In a flashback sequence in the third episode of Multipleprotagonist Carol (Rhea Seehorn) and her partner Helen (Miriam Shor) are moved to a Norwegian hut hotel, approximately seven years before the joining event. To the viewer, the ice residence looks like the real thing: a frozen room intricately decorated with ice-carved sculptures. In fact, the characters are on a sound stage in the Canary Islands in a space created by production designer Dennis Pizzini using transparent panels and Styrofoam blocks.
“My first thoughts were always: How do we build this? “How do we make it look real and how do we light it?” Betsini admits.
Pizzini worked with Paul Donachie, the cinematographer on the Vince Gilligan Apple TV series, to figure out the latter method — specifically, how to light the set so there were no reflections from lights or cameras in the snow. The duo initially experimented with clear panels made of clear plastic that looked like molded ice, “but they were too transparent,” Donachie says.
“We went through some crushed materials behind it to give it more depth,” he adds. “We actually used some of the stuff you use to soften the lights at the end, and Dennis’ team kind of ground them down, which gave it some depth, and it looked more realistic. And I experimented with the lights above and behind it.”
The wave-like structure and art — including koi fish sculptures — are carved into the walls from Styrofoam. Then, the whole thing was coated in plaster to look like real ice, using flecks of “something crystalline that the light can catch,” Pizzini says. Then special effects came in and blew fake snow onto the floor and walls to give it extra texture.
However, the room didn’t look cool enough on camera, Donachie says, noting that in their research they found that designers light up ice hotels with blue strip lighting underneath furniture. “We added some fog that mixed with the glitter in the walls and the special effects of snow and wall textures,” he explains. “We also added some CG breaths to the actors occasionally, and had to put strip lighting in there. At first I thought it would look cool if it was just white [lighting]But in the end, it worked with LED lighting as well.
To add to the complex nature of the sequence, Donachie decided that he would film the scene in a single 360-degree take. “It was interesting to look at every inch of it, so I suggested it [screenwriter] Gordon [Smith]“Why don’t we design this in a way that the actors take us across the room, revealing the whole thing in one take?” ” He says. “He went with this idea, figuring out what lines he didn’t mind off-camera and what lines he needed in front of the camera. With the camera operator, we figured out how to show this room, using actors to take us on a tour.
The idea of a 360-degree shot influenced Pezzini’s design, although she made sure to cover almost every inch of space if the camera was pointed at a specific part.
“We always design everything so that there are no restrictions,” she explains. “So, if they came in and decided, ‘We’re going to do a 360-degree tour,’ it would be ready. But they would always surprise me — e.g. [at one point]The camera is looking down at the ground, so we have to adapt to that as well. … Vince is always a production designer’s dream. He said, “Dennis, I promise we’ll see everything.” And he means it.”
Surprisingly, the icy hotel room wasn’t the biggest challenge for Pizzini or Donacci. It was the doorway that led there. “In the script, it says they’ve been through this long period [hallway]And I had this neat thing [planned]”It was like, ‘How can I pare down this set and still keep this kind of magical feel to it?'” says Pizzini, who had to downsize the set to stay within budget. Then how we actually made it [still] Kind of a challenge.”
Donachie adds: “The talking dialogue was too long for the set we had. We had to feel like you were still moving along a continuous corridor when it was actually only 30 feet long. That’s why we did all those shots: overhead shots, side shots, all that kind of stuff that gave us the space to fit all that dialogue.”
So, what’s happened to the elaborate set since the clip was filmed? “I think it’s in the trash somewhere,” Pizzini says. “A few people probably caught a koi or two, and I know we had these little carved woodland animal door panels, and I think those are at Vince’s house.” Multiple office, or in Gordon’s office. But I think it all went to waste – I know it’s heartbreaking, but it was captured at its best.
Some of the Ice Hotel’s Styrofoam was reused for body parts found in the warehouse that Carol found in episodes five and six after tracking down milk cartons that others had consumed. There were no visual effects here, because Gilligan likes “everything practical,” says Pizzini.
“All of these body parts are real,” she adds, and “real” means they are hand-made, not computer-generated. “It’s a 100-foot warehouse, and these body parts are piled up. We had to do research on how to butcher a body, and I had boxes of torsos and heads and arms and legs, and then we boxed it all up,” Pizzini explains. “I called them ‘body sculpting circles,’ and I had people there sculpting for a few weeks and making body parts.”
This story first appeared in the June standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To obtain the magazine, click here to subscribe.
