‘The Curse’ production designer Katie Byron on passive houses, upside down sets and working with ‘charismatic, weird geniuses’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
Showtime’s “The Curse” stars Oscar winner Emma Stone and Emmy nominee Nathan Fielder as a newlywed couple struggling to make their vision for eco-living a reality in a small New Mexico town. The drama series was created by Fielder and Benny Safdie, who production designer Katie Byron calls “charismatic, weird geniuses” in her recent webchat with Gold Derby. Watch the full video interview above.
“Their brains working together was one of the most incredible things to witness,” Byron recalls. “Our initial conversations were about the passive house and what that looks like. Nathan was very excited to nail it. He wanted to make sure that we really did that justice. Working with the two of them is all about getting your feet on the ground, navigating the world and seeing things you want to bring into the comedy, set design and writing. It was a very unique collaborative process.”
While Byron did extensive research on passive homes, she explains, “I don’t think anyone’s done a passive home with any mirrored technology before. Benny really loved this Doug Aitken‘s mirror house as a reference and just thought it would be so amazing as a way to reflect the neighborhood. Is there any way we can prove that these mirrors function as an energy-storing device? Nathan was very reluctant at first to go in that direction. Of course Benny, who is an expert at searching the internet for things, found that in a part of New Mexico they were developing this technology that was a mirror that is technically a solar panel. So we decided to take this idea and bring it into the house. It was enough of a reality where we could take the concept and feel okay with it.”
Another standout design was the upside down set in the season finale, “Green Queen,” when Asher is stuck to the ceiling. “It was new for me,” Byron admits. “We built the upside down room and the right-side up room. The design of the space was inspired by childhood dreams of putting your feet up on the ceiling. I remember thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to kick the fan around? What would my orientation be like if this room was upside down?’ When designing the master bedroom, part of the design came from, ‘What would be the most fun space to turn upside down?’ Then of course I made the upside down set too eccentric, so actually filming in it was difficult…it was a fun problem to solve.”
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