Over the last few decades, there have been countless television shows and films that follow an athlete that is trying to make it big in some way. However, the ones that tend to succeed and stand the test of the time are those that value authenticity. For Jeremiah Zagar, the Director of the Netflix film, Hustle, showcasing that realism was paramount. Whether it was using non-professional actors in the film or finding locations and sets all around Philadelphia, it all had to feel genuine. It was a tall task for Production Designer, Perry Andelin Blake, who handled it masterfully.

In an exclusive Interview with Interiors, we spoke with Perry Andelin Blake, who is the Production Designer for Hustle.

INT: You've had a long collaboration with Adam Sandler and have worked on many of his films. How did the opportunity to do this film, Hustle, come about? What was it about it that made you want to work on it?

PB: Yes, I have worked with Happy Madison for many years- actually from the beginning- on such movies as Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore through Click and now on to all the recent Netflix movies such as The Ridiculous 6 and Hustle. In the tradition of past times of history, Adam Sandler has been my benefactor allowing me to practice my chosen art form- production design. He has always been supportive of trying new ideas, exploring interesting new looks and most of all-creating the world that best tells the story we are portraying on film.

Hustle was a unique opportunity to look inside the life a hard working medium level NBA scout as he traveled around the world looking for that ‘unicorn’ of a basketball player. I love the ideas of being able to show his normal middle class life (in his home and surroundings) in the midst of the high flying world of the NBA.

INT: The city of Philadelphia plays a big role in the film and all of the locations feel extremely authentic. What was the process like finding these spaces and areas around the city and even abroad? Did certain locations change or evolve over time?

PB: It was very important for us to creative a warm comfortable home for he and his family that contrasted to the cold lonely world he experienced on the road. We used warm colors and soft comfortable furnishings to help make this point even more pronounced. Even the exterior of his house was a warm red lived in house in South Philly. (More about Philly later)

I was excited to show his travels around the world in small vignettes (mostly shot in Philly) and broader stroke scenes that we shot in Mallorca, Spain. Creating the the different hotel rooms, airplanes and airports was a challenge as we were only going on location to Spain. We used many locations in Philadelphia to simulate foreign countries as well as locations in Spain as other even more exotic places- like a snowy McDonalds in Serbia with a goat.

With Stanley’s house we really wanted it to feel authentic also to a cool blended modern family like theirs is. Both the parents lives are represented in artifacts around the house -Stanley being a basketball player in college and also Queen Latifah being a track star at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Because of the pandemic, we built the sets in one year and shot all of the scenes that had a small number of people in them at that time in 2020. The second year 2021, we did all the scenes with basketball players and all of the larger game scenes. That was something new that we had never done before.

INT: The 1-on-1 battles between Bo and Kermit are some of the most captivating and memorable sequences in the film. From a Production Design standpoint, what aspects are most important when trying to create the space and setting for such a high intensity scene?

PB: One of the most other important parts of the movie were obviously the basketball courts. We wanted there to be an arc to the courts that Bo Cruz played on from old gritty street courts in Spain to larger street courts in Philadelphia and finally to the larger and larger basketball courts in the city -as his notoriety became greater. Since Philadelphia is also an important college basketball town, there are many great basketball courts that we found throughout the city. The challenge was to find courts that looked different and also got larger and more ornate or technical as the scenes grew and became more important in the story. We also used color to differentiate the courts and also amp up the intensity of the importance of the scenes as we went along in our story.

We were also lucky to have the Philadelphia 76ers cooperation. That allowed us to use many of the real facilities of the 76ers such as their practice courts and headquarters in New Jersey as well as the 76ers arena in Philadelphia proper. That gave the authenticity that we had been looking for and really made the movie feel realistic and true. It wasn’t a fake. This, along with the many players, coaches, and other real basketball personalities gave the movie that authenticity that Jeremiah Zagar the director, Adam Sandler and myself were looking for as we created this story of adversity and finally redemption and triumph -for both Bo Cruz the player and Stanley Sugerman, the scout and ultimately an assistant coach. True to form for this movie, Stanley didn’t become the head coach and Bo Cruz didn’t end up on the 76ers but life still manages to reward those who have diligence and grit. Overall it was an incredible experience to work with so many extremely talented people in all their various fields of endeavor. What a pleasure.

Perry Andelin Blake is a Production Designer and has worked on various Films.