THE BREADWINNER stars comedian Nate Bargatze as top car salesman Nate Wilcox and Mandy Moore as Katie Wilcox, his brilliant wife. To Nate and their three children, Katie is the ultimate mom—she manages their comically chaotic household with equal parts efficiency and love, and everything runs perfectly.
When her household invention leads to a once-in-a-lifetime SHARK TANK deal and a subsequent business trip, Nate has to figure out how to keep the house from (literally) falling apart. He and his kids soon learn that while he may not do it like Mom, he can figure out how to do it his way.
Welcome to the dad era. --Sony Pictures
We always love checking in with Set Decorator Jennifer Gentile SDSA, whatever production she’s involved in is somehow colorful and real, even when it’s not! We asked her to share some notes about creating the sets for this delightful film, perfect for Father’s Day...or anytime!
From collaboration to settings...
“When Production Designer Jon Billington reached out to me about THE BREADWINNER, the project seemed pretty quick and straight forward at nine weeks out. I’ve worked with Jon previously on BLUE BEETLE in Atlanta and enjoy our process and collaboration.”
[Editor’s note: See the BLUE BEETLE article in SETDECOR Archives, Fall 2023]
“For THE BREADWINNER, I started with character boards for the three girls. Eric Appel, our Director, really wanted their characters to slowly take over the house throughout Nate’s journey. Eric was always approachable and fully communicated his ideas and requests with both Jon and me.”
“The interior of the house was a build at Trilith Studios - to be shot the second half of the shoot. All the locations were up front with the livestream house first! When we received that schedule, it was a craft crash course in the office while my amazing set dressing crew went to work in our warehouse. That livestream house and craft area had to be fully detailed to reflect the family’s personality.”
“The Livestream house craft detail, which was one of our first days of shooting.” Photo by Frank Masi © 2025 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
“Propmaster Jim Stubblefield and his team worked closely with Jon on Katie’s invention, the Starminder. Our paths crossed more with the crafts, which kind of grew organically once we received our first shooting schedule. With the focus starting so early in prep, the craft momentum just continued building until we finally started to dress the actual stage set.”
Stage set, Wilcox house. “Detail of Katie’s craft area...family photos, sewing swatches, stained glass ideas, planting notes and journal entries complimented the schematics for the ‘Starminder’ iterations.” Photo by Frank Masi © 2025 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
“It was an amazing collaborative effort from the entire Set Dec crew, props and even the actors. Charlotte Ann Tucker, who plays Sam did some of her own artwork, as well as other children of crew members. My amazing assistant Mallory Coleman spearheaded much of the process...between thrift stores and Michaels, she was relentless in detail.”
“It’s always a race from the start to try and keep ahead of the concept artists and get them the actual set dressing pieces. I love being part of this collaboration and appreciate when it flips and we follow their lead, which is how the roof materialized. Jon even built a scale model of the roof in layers to show the stages of distress.”
Wilcox house exterior. “Parts of this image were recreated in three different locations with multiple setups.” Inset: Nate Bargatze. Photos by Frank Masi © 2025 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
“My buyer Brittany Upchurch had her work cut out for her in shopping materials, new and used as well as character dressing for Keegan. My Leadman, Jay Cooper and Gangboss Max Ladish did an amazing job tracking the set dressing over three locations and multiple variations of destruction. I was so grateful to have my draper Daniel Hawks who had to make so many multiples of window treatments, I had to stop counting. To think I almost thought I could forego a draper. Never!”
Wilcox Living Room. “Every piece of furniture was somehow altered by set dec to fit the production needs, with a combination of big box stores and vintage finds, which suited the character for the family.” Photo by Frank Masi © 2025 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Wilcox Living Room, reverse. “We tried to get a bit of Nashville in the set with the piano.”
Photo by Frank Masi © 2025 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Wilcox Living Room. “As discussed with Jon, we tried not to decorate for the horse and let the home build its character first.” Photo by Frank Masi © 2025 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
“I’ve done many movies in Georgia over the last 20 years but this was my first time at Trilith Studios. It’s a great facility and we shot all over it. Our house set was built on two stages,
one for the first floor, front yard and back yard and the other stage was the second floor with all the bedrooms and bathrooms. The staircase was on both stages linking the house together.”
Wilcox home, dining & crafts. “The Dining area became central to many of the family gatherings with its proximity to the kitchen, command center and craft area!” Photo by Frank Masi © 2025 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Wilcox home. “The entire kitchen was practical with every cabinet and drawer dressed and ready for all of Nate’s antics. Katie’s hydroponics/plant window featured real strawberries and herbs with grow lights to keep them alive throughout shooting.” Photo by Frank Masi © 2025 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Wilcox Kitchen, different angle. “The plant window was a pet project of mine. I love plants!”
Photo by Frank Masi © 2025 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
“We had a lot of fun building the backstory for the girls and tried to incorporate some of Nate’s and Katie’s character traits for each of them. Haley, the obvious overachiever, and like Katie, organized and interested in nature and science besides the scripted obsession with words and language. Her palette was more muted with yellow being the dominant hue. Sam, the youngest, was wild and vibrant. The wardrobe character boards gave us a good starting point. She channels some of Nate’s mischievous nature. Gracie’s set was cut early on but Eric liked the idea that you never saw inside her room, only the door, which she slammed every time Nate knocked.”
Left: “Gracie’s door, about to be slammed.” Right: “Katie’s Command Center changed by season, this being Fall. I especially liked the pinecone family.” Photo by Frank Masi © 2025 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Sam’s Bedroom. “Sam’s bedside lamp was based on one of the young actress Charlotte’s drawings of the horse. Some of the other personal details were created by the set dressing team.”
Sam’s Bedroom. “In prep, Eric had Charlotte actually dunk her head in the fish tank for accuracy in the vomit scene.” Photo by Frank Masi © 2025 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Editor’s note: To see Hadley’s bedroom, and Nate & Katie’s master bedroom, plus the fun schoolroom, click on the SHOW MORE PHOTOS button below!
Final notes from Jennifer, including her favorites...
“My favorite set piece was Mom's craft wall in the main house and all the craft details that related to it. I also really loved Sam’s room. It was so fun to dress.”
“I approach each project as a totally new experience or puzzle that’s exciting to solve. I never pull from the past or revisit prior reference. I look for fresh inspiration in fabrics, galleries, museums and nature.”
“Beyond those mentioned above, I’d like to give a shout out to my amazing set dressing craft stars Dani Carter, Mandy Stahl and Dawn Beagan and the entire set dec crew. From the top down, every department made this project especially enjoyable.”
“Thanks to the following SDSA Business Members: Bridge Furniture Atlanta | 14th Street Modern and Vintage | Central Atlanta Props and Sets | GA Props Source | LCW Atlanta and Alpha Companies Props/ Alpha Medical.”
Thank you to Jennifer!
And...don't forget to click on the SHOW MORE PHOTOS button right below!
