The phrase “Hollywoodland,” from which Hollywoodland takes its title, was the original lettering on the world-famous Hollywood Sign; the letters were later nipped-and-tucked to “Hollywood” as the town’s world-famous image evolved.
Even for a place that alternately – and sometimes simultaneously – reveres and destroys its own past, the Hollywood of the early 1950s was very different from the one later in the decade. The sense of traditional formality and innocence gave way to a more modernist and casual approach; this was reflected in entertainment, fashion, and architecture. Because Hollywoodland transitions within the decade, close attention to detail and constant collaboration were essential for Allen Coulter and his crew members; among them, cinematographer Jonathan Freeman, production designer Leslie McDonald, and costume designer Julie Weiss.
Coulter remarks, “Jonathan was extraordinary at giving different looks to the two time periods. His camera is more formal and restrained in showing George Reeves’ Hollywood, with more saturated color. In Louis Simo’s Hollywood, the color seems to have been leached away by the harshness of the California sun. To emphasize that, we shot at an exposure that feels almost too hot, and with more restless and unsettled camera movement.”
Adrien Brody comments, “Allen would shoot Simo’s scenes at a fast pace, which I was used to from a lot of the independent films that I’ve done. It kept us on our toes, but Jonathan was always ready with the kind of style and energy that a particular scene needed.”
Coulter adds, “The Hollywood in which Simo resides is increasingly characterized by informality, physical and otherwise. George came of age in a Hollywood where an air of elegance was the order of the day. People carried themselves with a certain formality and even, one might say, dignity. We made this contrast explicit in several other creative choices. Reeves’ world has live bands playing standards and jazz in clubs and restaurants; Simo’s has radios, record players, and jukeboxes playing rock-and-roll.
“Further, George’s life plays out in relative quiet – the light whoosh of the ocean, broken only by the sound of a distant jazz band; the silence in a room where he and Toni discuss their future – while Simo’s life unfolds amidst relentless cacophony.”
Reflecting on how any filmmaking team making a period movie must first take into account what the audience will see, Coulter states, “We intentionally avoided postcard shots, the types where it’s, ‘we’ve paid all this money to rent these period cars and costumes, let’s show them.’ We wanted to make it look real; we had great cars and wardrobe and then looked past them. I was constantly saying, ‘Don’t let the cars be clean,’ unless it was at the funeral or Mannix estate sequences...
“In terms of landmarks like Ciro’s and the Cocoanut Grove, we attempted to catch and re-create the feel of them. Is our Ciro’s architecturally the same? No. But we reproduced the light, the lamps, the way people dressed when they were there – and I believe the vibe is accurate. We were as truthful as we could be to the essence of these places.”
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