Designing Dracula

Designing digs for Dracula has been done for years and always so familiar  - the crumbling walls, the cobweb filled castle steps, the creaky coffin... all trademark staples of the Gothic castle in Transylvania.

This time around, the Prince of Darkness is alive and well in the form of a wealthy American industrialist (The Tudors's Jonathan Rhys Meyers) Alexander Grayson and living in Victorian England in NBC's drama series Dracula. And his environs receive a modern twist.

Rhys Meyers turn as the Prince of Darkness

Set in 19th century London (via Budapest), British production designer Rob Harris (Mr. Selfridge) designed Dracula's opulent mansion Carfax Manor on a soundstage with a more modern take (think electricity) yet historically accurate to the period. Instead of looking to the famed vampire count for design inspiration, Harris looked to another icon, Jay Gatsby. "The design came from a very rich person's house in Londong fromt he same period. We didn't want gothic or a castle tower and it's kind of similar to an 1896 Great Gatsby with strong colors," says Harris. Some 150 sets were built for the ten episodes and the designers faced the challenge facing any vampire - designing a world of living in the night as "Dracula lives in a twilight world."

An entrance hall even Jay Gatsby would find over the top

Dracula's inner sanctum minus the coffin as a bed

The Victorian wardrobes - generally severe and dark - get a facelift as well through the work of costume designer Annie Symons. Bright and colorful, the show's executive producer Daniel Knauf notes, "There is a slightly David Lynchian, Tim-Burton-esque like element. If Alexander McQueen were alive in Victorian England, he would be in charge of the wardrobe for this show." Premiering on NBC Friday, October 25th at 10/9 central, tune in as there is something you can sink your teeth into - no pun intended.

Symon's colorful frocks are anything but Victorian

English society is introduced to the lightbulb by Dracula

For more on Designing Dracula and just in time for Halloween, see my story in The Hollywood Reporter.

Photo Credits: NBC, The Hollywood Reporter

Horror Movies and Style

My favorite holiday of the year is this Saturday so I thought it would be an opportune time to visit a few of my favorite horror movies. According to the box office, most filmgoers would list Halloween (1-5), Hostel (1-2) or perhaps Saw (1-6) for sheer terror, blood and gore. For iconic moments in style (and something you don't equate with horror movies), these films would get my vote:

The Shining (1980): The highly stylized sets for the Overlook Hotel were the largest built in England. Director Stanley Kubrick and production designer Roy Walker modeled the men's room after one in the Biltmore in Phoenix and the Colorado lounge identical to the Ahwanee in Yosemite Valley. The magnificent hedge maze in the final scene was actually branches woven on chicken wire stuck in plywood boxes.

Rosemary's Baby (1968): I attended a party at the Dakota some twenty years after the filming and still could not shake the ghosts of the film even though the exterior of the building was only used. Known as the Bramford in the film, the building is as eerie as the story itself.

John Cassavettes, Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon

The Dakota on West 72nd Street

The film was also noteworthy in creating Mia Farrow's iconic pixie haircut, a classic coif of the sixties designed by Vidal Sassoon.

Sassoon and Farrow on set

Dracula (1931): Accept no imitiations (and many have tried), the original Dracula is the best. From the grainy crackling film, the atmospheric fog and Lugosi's hypnotic stare, this is true horror. And from the spider web filled castle of Transylvania to a London apartment (why do these women always leave the window open?), the sets are wonderful. Even Lugosi looks dapper in his cape -- and rumored to have been buried in it.

Transylvania set on the Universal lot

The Exorcist (973): If you have ever visited Georgetown and seen the famous steps on M Street, it's hard to shake the image from the film. The "McNeil" townhouse on 3600 Prospect Street where little Regan created havoc and stained the carpet with pea green soup is seen below.The interiors were actually shot in a studio and the bedroom scenes filmed in the basement of Fordham University.

Exterior for the McNeil House

The Birds (1963): Tippi Hedren never looked better despite the physical and mental wear and tear. (Hitchcock used actual seagulls trained to attack the actress, making the terror all the more real). Special effects and animated birds mixed with live ones were used against a backdrop of Albert Whitlock's (no relation!) matte paintings for many scenes and the technical feats were the real stars of the film.

Tippi Hedren and friend

Hitch on Set

Happy Halloween!

Header photo is Elsa Manchester in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Photo Credits: Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers and Paramount.