Production designer Anastasia Masaro on creating the look of ‘Fellow Travelers’ and 3 decades of queer history [Exclusive Video Interview]
Showtime’s limited series “Fellow Travelers” spans three decades of queer history, covering a myriad of locations and time periods. That challenge, however, did not intimidate production designer Anastasia Masaro. The Oscar-nominated production designer (“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”) saw the assignment as an exciting challenge. “That means there’s something for me to do because whenever I read a script, I’m always like, ‘Okay. What do I get to do here?'” she declares. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
Masaro endeavored to make sure that the production designed not only supported the film, but also reflected the emotional lives of the characters. She relied on varying color palettes to achieve that effect. For the character of Hawk (Matt Bomer), a man trying to repress his feelings while portraying strength, Masaro went for a very specific look. “He’s a very closed person, hard to read,” she explains. That’s reflected in his apartment, but also in the colors. He’s cool, but there’s a warmth to that coolness.”
One of Masaro’s favorite locations to create was The Cozy Club, the underground club where the secret affair between Hawk and Tim (Jonathan Bailey) develops. The club is based on a real location and satisfied two of Masaro’s great loves: research and creation. “It was one of many clubs that existed at the time,” she says. “I love doing research one of my favorite parts of the job besides creating things from scratch.” Masaro says she wanted to show the beauty of the club while also making it look like a temporary haven for queer people during the McCarthy era. “I wanted the club to be somewhere where Tim walks in and says, ‘Wow,'” she explains. “He didn’t know that such a vibrant community existed. That’s what I wanted to get out of it.”
Masaro emphasizes the importance of making the production design functional while also making in feel real for the both the characters and the audience. “It’s got to work for the action,” she argues. “We just don’t paint a room and call it done. You still have to add the stories that make it feel like a room.”
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