Dennis Gassner

And by these schedule problems, there was a lot of production designers that come and then couldn't keep going because we were pushing.

And then I called Dennis Gassner and Richard Johnson, and they came late, but they really nailed it when we really need to work.

And we work very, very, they were building very short amount of time, but they are magnificent.

I mean, I was very happy about the way we, because it was an accumulation of, of precision that we that we wanted you know and uh that kind of uh

And, uh, you know, I had reservations.

I hadn't scouted Shanghai or China at that time, and as I said, Sam and Barbara and, and, and Dennis Gassner, the production designer, had scouted it.

So I, I looked at the pictures, and we obviously had a production meeting and dis- dis- discussed how we were gonna do these things.

And after the meeting, I, I voiced to Sam...

[laughs] And, um, very nice.

Stayed at, stayed in a very nice hotel and, [laughs] and, uh, went to the locations and thought about it.

And then when I got back to Pinewood and started talking with Dennis Gassner, I started talking with Dennis Gassner first and suggested to him, or asked him, I said, "What's the possibility of building a set, you know, so that we, we just do a fake night exterior on a, on a built set, and I can control the light, and we can build it with a lot of glass?" And so that's how that sort of developed.

Yeah.

But undoubtedly, no one is subtle in this.

And given the absurdist and pretty effective production design from Dennis Gassner, who's worked on Skyfall, Road to Perdition, and the Hudsucker Proxy, and if you've seen that movie, trust me, that really tracks with this.

Showy camera work from Chivo, the great Emmanuel Lubezki, Oscar winner, one of the best, and also the sheer volume of just so many on screen, this film can often feel like Ina Ritu by way of Terry Gilliam and the Coens.

With a dash of Wes Anderson for good measure.

... credits here.

Um, in the credits, the production design is led by Dennis Gassner and Richard Johnson.

I was endlessly fascinated, even when I was thoroughly annoyed, at the sets, the...

Again, this tiptoes into spoiler territory, but when the movie opens up, let's say, so does the production design in continuously fascinating ways.

From frame one, it's completely obvious that this movie looks expensive.

From evocative murals to stylized miniature work to window vistas that look like amazing natural history museum dioramas, production designer Dennis Gassner created a world that is overflowing with detail and style worthy of a Wes Anderson movie.

John Goodman also delivers a stellar performance as President Compson.

He has some of the best lines, and you can tell he had a hell of a time delivering them on set.

And that was the reason of that.

Dennis Gassner is funny because I called him in the very early stage of the film in 2018.

He was not available.

Then the production went on and off many times and many other production designers that I work with for short periods of time, they couldn't keep going because the film fall apart, the schedules, problems, budget.