Olivia Wilde’s new movie Don’t Worry Darling has been attracting attention not only for its high profile cast (including Harry Styles, Florence Pugh and Chris Pine) but also because of its dreamy locations and stunning mid-century film sets. Basically, we’re talking nothing short of mid-century design porn here.
Housewife Alice (Florence Pugh) and husband Jack (Harry Styles) live in a 1950s housing development, a utopian company town called The Victory Project. Together with their neighbours they share seemingly happy lives living in idyllic suburban houses.
Jack works at the Victory Project HQ which he and his fellow co-workers drive off to in their candy coloured cars with synchronized precision every morning, whilst their wives wave them off from their neatly manicured front lawns.
The men all work in top-secret jobs headed by the Project’s enigmatic creator Frank (Chris Pine).
The women clean their houses, go to ballet classes taught by Frank’s stern wife, prepare meals, host cocktail-fuelled dinner parties and confirm to the old-fashioned gender roles expected of them by the Project.
However, Alice soon begins to worry that her husband’s glamorous company could be hiding disturbing secrets, and life behind the gleaming facade of the mid-century dream begin to unravel.
Shot in the mid-century design mecca that is Palm Springs, California, Don’t Worry Darling‘s production designer Katie Byron took inspiration from the rich architecture and interior design of the region which includes buildings by mid-century heavy weights like Albert Frey and Richard Neutra. Canyon View Estates designed by William Krisel is the Palm Springs neighbourhood where much of the filming took place.
The result is a story set against a backdrop of jaw dropping mid-century houses, furniture and bright colours. You will be wowed by all the butterfly roofs, clean architectural lines, poolside views, smoked glass, split-level open-plan spaces and acres of teak, together with beautiful furniture furniture that was custom made for filming.
It isn’t a true period piece however. Items from the ‘60s and ‘70s are also incorporated among the 1950s decor. This serves to subtly invoke the feeling that something isn’t quite right: “The world build should be accurate enough to fool the viewer into thinking that it’s a true 1950s depiction, but in actuality, Frank’s world build of Victory would be made according to his own rules,” Byron told House Beautiful. “We didn’t necessarily see him as an absolutist in terms of period accuracy but someone who really felt confident that his taste was superior to others.”