By Raymond Matthews
Emmy-award winning production designer Michael Bricker recently described to a UC Santa Barbara audience how he gave an “Alice in Wonderland like feel” to the Netflix series Russian Doll, by using props, set design and cinematography.
The presentation was a part of the Carsey Wolf Center’s “Special Effects” series, which examines the role of computer-generated effects, practical effects, and set design in shaping film and media. Bricker also worked on the HBO original film O.G. and the USA network’s original series Dare Me. His Emmy was for Russian Doll.
In it, the protagonist Nadia – played by actress Natasha Lyonne of Orange is the New Black – is caught in a cycle of dying and reliving the same 24-hour period on a constant loop. Each time Lyonne’s character restarts the loop, she enters a dreamlike apartment that Bricker deliberately designed to look as “magical” as possible, the production designer said.
“In reading that pilot, there were subtle references that helped serve as a visual anchor, and to me at the beginning of the show it felt like Natasha Lyonne’s character, the protagonist, was entering Wonderland. I like to think my pitch helped them build some of the mythology of the show,” he said.
Bricker’s set design plays a key role in the actual plot of the show, as each time the character comes back to life, elements of the sets around her change, including pieces of furniture, artwork, and various other props. These changes are meant to let the audience know that the world around her is “glitching” as a result of the death and rebirth cycle she finds herself in.
Bricker said production design is usually “subversive and subtle” in order to pull people into the show, but in this case it was designed to be obvious to give the audience key insights into plot.
“We wanted there to be some Easter eggs visually that cue you into certain aspects of the story, which cues the viewer into the design aspects of the show,” he said.
Bricker has a lot of experience as a production designer but Russian Doll was one of his first TV projects. He said that he learned a lot about the creative process that goes into television from from Natasha Lyonne, who starred in and co-created the show.
“What I learned on this job from Natasha was when to let it go and break the rules of design, which in the end I think gives the show a magical feel,” he explained.
Raymond Matthews is a third year Political Science major at UC Santa Barbara. He is a Web and Social Media Intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.