Julie & Julia – and blogging

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It’s difficult not be intrigued about a movie about a blogger. Blog. Book contract. Movie. It piques your interest. Especially if you are a blogger. Doubly intriguing if the movie is written by your (imaginary) best friend, Nora Ephron.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve re-read Ms. Ephron’s Heartburn and read Julie Powell’s Julie & Julia and Julia Child’s My Year in France. Maybe all books, when you come right down to it, are about transitions. If your story arcs, after all, something must happen. Something changes. And you work from there. Your husband cheats while you’re pregnant. Or you can’t get pregnant. Or you move to France. Or Queens.

And you stand in front of the mirror, real or figurative, and you try to sort out how to be yourself now. And how to be yourself next. In these books, and in this movie, we get to watch stories of women creating themselves. Successfully. In Julie Powell’s case, with a blog. In her book Ms. Powell says of the word blog, “Well, it is sort of a silly word, I guess.” I wholeheartedly agree.

A silly word, but not a silly concept especially as it can be the way from there to here. It’s a very good movie. There are many very memorable Ephron moments that I will not spell out here. It is not a romantic comedy. It is a movie that has as its backdrop two stories about marriage. Ephron said in Heartburn something like, “once you’re married nothing really happens.” (I can’t find the exact quote because I have a library book and I can’t turn down the pages of a library book.) Which in a lot of ways is true. And the main character, Rachel, is a cook book author who has her own show, but says something like, “people say I write cook books, but they are not really about cooking.” The same sentiment can be applied to My Life in France and Julie & Julia. They are about cooks, but not really about cooking. They are about finding the thing that makes your soul sing.

Julie & Julia opens tomorrow.

All images courtesy of Sony Pictures; photography by Jonathan Wenk except for final image which is by David Giesbrecht.
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Julie & Julia – Set Decoration

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Last week Mark Ricker, Production Designer for Julie & Julia, filled us in on his role for creating the sets (and reinforcing the feel) for the movie. Production Design works hand-in-hand with Set Decoration, and on this film Susan Bode Tyson took on the task of gathering the stuff.

Once the Director and Production Designer decide what will be shot on location, what will be sets and the feel that those spaces should have, the Set Decorator begins to fill in the blanks. “From there my assistant and I begin to look in all sorts of places for pieces that we think express who the character is. We photograph lots of stuff and then put together a collage of what we think works,” explains Susan.

These concepts are eventually presented to the Production Designer and Director who make selections on what they feel best reflects the characters in the film. “There is always a pile of maybes and rejects as well. Think of it as soup to nuts – it’s not just the furniture – it’s the little things that give hints as to who the character is. I save things like burned down candles, old worn soaps and burnt potholders and am constantly switching out my worn wooden spoons to use in the sets. I had an old kitchen soap that went from movie to movie until it got lost!”

And from where do all these treasures come? Nearly everywhere. “A lot of the more posh pieces (for this film) came from Newell’s Art Galleries. Most of the fabrics were swatched from the D&D Building, but others were purchased on the Lower East Side. We shop everything from antique shops to thrift shops and even Craig’s List and garage sales. Many of the antique stoves came from a dealer in the Midwest.”

And each set is not static. Pieces move in and out and around to reinforce the passage of time and all of that is planned in advance. “I always wonder if people notice those things!” Yes, Susan, crazy design blog reading (and writing) people do.

Susan Bode Tyson has worked as Set Decorator on many films, including You’ve Got Mail, and was nominated for an Academy Award in Set Decoration for Bullets Over Broadway; you can read the complete interview here. Julie & Julia opens August 7th.
All images courtesy of Sony Pictures; photography by Jonathan Wenk.
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Kismet

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A fair number of folks end up on my site because they are searching for George Terbovich, who happens to be an outstanding Kansas City-based designer and friend.

Very few of George’s projects have been published.

In researching some historic homes in Kansas City I ran across the KC Modern blog which is a terrific resource for information on Kansas City architecture.
This is the Bernard Corrigan house by architect Louis S. Curtiss. I will send you to the link at KC Modern for more information about the house; I have been in it and it is extraordinary.

The design of these rooms, by Mr. Terbovich, was for a previous owner; they have been dismantled. When I saw these images earlier this week I was struck, not just by their beauty, but because the design does not overwhelm the architecture.

I think the restraint is stunning.
Images courtesy of KC Modern; photography by Gary Kabrink.
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