In Conversation: Sammi Wallschlaeger
by Brooklyn Enriquez
@brooklynenriqzfilm
Photo by Zander Fieschko
Films allow us to live other lives, time travel, or go to new worlds entirely. And thanks to the creative minds of the art department, we are able to escape to those amazing worlds they create for us for a couple of hours.
I recently had the chance to speak with production designer and art director, Sammi Wallschlaeger, to discuss her journey and career, including her most recent work as art director on A24’s Iron Claw (2023) starring Zac Efron which follows the true and tragic story of the historic wrestling family, the Von Erichs, in 1980s America. Some of her other incredible work includes Impeachment: American Crime Story (art direction), National Treasure (art direction), and Twenties (production designer).
Hi Sammi, I’m very excited to speak with you today about your work! As a jumping off point and to get a bit of an understanding, what are the roles and responsibilities of an art director and production designer?
The production designer specifically works very closely with the director and the cinematographer to create the whole look of the film. So coming up with colour stories and thematic elements, motifs. That’s all a part of that trifecta of creatives. Generally it starts with the script. Of course, some scripts are more descriptive than others about locations and environments within the story. Personally, I love a really descriptive script. I think it's fun to be able to see something clearly in my head before designing it, but then there’s something to be said too with having complete freedom.
But yeah, it all starts as like a big overall concept. Sometimes it’s dependent on a theme in the story. There’s something in the script that stands out and becomes a thematic choice, whether it’s something with gender that brings colour into it, or it’s something to do with emotional changes. And obviously if it’s a period film there’s a lot of influences on what the sets look like.
You said that some scripts are more descriptive than others, and you like that. Was that how it was for Iron Claw because that’s based off of reality? It’s set in the 1980s, was it very specific in the way it was supposed to look, and how did you go about that
Yeah, there was a lot of footage because wrestling was so huge in the 80s and there was tons of footage of the Sportatorium, which we built pretty much from scratch.
Looking at it, you wouldn’t think it was even a set.
It just looks like an arena, but it was built from the ground up.
We demoed an existing place and built it.
Then there were a few photos of the father figure’s office and those photos gave so much of a hint as to what kind of person he was and what his aesthetic was, I guess you might say.
We didn't have any footage or photos of the Von Erich house.
We only had some photos of the exterior but we used a lot of other references from places in Texas, their hobbies, and what their interests were.
There was a big emphasis on hunting and music of the time. And the fact that the boys had all grown up there completely.
So it was not just who they are right now, but who they've been since they were kids.
And we had some sharing rooms, so it was fun to kind of have this brother’s area of the room and that brother's area of the room. And it was cool for the house.
We got so lucky because there was an estate sale of this house that had been basically untouched since like 1985 or something, because the people who had lived there were in an old folks home.
And so they just had someone cleaning it every week or every couple weeks or whatever.
And so it was like this weird time capsule of a house.
I love period pieces. I feel like it'd be fun to be on set and feel like you're existing within a different time… it seems like a really immersive environment.
Yeah, like a crazy time warp.
Especially once the actors come in with all their costumes and everything and their hair and makeup is done. And you're like, where am I?
I time travelled!
Iron Claw came out in 2023, how long of a pre-production process did you get for that…designing the sets and then actually having to build them?
That film in particular was A24… their content is great but their budgets are not the best, hahaha. So they pack a lot into a short amount of time. I think we had four weeks of prep and then for the Sportatorium we didn't shoot it right away, so we had about six weeks to get that thing designed and built.
I did not think it was gonna happen. Literally the morning of shooting, the construction guys were still screwing in the backs on the seats and the benches and stuff. It was not finished until the camera started rolling! So yeah, there’s a really quick turn around.
TV usually has longer productions just because there’s so many episodes and everything. Once shooting starts, you’re always in production and pre-production because you’re preparing for the next episode. You’re lucky if they have a few scripts in advance, and occasionally you’ll get a wild show where they have the whole season or series mapped out where you know what you’re getting into.
What was it like for American Crime Story?
That one, they had it mapped out to a point. So it was like up to episode 6 scripted, but I think there were 11 episodes. It went from full scripts to us constantly asking for them. We knew we had to build the office for the Independent Council, but without script pages we don’t know how many offices or the action that happens… within a set there are so many smaller sets that we can’t know without the script. Yeah, that was one of the hardest shows I’ve ever had to work on because so much was up in the air.
But I learned a lot. It was really fun. It was a good show and those Ryan Murphy shows have so much money that you have the freedom to use any material you imagine and it makes these really pristine, gorgeous sets. I had never used real marble on set before. So that was really fun.
The “Ritz Carlton Hotel” for Impeachment: American Crime Story
Production design and art direction is a very niche thing to have an interest in, so how did you discover your passion for that side of film? Where’d it all start?
Well I’ve always been into drawing and art. And then I also love theatre. I’m a big theatre kid at heart. When I was in high school I took several random Saturday art classes and one of them was called Environmental Design. We had this assignment to design a very limited space, it was like a 15 by 15 space, and we could do anything we wanted to it. We built models, did mood boards, and all that and I just thought oh…this is the most fun I’ve had in a class ever. It made me so happy and I was like okay, I want to know more about design.
So I ended up going to college for interior design at Cal State Northridge. I didn’t love the program and I found myself going back to the theatre department… Simultaneously, I started dating this guy who was a film student. He was a cinematographer and he introduced me to a lot of films. I’ve always liked film, but I had never thought about film in an artistic way. He showed me some French films and Chinese films that I just completely fell in love with. I was like oh okay…maybe I want to start thinking about getting into film over theatre.
My senior year of college I got an internship with these production designers. One of them told me that if I really want to do this, if I want to pursue production design, that I should go to film school. So I went to the American Film Institute and loved it!
And in the year between college and AFI I got a low level position on The Tonight Show which was in LA at the time. I really learned so much on that job. They were trying to make the show really new and fresh and hip to get to a new demographic, so they were doing all these sketches that had really big, elaborate sets, which is why they needed an extra person in the art department. So all of a sudden I was on my first job, in charge because there were not enough people to handle all of these sets! I learned so much about that whole thing and how much a set costs, although it's gone way up since then.
Then AFI really solidified it for me. I really loved film school. And if it’s anything like my experience, you'll be working with these people forever. Like I still am.
It’s really a path that feels like the only thing I could do, you know. I don’t know how to do anything else, I’m not good at anything else. I just can’t picture myself doing anything else and that’s where I am.
And that’s when you know it’s the right thing for you.
Yeah, exactly.
Looking forward, is there a big goal that you’re working towards or someone that you really want to work with?
Wes Anderson is definitely up there. I would kill to work on one of those films. Aesthetically they’re such a dream. I also want to production design more, I haven’t done enough of it yet. I definitely feel that the trajectory is being the top designer. I’m a very conceptual person. Have you seen Poor Things? That’s like the dream.
Oh yeah! I remember watching that and thinking… I can’t believe something like this exists, there’s no way this is real!
That’s what I said! I mean, it’s just like everything I’ve ever wanted to do. That fantastical realism, using miniatures, real backlot builds, real backdrops, scenic painting. They have everything, it’s everything. It’s just a film like….nothing is made like that anymore.
So your design aesthetic that you want to make is very whimsical and dreamy?
Yeah, like realistic with a twist is what I would say. And I’m like, it’s a film, it’s not real. We live in reality so I don’t need reality!
Thank you so much for chatting with me! I’ve really enjoyed it and I very much look forward to seeing your work in the future!
To see more of Sammi’s work and keep up with her latest projects, check out her website here.
