Saltburn is a gothic fairytale that follows two college students at Oxford as a mystery unravels one summer. Emerald Fennell’s followup to her Oscar winning film, Promising Young Woman, is a twisted tale set in between the Oxford Campus and a haunting estate that both feel so lived in and cinematic. Our Awards Editor, Jillian Chilingerian, was lucky enough to speak to the Set Decorator, Charlotte Dirickx, about her work on the film.

Jillian Chilingerian: I’m very excited to talk about the film. I’ve seen it twice. It’s a visual treasure and I think it has a lot to do with what we see in the production design and these different elements added onto the set. How was it working with Emerald?
Charlotte Dirickx: So it’s a gift. It’s extraordinary to work with somebody like that. It’s such a privilege. It’s kind of why we all got into filmmaking in the first place. When Suzie got the scripts and did the mood boards. We talked a lot about it, and we’re very excited. And then when she got it, and then we got access to Emerald’s mood boards as well, which were fantastic and very similar to ours. I just felt it was all in there, you know, everything that I loved. It was pretty exciting getting that script.

Jillian Chilingerian: For me as an American, it looked at a world that I did not know about the inner workings. I think the closest thing we have to that is the presidency.
Charlotte Dirickx: This is a new world. I mean, I think there’s probably like maybe seven or eight families in England that probably have ruled England for 1000s of years, that we’re not kind of privy to sort of the middle classes or even upper classes. And this is a type of aristocracy that they’re just not visible. Because they’re like beyond money and that house had like 122 bedrooms, and it was immaculate. There wasn’t one dead fly on any windows. I mean, this, this was serious. It’s serious aristocracy. I’ve got to go to National Trust houses and you might have a couple of friends but not on this level. Yeah. And they are incredible.

Jillian Chilingerian: These rooms they feel very lived in especially that family room where we first meet Felix and his parents and his cousin while watching Superbad, which I love these little moments. Like this movie, I want to describe it as the aesthetic elegance of Jane Austen with the soul of Superbad and I just love how they work in symphony with each other and I think that again speaks to Emerald’s mind. Walk me through, what that was, like, figuring out what is their aesthetic, like, what would they have in these modern rooms but mixing it with like this aristocracy.
Charlotte Dirickx: I mean, I completely agree with you. I love that Superbad. It’s finding that balance to keep all of the original locations and then adding ours into it. Initially, we had thought that those scenes would be set in the kind of big baronial hole that they have. And then Emeralds like no, they always fit in like the smaller little room at the back. And actually, that room was completely redone. We put in that orange silk wallpaper. I mean, it was a breakfast room that was actually not so well used by them. So we turned that into our own and I love that idea of animals like they, they’ve got this extraordinary house but they will squeeze into this small back room and it’s a bit like when you see images of the Queen, and she’s got this huge great fireplace with a little heater in it. It’s the Queen and it was that element because this is a really rarefied, you know, class that you don’t normally get access to. But just to see that lovely mash-up with the Superbad, the telly. And then there’s a sort of Notting Hill elegance in there that obviously, the mother’s character is brought to the house as well slightly sort of boho feel to this aristocracy, and it’s all quite throw away, but with, you know, a sort of Caravaggio on the wall or Rubens cartoon kind of behind them.

Jillian Chilingerian: I feel like when you think of somewhere like Kensington Palace, or like the White House in 2023, you’re like, Oh, these people are living there.
Charlotte Dirickx: That’s a really good point because that actually really did kind of focus us on seeing how this family lived, who’s lived there for 1000s of years. And you know, and just seeing like Charlie’s trousers with his braces and his shoes, just shoved on a kind of, you know, 16th century Dutch chair, and that he’d rip the back off another extraordinary cabinet and just put his stereo system in there. And then he had his record collection, Harley Davidson parked up with a smoke machine in it, literally next to these amazing Venetian tables. And then it was just keeping all those elements and then just pumping in little bits of Emerald’s color and you know, she wanted like a hot pink carpet. Keeping that balance going and actually, funnily enough, I looked at, strangely, Dries Van Noten’s house a lot because he’s got this he lives in a kind of extraordinary house, but he’s got great taste, and he mixes eclectic. So I drew quite a lot from his house in that particular room.

Jillian Chilingerian: There’s such a mix of that very seductive nature of this lifestyle and I wouldn’t say they’re ordinary.
Charlotte Dirickx: Very comfortable, very self confident, very comfortable with everything.

Jillian Chilingerian: I don’t know if this was written in the script, but the red curtains in the dining. I was like, imagining myself if I was in that room, eating the shepherd’s pie with the curtains, I was already sensing this discomfort.
Charlotte Dirickx: We put those curtains in, and then actually, I had them printed with that kind of vine, down them. I took a match of what was on the ceiling and printed it down the edges and then we edged them with the trim. So it just catches the light. But again, I’d sort of gone with like a burnt orange. And we had all these oranges hanging up. Emerald last minute threw in a fluorescent orange one. She’s like, Yeah, that’s the one I want. And I was like, really? And obviously, it’s perfect. You know? And so, we yeah, we put those in, printed them all up, and you know, and then that whole scene, but I think Emerald does respond a lot to what’s there as well. So, yeah, it’s quite a scene when he’s trying to get the curtains closed.

Jillian Chilingerian: I also love the inclusion of the Harry Potter books. Every time they’re reading them, I was like, to me, this feels like how you would imagine after-hours Harry Potter.
Charlotte Dirickx: I love that too.

Jillian Chilingerian: I remember someone pointing that out. Something else I noticed was with the lighting it took me a while to kind of grasp like, oh, there’s not like a light switch. It’s like there’s not like obvious lighting, but you see, like the karaoke machine and candles the TV and like all these little elements adding when it’s like kind of in those more gothic parts of the film.
Charlotte Dirickx: Yeah, I mean, that’s working with Linus and bringing in all our practicals and you know, the the orange light in the breakfast room as well. And just bringing in all those pops and low lighting and all those practicals we, we had to bring in and actually, it’s always incredibly intense two weeks before filming because you’re meant to be doing tech Ricky’s are meant to be dressing the sets. And you have camera tests, but I’ve you know, I absolutely always go to the camera tests and get as many practicals under the DOP, that’s my only time with them to kind of you know, build a relationship, find out and all different, they all like different things, and really just kind of listening to what they respond to. And then using that all the way through the film to kind of work with them. Also, Linus really loved the festoon lights because the pub, obviously was a set and we put all the festoons outside and then did all the festoon lights around all kinds of topiary trees as well. I had a practice spark with me, the fantastic guy from Linus’s team who I worked with, like every day.

Jillian Chilingerian: It seems like a very collaborative experience between everyone.
Charlotte Dirickx: It was an incredible experience right at the beginning we were in production offices and we had like a page-turner, so I got to go with Emerald. Josey was there the producer, and Linus was there, and Suzie and they just sort of read through it. And Linus and Emerald just kind of talked through scenes with Josey is a very creative producer, he had sort of input into it. And it was just this fantastic experience that I held you know, and, and just listening to what they were talking about like Emerald and Linus together, who I thought had an extraordinary relationship. And it seemed like everybody listened. And we all knew Emerald’s vision.

Jillian Chilingerian: Yeah, she’s just such a special. She’s a gem of a filmmaker and I love her. While you were working on the film and then seeing the final product. Were there any moments that you were looking forward to?
Charlotte Dirickx: I think you know, it’s so exciting always to see something that you’ve worked on. When we went to the premiere just sat and watched it with an audience that was responding to all the humor. It’s yet again, that I just realized what a rich film it was and how much Emerald had put in there. And yeah, it’s it’s very exciting. Yeah, because it’s just got a feeling there’s an atmosphere to it.

Jillian Chilingerian: The first time I saw it was at a guild screening, it felt very professional. The second time here in LA, it was like one of the first public screenings and it was like the electricity and the crowd of the reactions. It was such a memorable experience that people could go to the theater and feel the story together.
Charlotte Dirickx: I loved it when that sizzler came out with party music and that extraordinary Gothic Victorian, but in florescent writing. Sometimes you work on films, and then the poster comes out or the trailer and you’re like, Oh. But this was just like, Oh my God. Yes.

Saltburn will be in select theaters November 17, 2023.
You can read Jillian’s review of Saltburn on her website, Offscreen, here.
You can read our review of Saltburn here.