COLUMN 1 : TOP TO BOTTOM Blocking a scene for Seven Psychopaths , Foreground L to R , Sandy , DP Ben Davis , Location Manager Robert Foulkes , Director Martin McDonagh , First AD Peter Kohn , 2011 , Palmdale , CA . Photo David Wasco
La La Land rehearsal for Freeway Dance Number . 2015 . Photo David Wasco
COLUMN 2 : TOP TO BOTTOM White model ’ for La La Land epilogue scene . 2014 . Photo by David Wasco
Set still , epilogue scene , La La Land , 2015 . Photo by Dale Robinette
COLUMN 3 : TOP TO BOTTOM David photographing material for a Flaunt Magazine article . Approximately 2001 . Photo Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
Sandy kneeling in the epilogue scene set for La La Land . 2014 . Photo by David Wasco
handle on what he was trying to do . Rushmore was his real breakthrough project , and it was fun working with Bill Murray the first time that he got to work with Wes . Every other movie we worked on with Wes was a great experience , and it was wonderful to work with Gene Hackman on The Royal Tenenbaums right after we had worked together on Heist with David Mamet .
Sherman : I also love the movie Seven Psychopaths , and I ’ m a big fan of the playwright Martin McDonagh . What was your experience like on the set of Seven Psychopaths ?
David : Sandy and I absolutely love Martin , and I am so proud of that movie . We had an amazing cast with Christopher Walken , Colin Farrell , Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell , and Martin was incredibly respectful and a pleasure to
work with . He entrusted us with the first movie that he did in America . We also worked with him on the location scouting for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing , Missouri , but I ultimately withdrew from my role as a production designer for that movie right before it started filming . Inbal Weinberg took over and did a fabulous job with the production design . Martin was incredibly nice to us throughout the whole process .
Sherman : Let ’ s talk about your Oscar- Winning work for La La Land . One of the challenges with a film like La La Land is that it has to integrate stylistic elements that are both current and retro . Can you tell me about the process that went into creating La La Land ’ s look ?
David : Damien Chazelle is very much a visual director . When I interviewed for the movie , Damien and I both brought
“ look books ,” which are hardcopy physical books that have images for reference . We had many of the same images in our look books , and we both thought that was very interesting . Damien really had an established vision going into the project . He set out to do a kind of off-kilter look at the city of L . A . He was a new transplant there , and he wanted to feature different elements of the city and highlight the architectural convergence of all these different styles living side by side . One day , he said , “ David , we ’ re going to do some practical location shooting , and we ’ re going to be building some sets . What I want to do is have the real locations look fake and make the sets look overly real .”
Sherman : Let ’ s talk about La La Land ’ s opening .
David : It all goes back to solving problems . When I first read the script , I
VTMAG . COM WINTER 2022 39