‘Saturday Night Live’ Set Design Team Talks Mastering the Time Crunch — and Leaving Room for Last-Minute Changes

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood, prosthetic makeup artist Barrie Gower, and composers Hans Zimmer, Nicholas Britell and Danny Elfman were among the industry heavyweights who landed Creative Arts Emmy nominations on Wednesday morning. Four-time Oscar winner Atwood landed her second Emmy nomination in the outstanding contemporary costumes for Tim Burton’s “Wednesday.” Speaking about her work on the show and about recreating the icon Morticia Addams’ costumes, Atwood said, “We reinvented look with this silver fabric on the side, which was bonded to the black, twisted and sewn over. The dress had a more contemporary shape to it. I think we honored the previous versions of Morticia that had come before.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This story includes plot details for “Joy Ride,” now playing in theaters. Director Adele Lim made sure there were intimacy coordinators on set for one of the raunchiest scenes in “Joy Ride” — when Stephanie Hsu‘s character Kat reveals a massive genital tattoo of a devil. “Joy Ride,” the new raunchy R-rated comedy, stars Ashley Park as Audrey, a high-powered attorney who travels to China on business. Joining her on the trip are friends Lolo (Sherry Cola) and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu). Hsu plays Audrey’s college friend, Kat, who is now a Chinese soap opera star. The four find themselves in various wild scenarios that include drugs, sex and basketball star Baron Davis.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Apple TV+ is bringing Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington back to the screen in a new four-part documentary “The Super Models.” The documentary from Imagine Documentaries and One Story Up is directed by Academy Award-winner Roger Ross Williams and Larissa Bills. The series follows the legends of the catwalk as they reveal how they began their careers and ended up dominating the modeling world. Archival footage and interviews provide unprecedented access. As the logline for the series reads, “‘The Supermodels’ travels back to the 1980s, when four women from different corners of the world united in New York. Already forces in their own right, the gravitas they achieved by coming together transcended the industry itself. Their prestige was so extraordinary that it enabled the four to supersede the brands they showcased, making the names Naomi, Cindy, Linda and Christy as prominent as the designers who styled them. Today, the four supermodels remain on the frontlines of culture through activism, philanthropy and business prowess. As the fashion industry continues to redefine itself – and women’s roles within it – this is the ultimate story of power and how four women came together to claim it, paving the way for those to follow.”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Before “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” even opened, the Disney adventure tentpole sparked intrigue with a de-aged Harrison Ford, who, in his fifth film playing the whip-cracking archaeologist, is now 80 years old. The shots of a young Ford look impressive, and it’s thanks to the team of over 100 artists at Industrial Light and Magic, who spent three years on the film’s visual effects, which also included enhancing and developing their existing de-aging technology to create ILM FaceSwap. Photorealism de-aging was nothing new to the team. After all, technology such as Flux existed and had been used on films such as “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Irishman.”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor It took over 555 musicians with sessions around Europe — including in Rome, Vienna, Venice, Switzerland and London — to put together the score for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” composer Lorne Balfe tells Variety. The composer started writing the music almost three years ago, and “at last count, there was over 14 hours of music recorded,” Balfe says. However, only two-and-a-half hours or so made it into the final cut of the film. The storyline sees Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt take on a new villain, The Entity, a sentient Artificial Intelligence. Ethan’s mission is to defeat The Entity with a metal key. And while the film features an array of mind-blowing stunts, including Ethan driving a motorcycle off a cliff or a climatic fight atop a moving steam engine train, there was also plenty of emotion for Balfe to root his score in.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor IATSE has announced its core principles for the application of AI technologies in the entertainment industry. In a statement, IATSE, a labor union which represents over 160,000 technicians, artisans and craftspersons in the entertainment industry, said, “Our approach as a union must be comprehensive, focused on research, collaboration, education, political and legislative advocacy, organizing, and collective bargaining.” The statement comes at a time when AI remains an important topic in SAG-AFTRA and WGA negotiations. The principles laid out for its members include a comprehensive approach encouraging the union and its members to “focus on research, collaboration, education, political and legislative advocacy, organizing, and collective bargaining” when AI and machine learning technology is involved.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” features some of the titular hero’s most loathsome enemies — the Nazis — and it was up to military adviser Paul Biddiss to train over 300 extras to ensure the film’s battle scenes looked authentic. This fifth installment of the franchise sees James Mangold direct Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones. The year is 1969, and this time, Nazi scientist Dr. Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) is on a mission to seek out the Dial of Destiny, which he believes will “correct” Hitler’s mistakes. Fact, fiction and fascists are set against the backdrop of the space race as Voller aims to go back in time and kill Hitler, take over the Third Reich and lead Germany to victory.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Start your engines and mark your calendars for July 28. “RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under” is back for a third season with 10 fierce and fabulous queens. RuPaul will be hosting the series with returning judges Michelle Visage and Rhys Nicholson. “Australasian drag is filled with heart and humor, and I’m thrilled to share my Season 3 queens to the world, for all to see their charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent,” RuPaul says. The 10 queens hail from across New Zealand and Australia. This season promises to be filled with thrills and maxi-challenges galore as the queens go head-to-head to snatch the crown.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor When stunt coordinators Tim Connolly and Hank Kingi Jr. first read the script for the pilot of FX’s “The Old Man,” they thought its central chase sequence was one of the best-written scenes in TV. Then, their minds flooded with “a ton of concerns.” Speaking with Variety as Emmy voting comes to a close, Connolly says their challenge was: “How do you pull such a significant scene off with an actor that is 70 years old, and make it feel real and visceral?” So Jeff Bridges prepared for the scene for over a month. In the series, he plays Dan, a rogue CIA operative on the run after being discovered by the FBI. The pilot climaxes with Dan trying to outrun a tail. He seemingly disappears, but before the agents can react, he comes out of nowhere and crashes his car, staving off any fightback from the FBI agents chasing after him.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor As Emmy voting comes to a close, score mixer Phil McGowan could find himself with multiple nominations, having worked on the sound of Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Picard,” Netflix’s “Cobra Kai” and “Ozark,” and Roku’s “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.” He spoke with Variety about his approach to each project and what needed to be taken into consideration to preserve the sonic integrity in his mixes. “This season was bigger and more maximal than previous seasons, but there wasn’t a big sonic shift. However, each episode is like a movie. Composers Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson approach it like it’s another ‘Karate Kid’ film. There are guitars, a drum kit, drum machines and lots of percussion. They use a lot of samples that are reminiscent of the 1980s and ’90s. So, I have fun applying mixing techniques with reverb that blends ’80s hair metal and ’90s pop music along with big orchestral symphonic sounds on the show.”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor RuPaul’s go-to costume designer Zaldy Goco, who goes by Zaldy, has worked with the “Drag Race” superstar for over a decade and is no stranger to designing Ru’s show-stopping outfits. For RuPaul’s Season 15 finale look, Zaldy — whose trust with RuPaul runs so deep, they don’t even discuss finale looks prior to fittings — tells Variety he wanted it to feel “goddess-like and for Ru to float in.” Zaldy knew he wanted a unique color, so the three-time Emmy winner settled on a citrine and chartreuse combination that screamed springtime. For some extra sparkle, he added metallic fringe to the dress from Swiss fabric manufacturer Jakob Schlaepfer.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor REO Speedwagon’s “Time For Me To Fly” plays out in the very last scene of the final episode of ABC’s long-running sitcom “The Goldbergs.” The 1978 hit plays as the titular family gather together and imagine what the future will bring. Mojo co-founder and COO Peter Shane acquired REO Speedwagon’s publishing catalog in 2019, and because of longstanding relationships with both the band and “The Goldbergs” music supervisor Ann Kline, the process to clearing the song was a swift one. Having been in the business for over 25 years, Shane’s closest collaborations are with music supervisors. “We work with them at all stages,” he says. “The beginning, middle and end, when music is being considered for projects.”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “George & Tammy” costume designer Mitchell Travers’ approach to any project is to start with rock solid foundation. “You get asked a billion questions every day, and because I shoot moves so quickly, I love to have that ready,” he says. Travers reunited with Jessica Chastain (the two previously worked on “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”) for the intimate look at country singer Tammy Wynette. With a storyline that spanned three decades, Travers needed to know the answer to any costume questions thrown at him. “When Tammy needed a coat, in the script, it was about what coat did she grab? Was it short? Long? Fitted? Oversized? Embellished?”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Transforming Disney’s award-winning animated feature “Encanto” into a live experience at the Hollywood Bowl in front of an audience of 17,000 people was no easy feat, with factors such as the pandemic, limited access to the venue and unexpected weather conditions all in play. But the production team, cast and crew pulled it off in under 72 hours, delivering a Broadway-quality experience. Unlike a Broadway show, the original voice cast, scores of dancers and production team did not have the luxury of rehearsing at the Bowl. Gabe Turner, executive producer of the event, said, “We could only gain access to the Bowl for four days before we were due to welcome our dancers, orchestra and cast into the space.”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor National Geographic’s “A Small Light” takes the well known story of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who hid in a cramped Amsterdam attic with her family during the Nazi occupation, and presents it though a new lens. The narrative focuses on a tenacious young woman, Miep Gies (Bel Powley), Otto Frank’s secretary, who risked everything to save the Frank family and many others. While the story centers around the horrors of World War II, the story finds resilience and hope through it all. Here the artisans behind the limited series break down how their respective crafts reflect hope, resilience and the atrocities of war.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Composer Sherri Chung admits she was late to the “Gremlins” party — only because she was too young and found it too scary. But when she grew older and was reintroduced to the movie, she thought “it was the greatest thing ever.” The 1984 film, as well as Jerry Goldsmith’s score, became a key inspiration for her. So when she got the opportunity to score Max’s new animated series “Gremlins: Secret of the Mogwai,” directed by Tze Chun, she decided to “lean into the scary and the fear, but also the emotion” with her music. The series is an origin story that gives a partial explanation as to how Gizmo ends up in a Chinatown antique store at the beginning of 1984’s “Gremlins.” To add a Chinese element to the score, Chung used bamboo flutes, but the meat of the score came from the erhu, a two-stringed bowed musical instrument sometimes referred to as the “Chinese violin.”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor The story behind Pixar’s latest animated feature “Elemental” is a personal one to filmmaker Peter Sohn. The opening shows a family arriving at the fictional port of Elemental City, which closely reflected the immigration story of Sohn’s parents from Korea to New York. The story breathes life into the earth elements of fire, water, land and air, depicting them as residents of Elemental City. When Ember (Leah Lewis), a fiery young woman, meets go-with-the-flow water being Wade (Mamoudou Athie), they discover that, despite their conflicts, they have a lot in common. As the two fall in love, Ember is faced with the internal conflict of being with Wade or following in her parents’ footsteps and running the family business. As the son of first-generation immigrants, Ember’s struggle reflected not only Sohn’s personal experience, but that of many of the animators and storytellers behind the scenes.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Katori Hall’s “P-Valley,” a show about the female dancers at The Pynk, a popular strip club in Mississippi, uses music to shine a spotlight on southern female rappers and artists. In putting together the soundtrack for the series, music supervisors Sarah Bromberg and Stephanie Diaz-Matos turned to the show’s stars, J. Alphonse Nicholson and Loretta Devine, as well as Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion, to curate the anthems for Brandee Evans’ Mercedes, Elarica Johnson’s Autumn Night and Nicco Annan’s Uncle Clifford. Here, Bromberg and Diaz-Matos break down how they landed Beyoncé and other needle drops for the show’s second season.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Production designer Tamara Deverell was tasked with creating eight different periods and working with eight different directors for Netflix’s “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.” The anthology series required Deverell, 2020’s artisan award recipient for production design, to tap into her love for building gritty sets and build everything from a brutalist architecture room inspired by her work on “Star Trek: Discovery” to using an old warehouse for an alien autopsy. Here Deverell breaks down some of her favorite sets from the series. The first episode tells the story of Tim Blake Nelson as Nick Appleton, who purchases the titular Lot 36 from a recently deceased old man and discovers strange items such as a séance table and rare books. However, the Lot also holds dark demonic secrets

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “Fatal Attraction” production designer Nina Ruscio’s visual challenge was taking on an iconic movie, paying homage to it and finding a way to put her creative stamp on it by taking it into 2023. In the eight-part Paramount+ series, Joshua Jackson stars as Dan Gallagher with Lizzie Caplan as Alex Forrest, roles originated by Michael Douglas and Glenn Close in the original film. And while it’s not a remake, the creative team stressed, it’s an expanded adaptation that provides more insight into Alex’s behavior after an affair with a married man drives her to obsession. The series covers Alex’s struggles with her mental health, but it’s also an erotic thriller.