Taking a page from films like Le Mépris, Blue is the Warmest Color and A Marriage Story, the new film, Malcolm & Marie examines the relationship between its lead characters in a single-location during a single night. Shot at the Caterpillar House in Carmel, California, the film explores a multitude of architectural concepts, questions and ideas. Its Production Design, Set Decoration and Art Direction are all masterful and the film is easily one of the best recent cinematic examples of domestic architecture.

In an exclusive interview with Interiors, we spoke with Michael Grasley, who is the Production Designer for Malcolm & Marie.

INT: You've collaborated with director Sam Levinson in the past. How did this film come about and what were your early conversations with him about?

MG: It started with Zendaya and Sam (Levinson). Euphoria was about to start shooting season two and then things got shut down because of the pandemic. When you are preparing for a shoot like that you sort of build up a lot of momentum which made the shut down especially frustrating. They just decided between themselves to go for it and figure out a way to do something different and to do it safely. Once they settled on a couple having an existential relationship moment, all the details had to be built to support that conceit. For instance, we needed a location that made enough of a design statement to feel like a really cool house that a studio would rent for an actor or director. Basically, a designer Airbnb type location. In Los Angeles, that usually means a mid-century kind of thing or something more contemporary that takes it cues from the legacy of California mid-century architecture. An Airbnb type house also serves as a “stage” because it is a neutral playing field for the battle that unfolds. This also gave the actors complete freedom to define their characters as they shot the film instead of being partly defined beforehand by the personal objects dressed in by the art department as if it were their actual home.

INT: The house, which is known as the Caterpillar House in Carmel, California, plays such a big role in the film. Was there a certain type of house or space that you had in mind for this? What was the process like finding this house?

MG: We were searching for a house that could feel like it could plausible be in the Hollywood Hills or Topanga, etc. Carmel became the focus because it was in the one county in California that allowed filming as long as you limited the scope of your shoot to the property itself. This made it a lot simpler from a production standpoint and it was our starting point as far as where we wanted to look.

INT: At the beginning of the film, there is an incredible 6-minute sequence where the camera moves along the outside of the house as Malcolm (John David Washington) and Marie (Zendaya) are having a discussion across multiple spaces. The architecture of this house lent itself for that scene because of its floor plan and materials. Were there other instances where the architecture of the space enhanced a particular sequence?

MG: The architects designed the house to feature the amazing views. The living room space was arranged in such a way as to sit and look at the hillside and the master bedroom had a huge built in cabinet that served as a headboard so you could lay in bed and look out. Our film takes place at night, so the view out was actually secondary to eyelines between the actors. We arranged the living room set-up to engage with the kitchen island. We also dismantled and removed a huge cabinet dividing wall in the bedroom to make it larger to accommodate a king bed and we flipped the bed placement to be on axis with the door. That way Malcolm could stand in the doorway and talk with Marie as she sat in bed and the whole shot had a beautiful symmetry to it in both directions. That is a shot arrangement that is featured in the trailer I believe. Malcolm & Marie could easily be a two-hander play for the stage. In that way, we wanted to have a house that had a layout that allowed for more than one look without being so complicated that you couldn’t understand the flow of the spaces easily. It becomes a kind of emotional boxing ring and we wanted to make sure the space kept these two characters within reach of each other. It is a drama with no escape.

INT: Did the fact that the film is in black and white play a role in your process? If so, how?

MG: The house is built using a construction technique called rammed earth which uses the same soils as the surrounding hills. It is a very elegant approach in that the walls have a natural color to them and an immediate visual connection to the hillside. It just feels like a part of the geography. The overall palette of the materials is consequently very narrow and monochromatic. When the limited color is removed via Black and White film, the result is kind of a giant gray lump of medium gray. We decided to use that to our advantage by choosing strong patterns that would add a lot of contrast to the spaces; for instance, a bold Navajo print or using white and black shapes and tones. The texture of pieces was also very important since texture photographs so beautifully in black and white film. It is really your only tool to keep everything from being defined by their form. These textures imbue the interiors with a coziness that offsets what could easily become a cold black and white film aesthetic. Kate English (Set Decorator) and Keara Birmingham (Assistant Art Director) sourced a lot of the small items and the hero props in Los Angeles. All of the furniture came from Joe Kunis at Bay Home Consignment. Renting all the large pieces from Joe was critical because production needed to limit the use of trucks and drivers as part of our Covid Protocol. Joe was able to connect me to his delivery team and so they loaded up everything I had tagged for the show and placed it inside the garage of the house the morning before we started the transformation. The garage was basically a vintage furniture bin that we pulled items out of and then subsequently filled with all of the homeowners' personal items. Thankfully we didn’t need to shoot in the garage because it was packed to the gills!

Michael Grasley is a Production Designer and has worked on various Films, Television Shows and Commercials.