“Murders Only in the Building” Production Designer Curt Beech Tells “Stories Through Pictures” and Key Phrases for Character Apartments – Production Value

For what Only murders in the building.Production designer Kurt Beach was inspired by his work in the theater to create apartments for the main characters. As a former acting teacher, Beach knew she could use his skills to tell each character’s story through the visual design of his apartments.

The series mainly takes place in a large building called The Arconia. “Initially what attracted me was that it was kind of a limited environment, it was something manageable in terms of work and in terms of the world we were trying to create,” says Beach. “When I read the scripts, I started running. The scripts were written so well and the characters were so well drawn that it gave us a lot of visual effects. “

Created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman, this crime comedy is about a trio of trios who decide to investigate a suspicious death on their bodies and start a real crime podcast. When police claim death is suicide, retired actor Charles-Heden Sevaj (Steve Martin), Broadway director Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and victim’s childhood friend Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) , they are tasked with finding out what really happened. .

“Speaking of the main scenarios, these are three unique characters,” says Beach, “and you have to learn everything you can from the text about them and everything that isn’t, you can compose and add yourself, and it’s fun, try to view stories. “Through … so we created all these stories to give the apartments richness and depth.”

It was important that each apartment stayed true to the characters. Says Beach: “The inspiration for the characters’ apartments was very specific, and each one had a keyword or phrase as proof of everything in it. “For Charles, it was a ‘playful sophistication’ and all the choices we made were based on some of the funniest and most sophisticated fabrics we’ve ever encountered, so the sofa is definitely a decorative element.”

“We figured Oliver’s apartment was mostly decorated with items stolen from all of his Broadway shows,” says Beach. “Everything there was had a story …” Late at night, we imagine there would be a lot of booze and a lot of songs around the piano, and eventually someone would come up on that stage, singing and dancing. “

Mabelis [apartment] “It’s not quite that part of the story,” Beach said. “This is her aunt’s house and it’s been renovated and it’s a pretty simple visual metaphor for Maybel. He is and the apartment is a “work process”, and that was the story we were trying to tell instead. We don’t know what will happen when she finishes and follows her protagonist throughout the first season. “

Only murders in the building. Returns to Hulu for a second season on June 28.

Click on the video above to see the full interview.