reviews [files] in shows.vtheatre.net/reckless/images
RECKLESS RECEPTIONIST, GAME SHOW ANNOUNCER, DERELICTS, Doctors and Film Crew: Brite Niesek -- Shawn Murphy -- Doctors Jeannine -- scenes in 321 class RACHEL -- Jess LLOYD -- Craig ROY -- Michael TRISH -- Linda TOM (Husband) and TOM (SON) -- Calvin Alden POOTY -- Kate WOMAN PATIENT ... RECKLESS IN CONNECTICUT _________________________________________________________________ Photo of Mia Farrow on Reckless set. Craig Lucas' play Reckless, a picaresque account of a gallingly innocent American woman's journey through a traumatic life, is such a stylized piece that its adaptation to film seems questionable. In so doing, director Norman Rene and production designer Andy Jackness chose to emphasize the story's artifice to create a wholly insulated world. In other words, the world of a studio. "Norman had a strong sense that the world [protagonist Rachel] perceived was through a child's eyes, that she was not able to perceive reality as you normally see it in a film," says Jackness. "We looked at images from older films where reality was presented through a theatrical imagery system films like It's a Wonderful Life and The Magnificent Ambersons, films that you really believe, but that are completely artificial and scenic in conception. We decided early on that it all had to be done in the studio, and that it all had to be scenery." Reckless, which stars Mia Farrow as Rachel and which The Samuel Goldwyn Company released in November, opens on a small town Christmas Eve scene which could be set inside a snow globe. "If you remember Christmases when you were a little kid, the colors were just that much more intense and saturated," says the designer. "That's what we were looking for, a sense of memory. Rachel's world is one that has become amplified by memory." The character's rosy perceptions are in sharp contrast to events. In the first sequence, for example, her husband reveals he has taken out a contract on her life. Rachel is forced to crawl out of their second story window in her nightgown, and escape across Jackness' studio fabricated snowy landscape. The studio was actually a huge, abandoned chicken wire factory in Danbury, CT. "Our location was determined by proximity to Mia Farrow," the designer explains. "You need a certain number of incentives for someone like that to do a film this size" meaning, low budget "and being at home with her kids was a major one. We were trying to be within 30 or 40 minutes of her house. This was perfect, because it housed all of the facilities that we needed to actually produce the film." Though the factory covered more than four acres, certain areas were off limits because of asbestos and chemical residue. "We ended up in an enormous storage area where we were able to set up each set with a couple of turnovers," says Jackness. Significant settings include the warm, enveloping house where Rachel finds a surrogate family in the form of Scott Glenn and Mary Louise Parker; the humanitarian agency where Rachel gets her first job, and which echoes an elementary school in its green walled design; a seaside trailer park; and a women's shelter where Rachel spends yet another devastating Christmas Eve. The film's final sequence, like its first, was shot in the upper bedroom of a picture perfect house. "The construction coordinator, Ken Nelson, devised a rather fantastic system for the roof to fly up and the walls to come off," says Jackness of this set. "Then we had platforms that rolled in [with cameras and lighting equipment], and it was all set up there on the second level. It was exciting to watch; it was like making an old movie in a studio." Cast of Reckless on the set. Jackness, who has designed extensively for theatre and opera, has a rapport with Rene born of three previous films Blue Window, Longtime Companion, and Prelude to a Kiss, all Lucas projects. "The biggest problem was the initial concept, and how to tone the world colorwise," the designer says of Reckless. "There's always a fear of going too far or not far enough. Norman pushed me to stronger colors usually." When acclaimed Blue Velvet DP Frederick Elmes came on board, the whole vision came together. "It's a designer's dream to be able to design a complete looking movie, rather than bouncing back and forth between locations," says Jackness, whose other two films were Ethan Frome and Golden Gate, both helmed by theatre director John Madden. Of course, the designer's next project, a Wall Street set Whoopi Goldberg comedy called The Associate, will be mostly shot on locations. But crucially, "it's very different than what I've done before." For one thing, director Donald Petrie is movie world through and through. John Calhoun Copyright ETEC, 1995. All rights reserved. Photos by John Seakwood.Film & TV Archives.[ more? ][ notes ]