Unless you're mired in the billionaire sociopaths of Succession, any living space says something about the people who live there. But for production designer Jade Healy, creating the interiors for director and star Olivia Wilde's latest film, The Invitation, required a deep dive into the characters' psychology. "I kind of became Angela [Wilde], designing and decorating this apartment," Healy told IndieWire of the pre-war San Francisco apartment that serves as the central setting for Wilde's charming sex comedy.
Created entirely on set and inspired by a trip to San Francisco and hours spent poring over vintage apartment listings on Zillow, the apartment shared by Angela, an artist who gave up her career to become a stay-at-home mom, and her husband, Joe (Seth Rogen), a former punk musician turned burned-out music teacher, reveals aspects of the characters' internal and external turmoil. Healy's sets don't just feel grand or exude a certain crumbling millennial comfort; they're a direct look at the current (fractured) state of Angela and Joe's marriage.
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This is largely due to the fact that Angela has poured so much of her untapped creative energy into the apartment. We meet the couple on a hectic Friday evening, just as they, after months of renovations, have opened their home to the seductive couple upstairs—Pina (Penelope Cruz), a psychotherapist, and Hawk (Edward Norton), a firefighter—for an impromptu dinner party. Angela clings tightly to her vast (for San Francisco) vintage kingdom, which may be damaging her relationship, and perhaps even herself. Healy wanted to visually convey this tension.
«"It was really interesting to think, 'Who is she? What did it look like before? What does she constantly redesign in her home? Pillows, curtains?'" Healy mused. Most of the items in the house were carefully chosen by Angela, all on a single-income budget. This prompted Healy to seek inspiration from places like Instagram, where everyday women share their maximalist interior design projects, rather than traditional interior design magazines. "I was more interested in people who design with a personal touch," Healy said.
These carefully curated home items, like the vintage toilet, were found on Facebook Marketplace. "When we were decorating, it was important," Healy said, "that everything was affordable." Healy imagined Facebook Marketplace would be the place Angela would search for the perfect lamp or the perfect throw pillow. "She goes to flea markets and sews curtains," Healy said.
This characterization logic is important for the production designer, because Healy works not only to evoke emotion in the audience but also in the actor playing the role. "The actor sees the entire room," Healy said. "It has to reflect the story we're telling so the actor can fully immerse themselves in that space. It's the last piece of information you give actors about their characters when they come on set.".
But while much of the apartment is magically enhanced by Angela's personal touch, two rooms remain in limbo. First, there's Joe's office, where all his music—and unfulfilled dreams—are crammed into a tiny, cramped space. And second, there's their bedroom, where, as Healy puts it, "no magic happens.".
The only minimalist room in the apartment, with paint samples hanging on one wall, the bedroom, Healy envisioned, was a place where Angela spent little time, as her and Joe's intimate life was practically nonexistent. "I just wanted it to feel like when you walked into the bedroom, she'd worked on every other aspect of the apartment, and the bedroom itself felt kind of boring," Healy said. It became the only room in the apartment with white space because, as Healy put it, "a wall with nothing on it says something.".
In addition to meticulous attention to detail in the set design, Healy also worked closely with Wilde on the set layout. "We discussed how important it was that the film never feel confined to this apartment," Healy said. "We wanted it to feel like we were in many different places." This included abandoning the original idea of an open-plan kitchen and living room. This change from the script further heightened the sense of separation between Angela and Joe once filming began.
As Healy worked on each room, she envisioned how cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra would use the space. "I really wanted shots within shots," Healy said, "because I knew it would allow him to separate the characters and move from one room to another, separating Joe and Angela with doorways, separating them with rooms, and even using reflections in mirrors.".
Healy was amazed to watch Newport-Berra, who recently won an Emmy for his work on "The Studio," on set as he found new angles to capture the couple's emotional breakdown. "I think I'm pretty smart," Healy said. "I was thinking about all the angles, but I was still like, 'What is this shot?' He's so talented. He has such an intuitive understanding of how shots reveal characters.".
The Invitation was shot chronologically over 23 days, and Healy told IndieWire that Wilde fought hard to shoot the film on 35mm, adding, "I think the relationship between the sets and the film is something that's not discussed enough." When shooting on film, she said, "you're trying to make everything feel real," and film lends a lived-in feel to the sets that's rarely achieved with digital.
Although Healy has worked on dozens of films, she has collaborated with only a handful of female directors. Healy said it was a pleasure working with Wilde, adding, "She was so confident. She could be Angela first and then put on her director's hat. She knew exactly what she wanted; she knew exactly what she was doing." Collaborating with Wilde was "a truly beautiful reflection of their vision," Healy said.
Healy hopes that after she unveils her lookbook and model, any director will be able to "devote their time and energy to putting together a shot list and rehearsing with actors, rather than worrying about sets. That's what I always want to achieve," Healy said.
The Invitation opens in limited release on June 26th and in wide release on July 10th.