Behind the Silver Screen: meet the set decorator behind Danny Boyle’s ‘Trust’

From Jedi’s to Getty’s: Stella Fox has decorated it all.

Whether it’s a multi-million-dollar blockbuster or Amazon mini-series, Fox goes about her job as set decorator in the same dedicated way. The designer tells HUNGER about the levels of pragmatism required to fulfil the demands of her occupation and who she would most like to work with.

Winning the 2017 award for Best Production Design of an Independent Feature film for Mindhorn, Stella Fox is set for another groundbreaking year with her work on Rupert Goold’s 2019 Judy biopic, starring Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland. Having set decorated Danny Boyle’s recent hit series Trust, Fox is making waves with her decadent and intricate skills. Talking us through a day in the life, we learn where her love for set design came from and how it’s led to working on such vast projects as Star Wars: The Force AwakensThe Woman in Black and 7 Days in Entebbe. So let Stella Fox take you behind the silver screen…

The set of 'Dracula' (2013-2014) via Universal.

Do you remember a moment when you knew this was what you wanted to do?

Design and decoration have been constants in my life from a very early age. I grew up in a very creative household and as a child I spent hours and entire summers building intricate dens, treehouses and theatre sets in the garden. This later translated into a love of film and photography, as composition, frame and tone have always come naturally to me. I will always remember the first time I completed a set and the emotions I felt. Regardless of the stress, exhaustion and at times complete madness that had taken to get to that point, it was the best feeling I’d ever had.

How do you start your vision for film sets?

Before we start shooting I am given a period of planning, prepping and researching. These are precious days. Whilst reading the script I immediately visualise the various worlds and sets within each storyline. At this stage the dialogue is secondary. I create mood boards for each set, collated from various reference images. I have a broad collection of photography, interior design and architecture reference books from every era. Inspiration also comes by trawling through fabric and wallpaper archives in the V&A, and I generally try to watch at least one relevant film a day. These mood boards are ever changing and evolving as ideas progress. The director’s vision of the overall film is also reflected in these, and I work closely with costume, hair and make-up in order to ensure the design of each set is fluid across all departments. Pre-production is also a key sourcing and buying time. My team and I visit hire houses, auctions, antiques markets and fairs – both throughout the country and internationally – to source items for the sets. From furniture, lighting, floor coverings, books, art and collectables, every element is carefully selected to fit within the style, era, genre and vision for the film.

The set of '7 Days in Entebbe' (2018) via Entertainment One.

Talk us through a day in the life on set with you…

No two days are the same, which is one of the things I really love about the job. My day starts painfully early, during shooting I am usually on set from 6am. In set decoration we are always one step ahead of the shooting crew, so whilst they’re filming I’ll be dressing the next set. Depending on the scale of the design this can take anything from a day (if working in U.K locations) or weeks if it’s a build within a studio. There is a heavy dose of unpredictability: schedules are constantly changing due to anything from disappearing actors (not sure I’m allowed to tell that tale) to the weather (I once spent a week dressing a vast market town set in 1914 only to arrive the next morning to see the entire set had blown away in a freak sand storm over night). When I was working on location in the desert in Abu Dhabi, I started each day beating the set with sticks to scare off hiding snakes and scorpions; after a few days this simply became the norm. In Azerbaijan we embraced frontier film-making; a day in the life on set included everything from goat wrangling to run away camels, landslides to snow storms. You have to learn to live life on the hoof and to embrace the mayhem.

The set of 'Trust' (2018) via FX.

If you could turn any book into a film for you to set design, what would you choose?

Great question. Every time I read a book I can’t help but imagine what the film version would look like. I recently read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novella ‘The Diamond as big as the Ritz’, which would be a dream to design. Set in the 1920s, the story is full of exaggerated descriptions and over-the-top characters. ‘All about him, lining the walls of the room and the sides and bottom of the bath itself, was a blue aquarium, and gazing through the crystal surface on which he sat, he could see fish swimming among amber lights and even gliding without curiosity past his outstretched toes, which were separated from them only by the thickness of the crystal. From overhead, sunlight came down through sea−green glass.’ I can relate to creating this lavish style of sets and the decadence of that era from my days working on ‘The Halcyon’. When working on this eight-part drama for ITV, we built a vast Art Deco hotel in a studio, sourcing and designing everything from silk walls to hand-painted marble columns and bespoke printed carpet.

If you could pick a set design of the past, of someone else’s, to have made yourself, what would you choose?

I would love to have worked on an other-worldly fairy tale such as ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ or ‘The Shape of Water’. When working on a biopic like ‘Judy’ following the life of Judy Garland or ‘Trust’ about the Getty family, a heavy portion of my time is spent researching the characters’ history so artistic license can be limited. It is more demanding visually to undertake a fictional story where the world is a blank canvas and anything is possible. I got a taste for this on ‘The Force Awakens’, where of course we had the original trilogy to reference, but the sets we were bringing to life were open to endless creative exploration. Trying to source props and furniture that fulfilled the brief but didn’t look ‘Earth-like’ was always a challenge.

The set of '7 Days in Entebbe' (2018) via Entertainment One.

What has been your greatest achievement in your career so far?

I have many moments I am very proud of. I was thrilled to be part of the TV BAFTA – award-winning production design team on ‘Misfits’ and the winner of a British Film Designers Guild award for contemporary comedy feature ‘Mindhorn’. Working with the critically acclaimed and multi-award-winner Danny Boyle on ‘Trust’ was also definitely a career highlight. Over time I have secured a team around me who are not only incredibly talented but have also become close friends. While shooting we often spend more time together than with our own families. Knowing I have a team around me who are keen to move from project to project together is far more rewarding than any awards.

Who would you really love to work with?

I have been fortunate enough to work alongside some of the worlds leading Production Designers, such as Kave Quinn, celebrated for her work on ‘Trainspotting’. Also Oscar-nominated Rick Carter on ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’. I was incredibly lucky to work closely with Janet Patterson on ‘Bright Star’. Janet was a formidable woman who designed not only the sets but also did an impeccable job of the costume design; she really was an inspirational force to work with. There are many prestigious designers in the industry so it’s hard to choose. I very much admire the work of both Maria Djurkovic ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ and Sarah Greenwood ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘Anna Karenina’. ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ is a classic film favourite of mine. Having grown up surrounded by the lush green Devon countryside, I would embrace the adventure of conjuring up an American Western; from the South West to the Wild West.

The set of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' via LucasFilm.

Tell us about your work on Behind the Screen with Grey Goose…

I was delighted to be asked to speak as part of the Behind The Screen series, a fantastic event held at Somerset House with Grey Goose as part of Film4 Summer Screen 2018. The behind-the-scenes interview attracted a broad range of people, both those interested in joining the film industry and those intrigued by the craft of film-making. The questions reminded me how it’s easy for the daily creative bedlam to become the norm and how the challenges of a previous film can become the witty anecdotes of the future.

What’s next for you?

I am thrilled to be working with Sundance film festival winner Sean Durkin on The Nest, starring Jude Law and Carrie Coon. Durkin’s first film Martha Mary May Marlene with Elizabeth Olson has always stayed with me, so it’s exciting to be a part of his next project. The Nest is a psychological thriller set during the late 1980s. The project runs until early November. In general, it’s an exciting time in the film industry – more diverse films are being made and with the growth of streaming services, increasingly there are new players in the market making and releasing films. I’m incredibly focused on doing the best work I possibly can, working on films and with teams that I believe in and films that are transformative that have a voice and say something.

Check out Stella Fox’s work online here

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Kitty Robson
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'Trust' via FX