Peacock’s “Long Bright River” takes place in Filadelfia’s Kensington, a low -income section that has been destroyed by the opioide epidemic. Homeless camps are often located Kensington Avenue, where resale stores for disappointing appliances, junk bags and other city detritus are abundant. “My vision was to honor the beauty and grief and decay found in Kensington,” said production designer Amy Williams. “And really just to capture the essence of this very specific area that show so many struggles that happen right now in our country. So for me it was most important to look through the lens in reality of what happens there and try to find the beauty where there is.”
The limited series, with Amanda Seyfried in the lead role as a Beat police investigating the suspected deaths for several homeless, drug-dependent women, is mainly managed in Brooklyn. Williams worked with Kensington Graffiti artists to label their outdoor places, including a distance in East New York near railway tracks, where they set up homeless camps that were perhaps a little too realistic. “People thought this was real camps and they called law enforcement to come and check them out,” Williams said. “It was a great compliment that we got it right, but at the same time speaks to the fear
And the neighborhood’s struggle. “
“Papi Store” Exterior & St. Franci’s mural
“In Kensington, the first time I was there, it was shocking,” Williams said. “You see people postpone the streets and you see these lost souls, but then you see these incredible works of art and murals.” One of them was the mural by St. Francis on the facade of a local community center and ministry, St. Francis Inn. Williams and her team were allowed to reproduce the mural and publish it near one of the corners Delis, or “Papi stores” in Philly Parlance, they used in Brooklyn. “I think we may have five versions because it was all done in wheat paste style, and for four months they deteriorate as the mural just stands out. It’s light yellow. There is something very hot and to give it.”
Kensington Concept Art
One of Williams’ reproduction of a Kensington Alleyway captures the fate that is there. “We brought a lot of garbage and graffiti wherever we went,” she said. “We brought in some Kensington-Graffit Artists and endless quantities, hundreds of and hundreds of tires and burnt out cars and other larger objects that you would find discarded.” On the site near the railroad tracks, Williams’ team covered the existing graffiti that was specific to Brooklyn and let the Kensington artists go to town. “It was important that we get it right because we cheated it in New York. Timothy Curtis was our graffiti artist who brought in all his friends,” Williams said. “They would drive up from Philadelphia, barbed cars and walls and inside buildings and all our sets. They were excited to be able to have these huge cloths they could paint.”
Inside Gee Pop’s Kitschy Home
Mickey’s grandfather, Gee Pop (John Doman), bred her and her sister, Kacey (Ashleigh Cummings), and is a big part of Mickey’s Son’s (Callum Vinson) life. He is also a master or artist who dresses and marches on New Year’s Day. So in order to design Gee Pop’s Home (built on a set in New York City), Williams dug into the history of the Philly Row house and the centuries of the Old Mall tradition, which is rooted in Irish and British folk culture. “Gee Pop’s World is the old school, the Irish element of the neighborhood,” she said. “There is such a specific interior that feels so for a time and in a way very kitschy.” She integrated dated elements such as wooden panels and a drip roof, plus such idiosyncrasies as aneon Löwenbraü beer sign.
Local Mummer Clubs donated suits for Gee Pop’s collection of sequinated clothes, which, when they appear in his living room, all except blinks at the most brown interior. “I had never heard of Mummers before,” Williams said. “It’s so fascinating. It’s mostly men and they have their large acids. There are glitter and crafts everywhere. And I am, OK, this is my people. They can be in the art department. It was a really fun set for me to design.”
Philly Morgue
When Mickey looks at the deaths, she visits her district Morgue, which was filmed in a rare Morgue in the basement in a pension home at New York City’s Randall’s Island. For Williams, one of the appeals at this site was the beige-yellow Cinderblocks that scream “municipal institution” and are similar to those in the police they had built. “It’s a perfect location and has these amazing windows,” she said. “In principle, we just had to get gurneys and medical equipment and signs.”
This story first ran in the limited series/TV filmer edition of Thewrap’s Awards Magazine. Read more from the race begins issue here.
