On-Screen Interiors I Can’t Stop Thinking About

Have you ever wanted to live inside a film set?

This issue includes a paid partnership with Design Within Reach, integrated into an editorial story on interiors in film and television. All editorial perspectives and thoughts are, as always, my own.

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While seemingly every woman in America was fixated on Carolyn Bessette’s personal style in Love Story, with her simple slip dresses and tortoiseshell headbands, I found myself, as usual, fixated on the interiors (and yes, all of the glass blocks).

This is not a new fixation for me. Last year, after Severance sent everyone into a spiral over furniture for your innie and your outie, I ended up down a rabbit hole on Herman Miller, Robert Propst, and the Action Office– the system that revolutionized the modern workday.

I’ve written about film director Luca Guadagnino’s foray into residential design and broken down the set design of Poor Things.

The truth is, some rooms stay with us long after the plot fades…

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Love Story

The second-to-last episode of Love Story, Exit Strategy, unfolds almost entirely inside the apartment, which, frankly, felt like a gift.

Carolyn is glued to the television as news of Princess Diana’s death unfolds, and JFK Jr. walks in, sits on this built-in bench, topped with an almost buttery yellow cushion.

They’re in the middle of a serious conversation, a fight even, and all I could think about was: wow, a man who cares about his upholstery.

But it wasn’t just the apartment. Every room in the series felt so carefully considered, from the Calvin Klein offices to the George Magazine headquarters, with pieces that communicate power, taste, and ambition.

The best part is that these timeless design classics are not confined to the world of the show; you can still source the exact look today through Design Within Reach and Knoll.

Naturally, I had to investigate.

From the Calvin Klein Offices

Artemide, Tizio Desk Lamp | Knoll, Brno Tubular Chair | Knoll, Wassily Chair

From JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bassette’s Apartment

Artemide, Tolomeo Desk Lamp | Herman Miller, Eames Soft Pad Chair

From the George Magazine Headquarters

Knoll, Barcelona Chair | Herman Miller, Aeron Chair

I Am Love

Speaking of Luca Guadagnino, and with Milan Design Week about to kick off (my personal edit is live), it only feels right to gush here about I Am Love, the director’s 2009 film starring Tilda Swinton and set within Villa Necchi Campiglio.

This is not a world built on a soundstage, but a real place you can actually step into. Very few cinematic interiors can be visited in real life, which makes walking through the villa and recognizing the rooms from the film feel surreal, and if you know its plot, even a bit haunting.

Succession

I started watching Succession how all the best recommendations come my way– because my sister, who works in film and TV, told me I would love the interiors.

She was right.

I came for the interiors, but I definitely stayed for the family drama. The glass-lined offices, the penthouses, the old-money apartments, every room is doing just as much work as the script when it comes to power, hierarchy, and who gets to take up space.

The Incredibles

And finally, an unlikely mention, but important to my childhood– The Incredibles.

Long before I had the vocabulary for mid-century modernism or retro-futurism, I was obsessed with the interiors in that film, especially the office. Even as a kid, I remember being fixated on the sleek desks, endless corridors, and that slightly dystopian corporate feeling.

Looking back, it makes perfect sense: the entire world was built around a kind of mid-century optimism about what the future was supposed to look like.