
While flying to Mexico at the beginning of the year, I watched All The Presidents Men, which I loved. One thing I kept doing was stopping the film so that I could note down the particular minute of the movie. This was so that I could go back and catch the interior design. It is no news to any of us that a movie set design is hugely important to the picture itself. What I find somewhat annoying is the lack of photography of those particular sets. So to have any sort of aide memoir, you have to make do with the blurred screen grabs. I do hope we see this change. Hopefully, filmmakers will take a leaf out of Luca Guadagnino's book. He documented the rooms of Call Me By Your Name so beautifully. Those photographs have become beloved references to many.
So in ode to those films that have shaped our world and inspried our interiors. I thought I would do a little interiors movie club. Instead of starting off with All The Presidents Men, I decided to rewatch an old favourite that I have cited recently - Tim Burton's film Beetlejuice. It has come up lately as there has been a definite head nod to it in recent projects, collecting and production—the rough look of the 80s and early 90s, the so bad its great sort of interiors.
Bo Welch, the production designer on Beetle Juice and many other Tim Burton films, managed to capture the Laura Ashley 80s at the beginning of the film when couple Barbara and Adam Maitland, played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, inhabit the house. Then pivots amazingly to the cataclysmic change of the almost ugly but extremely edgy interiors when the Deetz Family (designer in toe) move in. These scenes are interspersed with papier-mache sets, moments of stop motion and more than a few references to German Expressionism. Due to Warner Brother's lack of interest in the film, they saw it as a low budget and, frankly, odd production. Bo Welch and Tim Burton could push the boundaries and follow any idea that arose. So with all that came the cult classic that had far more to it than I'd remembered. So if you are on the lookout for a bit of inspiration, I strongly suggest a rewatch. By the by if you haven't seen it, scroll no further as these are out and out spoilers.





'Oh Look An Indoor Outhouse'

'Deliver me from L.L Bean'



Tim Burton At The Time Of Filming Beetlejuice Was Going Out With The Legs









