Production designer Mark Steel admits that ‘it’s fun to be part of’ ‘The Boys’
“I really enjoy being part of something that’s creatively on the edge,” shares Mark Steel about joining “The Boys” for Season 4. The production designer admits, “The writers and creator Eric Kripke have a very interesting world. It’s fun to be part of something with a socially relevant spin in the world we live in right now.” He joined our recent “Meet the Experts” panel for production design awards contenders (watch above).
The Amazon Prime Video series focuses on a group of vigilantes trying to take down corrupt superheroes. Their primary target is the narcissistic Homelander (Antony Starr) who uses veneers of patriotism to cover his psychopathic crimes. Steel was a fan of “The Boys” before he came to work on the show. He explains, “It was gratifying to come at it from the other side and realize this is a really committed group of people making an important show for our time right now. It was great to contribute and witness that. There’s a saying, be careful of meeting your heroes. But I wasn’t disappointed at all.”
The show uses satire to commentate on the current political climate. The recent season featured ‘Truth Con,’ a convention for right-wing conspiracy theories. The production designer reveals, “A lot of the audience on one side of the political spectrum started to realize it’s a bit of a parody, and Homelander was an avatar for some of the crazy stuff that was going on. They turned on the show and were a little mad. What’s interesting is Kripke and the writers leaned into that and in Season 4 doubled down. It was interesting to thumb our noses at the political process.”
Since Season 1, “The Boys” has pushed boundaries with gross over-the-top moments highlighting the vices and kinks of superheroes. Season 4 was no exception, with one hero duplicating himself for the purpose of self-gratification. Strong, admits, “I never thought I’d be working with a prosthetic man’s bottom as the primary model to create a set. This season was a lot about that part of the body in many ways. Sometimes the meetings and conversations were interesting. But we all understood what we were trying to achieve.”
But the most challenging set for Steel to design was the Vought Fresh Farm that was to feature in the Season 4 finale. He explains “It started as Starlight House and then mid-season, over the break, we converted that into the warehouse set for our big finale sequence. That was very exciting because we had a tight timeline and we had to brainstorm how we were going to get from one place to another very quickly.”