Creating the production design for a period piece film that also happens to be shot in black in white introduces two unique challenges. Not only is it important to represent the specific time period with historical accuracy but selecting the correct shades of gray for various objects and locations can be a difficult task. The Production Designer, Nora Mendis, was incredibly skillful at executing both things successfully in the new film, Passing (2021).

In an exclusive interview with Interiors, we spoke with Nora Mendis, who is the Production Designer for Passing. The photos and drawings are courtesy of Nora Mendis and Netflix.

INT: First off, we were curious how the opportunity to do the film, Passing, came about? What was it about it that made you want to work on it?

NM: I met with Rebecca Hall, (writer and director of Passing) at a cafe around the corner from her apartment in Brooklyn. From the very beginning, we connected and I knew she was the brilliant brain needed for this incredible book. I read the book “Passing” in college and took a college class on black literature and memory with the amazing Professor Christina Sharpe - (author of “In the Wake - on Blackness and Being” and “Monstrous Intimacies”) - and have been obsessed with the book ever since. I'm Black, I'm biracial, I'm light skinned -- all of these aspects of my personal identity also connected me to both the script and the book. My grandparents have stories of passing in my own family -- and my grandmother was raised in New York City - born in the 1920s -- (still going on daily walks at 96 years old!) and she remembers people passing - both as a way of life where family members literally disappeared into their white racially segregated lives and as a matter of convenience or even accident. From the very beginning, my design conversations with Rebecca were tied in with the film being in black and white. We had conversations about texture, pattern and shades of gray - and also about not shying away from bright bold choices both in terms of color and pattern. Geometric shapes and wild pattern was very stylish in the 20s. All of this was really exciting for me.

INT: The film, which depicts 1920s New York City, contains so many beautiful exterior locations and interior spaces. Additionally, Irene’s brownstone serves as an important space and so much of the film is shot there. What was the process like finding these locations and selecting the home? Was there a certain type of space that you had in mind for this?

NM: I spent tons of time considering every tiny aspect of the Redfield house because we spend a huge part of the film in that house with Irene (Tessa Thompson) and it’s a home that is in some ways invaded or permeated by Clare (Ruth Negga). The Redfield house is a signifier of upper middle class black culture at that time and its specific intersection with the Harlem Renaissance. We had to find a brownstone that was geographically in Harlem. I reworked almost every aspect of our location - rebuilt the kitchen to make it a period kitchen, wallpapered, painted and changed out the light fixtures. Brownstones are such beautiful testaments to craftsmanship and care that you feel that scaffolding in the film. It was also important to me that the Redfield house not have furniture from the 1920s except for a couple of items because their house would have been furnished with older furniture, either purchased by them 10 or 15 years earlier before their boys were born or passed down within their family. However some things felt new, such as the drapes behind the chair that Irene sits in over and over again - my set decorator, Paige Mitchell, and I spent an inordinate amount of time talking about window dressing and period curtain design.

The main hallway and stairwell of the Redfield house is painted a glossy fire engine red. We had a camera test where we looked at various colors and decided that the shade of gray that the bright saturated red was going to give us felt so rich. A lot of the film is in the repetition, the monotony and the break with monotony. The film is elegant because so much happens in that hallway, so much is happening as Irene walks down her same block over and over again. However I knew that as soon as we painted that hallway that bright color we were fully locked into black and white.

The wallpaper in the bedroom and in the sitting room both have metallic elements that really shine in the black and white which was an extremely considered design choice. Whenever I looked at anything, I only looked in black and white - My decorator, art director, propmaster - they would all send me pictures of objects or wallpaper or curtains or whatever using the black and white setting on the phone. It was funny sometimes because we were able to bend the historic accuracy a bit and use some pieces from the 1980s Art Deco obsession but then when I saw the item in person it would be in these crazy 80s colors (but it looked great in black and white!)

I did so much research on the historical accuracy and period but I did also make decisions that intentionally strayed from accuracy in favor of design that interacts with the emotional space of the film. Every non accurate bit of design was a choice, sometimes painful, but I think always in favor of the bigger picture.

INT: Towards the end of the film, there are events that take place that involve an architectural space and it feels so carefully thought-out. In terms of Production Design, what was the process like designing and choreographing this sequence? Did certain aspects evolve or change over time?

NM: Passing is set in New York and the city of today is just layered on top of the city of every other period. That 1920s New York - a major character in the film - is still here, Strivers Row, the same fire hydrants and a few lamposts scattered around the city - they're from 100 years ago. We looked for those beautiful flashes of the past and brought the locations into our film. The courtyard at the end of the film is Graham Court and in my research I found a photo of the same courtyard from 100 years ago. When we saw that eerie symmetry in real life, I couldn't believe my eyes. We added the snow and removed the air conditioners dangling from every window but the incredible tiled arch, the exterior lighting - these are all part of that beautiful building. The apartment for the interior is a match to the courtyard but we filmed the endless stairwell at the Brooklyn Historical Society. For the apartment - I was looking for a space where the geography was confusing - it's unclear where exactly the front door is, where the party is, where the bedrooms are - but there is still a clear path for the actors. My design of the windows was closely tied to the blocking of those final scenes. My amazing art director, Kristina Porter, built out the actual location with a false wall and the casement windows - we needed to build it seamlessly with the rest of the apartment. Felise's apartment was our chance to bring in some of that bohemian Harlem Renaissaince style. This is not a couple with a live-in maid or people who care about hiding their prohibition alcohol. The space is stylish and beautiful and fun -- until it's not.

Nora Mendis is a Production Designer and has worked on various Films, Television Shows and Commercials.