Although the story is set in Northern California, “House of Sand and Fog” was to be filmed entirely in and around Los Angeles. The information gleaned from the road trips to Northern California led to the find of a small house on the cliffs above Malibu, which had a style similar to that of its northern counterparts. Javan and her team then added telephone poles strung with electrical wires and the facades of several small homes with television antennas on the roofs.
Javan explains, “The interesting thing about the area of Pacifica where the screenplay is set is that in the midst of this amazingly beautiful setting is a series of small, middle-class houses. You look over the telephone poles and the rooftops with electrical wires and antennas, and beyond you see this magnificent ocean view.”
To complete the backdrop, the art department added a strand of pine trees, much like those that play so vividly in Behrani’s memories of better days with his family on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
There are also reminders of the Behrani family’s affluence in Iran seen in the design elements of their home. Javan wanted the decor to showcase their rather opulent taste without being tacky. She adds that, in contrast, Kathy’s possessions are a hodge-podge of cast-off furniture pieces and other things that reflect her chaotic existence.
Likewise, costume designer Hala Bahmet used nuances in the characters’ wardrobes to convey the disparity in their lifestyles and personalities. For example, Kathy’s clothing is casual and loose in muted colors, while the Behranis’ attire is more formal and dignified. Former Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani, especially, wears his perfectly fitted suits as if they were the uniform he misses so much.
Perelman’s final creative collaborations on the production of “House of Sand and Fog” were with editor Lisa Zeno Churgin and composer James Horner, whom he calls “amazing,” noting, “It was important to me not to oversell the story with the score, and James wrote a beautiful, very subtle score, which crescendos at the end, as it should. It’s an incredible piece of work that fits the movie perfectly. He didn’t think about it, he felt it,” which Perelman says is the approach he hopes audiences will also take.
“I am hoping that it will make people think, but more than that, I am hoping it will make people feel,” the director states. “I want them to be moved. Grief, even vicarious grief, is a release valve. I think it helps us with our own grief.”
Andre Dubus III agrees, “The truth is life is full of joy and full of great sorrow, but you can’t have one without the other. I believe people don’t go to movies only to be entertained or transported to someplace else. I think they also go to delve deeper into the human experience, and frankly that’s my hope with this film.”
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