Kitchens have a starring role on Julia, Max's series about the iconic TV chef Julia Child.
The place where Child (played by Sarah Lancashire) made meals for audiences while also making herself famous in the process is a vital fixture of season two, which premieres November 16. "The idea of kitchens runs through the whole season," says Julia's production designer, Patrizia von Brandenstein. "In material like this, it's very important to match a person with the right environment. Because we have so many kitchens, we took a great deal of care."
Those cooking spaces include young producer Alice's (Brittany Bradford) efficient kitchenette; a cute starter kitchen where director Russ (Fran Kranz) and wife Marian (Erin Neufer) cook together; and Julia's best friend Avis's (Bebe Neuwirth) kitchen — which was fairly easy, since they shot in that home during season one. "We changed out the refrigerator, but they had a period stove and period sink and all the things proper to the house. We brought in props — the coffee maker and things like that."
But Child's home kitchen had to be perfect. Not only did the design team have access to her family photos, written records, and recipes she donated to Harvard's Schlesinger Library, they studied the chef's actual home kitchen, which is on display at the Smithsonian. "We measured it carefully and photographed it infinitely — all the products that were there, the brands, and so forth. All of those had to be cleared," von Brandenstein says.
They faithfully duplicated the three windows with knives displayed between them for easy access, replicated pot and pan outlines Child's husband Paul (played by David Hyde Pierce) hand painted on the walls and recreated a pastry area Child had converted from a closet. They even found chairs nearly identical to those Child obtained in Norway. Most important, von Brandenstein's team sourced a stove like the one Child bought as a newlywed. "The kitchen is enlarged slightly to accommodate the camera — particularly in width, but also by the stove. We had to make sure we had an exit on both ends and a potential exit out the door, so we always had a place to stash a camera."
Ovens are removable for shooting, and sometimes a modern appliance was set in a vintage shell. "There were adjustments, but by and large, that is Julia's kitchen," von Brandenstein says.
On Julia, visitors to The French Chef set marvel at its functionality. "We carefully reviewed that kitchen," von Brandenstein says. "It was a working kitchen, which is what Julia wanted and insisted on in her contract." The 6' 2" chef required higher-than-standard counters, a double sink, storage and space for an assistant to hide and hand her utensils. Von Brandenstein referred to murky photos and chose a classic French color scheme Child favored.
A small but important detail was reproducing a print Paul made decades earlier from a fish he and friends caught. "They slathered the fish with paint, made a Japanese-style print on paper, lifted it off, washed the fish, then ate it," von Brandenstein says. "I wouldn't settle for a Xerox. That would be a cheat. So, we dispatched a young man to the fish market at four in the morning to obtain a large fish, made a print and came up with a similar-looking fish. I delicately added a few fins, but it looked pretty good."
Creating an appropriate kitchen for Child's co-author, Simca (Isabella Rossallini), proved challenging. A corner of Simca's kitchen appeared in season one, but season two required a complete and functional set. Original plans were to shoot those scenes in France, but time constraints shifted filming to the United States.
"This kitchen has a lot of Simca's soul, and it's in an old chateau. We brought things back from France, so it was as authentic as possible," von Brandenstein explains. "I'm very proud of our dress crew because they made a real project out of getting that kitchen right."
Two famous kitchens also make brief appearances this season. Archival photos helped convert a downtown Boston event center into the Johnson-era White House kitchen. The crew had to mask pink tile, but most of the transformation was achieved through set dressing and food. Le Cordon Bleu scenes were filmed at Le Chateau de Voisins in St. Hilarion, France. "The chateau has a beautiful modern kitchen," van Brandenstein says, "but our interest was in the ancient kitchen in its basement. It had all the elements, a terribly old stove, no modern refrigeration, the full array."
All it needed were pots, pans and props.
"I won't say the job was easy," von Brandenstein says of her work on Julia, "but given the resources available to us, it was possible to be very accurate."
The new season of Julia premieres November 16 on Max.
