Designed for Drama

Designs on Film: A Century of Hollywood Art Direction, by Cathy Whitlock;

The gorgeous Powderham Castle from The Remains of the Day (1993) was filmed on location at the expansive Darlington Hall in England. Production design by Luciana Arrighi.

 
Art director Cedric Gibbons used strong, geometric accents to achieve the Art Deco look of Our Dancing Daughters (1928).
 
 

 
For 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, production designer Jess Gonchor created a minimal-chic office space with just a touch of feminine style—the perfect lair for powerhouse editrix Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep).
 

Production designer Doug Kraner built an ultramodern beach house from the ground up for Sleeping with the Enemy (1991).

A luxe 12-room Upper East Side apartment by production designer Mark Ricker is the pristine setting for The Nanny Diaries (2007).

Production designer Mark Friedberg channeled retro ’50s style for this suburban den in 2002’s Far from Heaven.

Art director Cedric Gibbons chose a glam, all-white look for 1936’s The Night Is Young.
 

In Nancy Meyer’s It’s Complicated (2009), production designer Jon Hutman created a relaxed kitchen and dining area for a Spanish-style Santa Barbara home.

A Perfect Murder (1998) takes place in an eclectic, contemporary Fifth Avenue apartment created by production designer Philip Rosenberg and set decorator Debra Schutt.

Production designer Andrew Laws looked to the ’60s for 2000’s Down with Love, with midcentury-style baby-pink chairs and white shag carpeting.