photo Credits: Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers

At Home in Highclere

Set on 1000 acres in Hampshire, the Elizabethan style estate has been the home to the Carnavon family since 1679. Known as Highclere Castle, it is also known to millions of television viewers as Downton Abbey.

Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley

The men of Downton:
Dan Stevens as Mathew Crawley and Hugh Bonneville as Earl of Grantham 

The enormously successful drama has taken the world by storm with its intriguing plot lines, upstairs/downstairs melodrama, Edwardian costumes and a window of aristocratic life in a world gone by. With its sophisticated period perfect interiors and idyllic country setting, Highclere a.k.a. Downton Abbey is as important a character as the outstanding ensemble cast. It is true period production design and set decoration at its best and you can read more in my article in Architectural Digest. 

The Masterpiece Classic can be seen on Sunday nights at 8:00 pm CST on PBS. Be warned as the show should come with a disclaimer: hugely addicting and watch at your own risk. I may have to tape the Super Bowl as I am not sure I can wait to see the show later:)

And while you are waiting for the next episode, be sure to read the book Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by the Countess of Carnavon. Lady Fiona traces the history and heritage, focusing on Almina who was the illegitimate daughter of tycoon Alfred Rothschild and married the Earl of Carnavon (with an enormous dowry). Life to the manor born was filled with lavish banquets until World War One intervened and their lives were changed forever  -- shades of Downton Abbey.

Photo Credits: Courtesy of PBS, Random House, Highclere Castle