Production designer Felicity Abbott is behind the great staging of
The Luminaries, a mini-series that takes place in New Zealand during the 1860s West Coast Gold Rush. In the below interview, she tells us her thoughts on the connection between films and architecture, addressing her work process and the main challenges on this set.
Courtesy of Felicity Abbott and Daniel Birt
Fabián Dejtiar (FD): Alongside set decorator and fellow New Zealander Daniel Birt, you researched, designed, and constructed the time period of the New Zealand colonial gold rush. Could you tell us about your work process? How did you translate all that on the set?
Felicity Abbott: Se ha hecho referencia al diseño de producción como arquitectura de la pantalla plataformaarquitectura.cl - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from plataformaarquitectura.cl Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“The Luminaries” seemed to have everything Hollywood wants in a book.
A commercial and critical hit when it was published in 2013, Eleanor Catton’s immersive novel was set on the rugged southwest coast of New Zealand during its 1860s gold rush. A tale of fate and fortune on the antipodean frontier, it had all the makings of a great screen adventure: rowdy saloons and smoke-filled opium dens, devious blackmail schemes and treacherous ocean voyages, ruthless villains and star-crossed lovers.
“The Luminaries” also boasted undeniable cachet, winning the 2013 Booker Prize over titles by more established names like Colm Tóibín and Jhumpa Lahiri and making Catton, then 28, the youngest winner in the history of the prestigious award.
I’ve been spotting opium references in popular culture with interest for a few years now (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 & 2012) – just how opium keeps fascinating us…
Well, 2020 was a funny year but anyway.
Let’s start with a few novels – Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s
Blood and Sugar was a great trip to 1780s Deptford and the slave trade. Opium addicts of course and a few on tinctures of laundanum for various eighteenth century ailments. Lydia Kang’s
Opium and Absinthe took us to 1889 New York, vampire scares, and opium. Elizabeth Bailey’s
The Opium Purge is back in 1790 England with mysteries that lead back to dope.