Rachel [Emily Blunt], devastated by her recent divorce, spends her daily commute fantasizing about the seemingly perfect couple who live in a house that her train passes every day, until one morning she sees something shocking happen there and becomes entangled in the mystery that unfolds...
Using a salvaged train car from a scrap yard in Ohio, Set Decorator Susan Bode-Tyson SDSA, Production Designer Kevin Thompson, Art Director Deb Jensen and their teams built an accurate reproduction of the NY Hudson Metro-North on stage in Yonkers, New York!
Compelled to search out answers to the mystery, Rachel [Emily Blunt] visits the missing woman’s psychiatrist, but ends up uncovering aspects of herself…
The wood, leather and natural palette of therapist Dr. Kamal Abdic’s [Édgar Ramírez] office offers a sense of sanctuary as he listens to Megan [Haley Bennett] tell him of a dark past that haunts her…
An ethnic latticework screen painted in a muted hue anchors the wall. The coffee table/ottoman is truly multi-purpose, it has two wings that can be pulled for additional tabletop space…
Filmed at a Pleasantville, NY house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Bode-Tyson placed a carpet over the existing one and added chairs to augment the built-in seating. She felt Abdic might have collected ethnic old pottery, which appears understatedly in both his house and office sets…
The seemingly ideal couple Rachel observes from the train… Bode-Tyson says, “The house is wonderful in its plainness, a contrast to all the others on the street…”
A glimpse of the set being readied for the shoot… Note the plastic protecting the carpet and the signs reminding the crew not to sit or put their tools on the bed and settee, which can seem very handy, but need to be pristine and exactly as set up!
“Kevin and I decided there’s been an attempt to do things, and then it stopped,” reveals Bode-Tyson. Thus the mirror and most of the art pieces are not yet hung, but leaning in place…
Rachel had quietly curated her dream house when she and Tom were happily married. Some of the elements remain: the sofa, pine table and antique sideboard/dry sink. But the wallpaper, printed upholstery, stripes and checks are Anna’s foothold statement…
Filmed on location and partially on stage, the location house owners allowed the film team to change the kitchen countertops, cabinets and hardware, and add the wallpaper…
The chandelier was extant in the location and seemed perfect for the storyline. Bode-Tyson found something similar for the onstage build, where the foyer and stairs were re-created for filming the action scenes…
“This was such a grand set to work on because this character was supposed to have a bit of an edge and we felt that though she didn’t have much money, she did have an interesting eye,” says Bode-Tyson. “We based the set on a space we saw in Hastings that looked out over the railroad tracks…”
Cathy and her home are as full of life as Rachel is empty, which explains why she has let Rachel stay with her long beyond the initial two weeks and is protective of her now…
Bode-Tyson used her own vintage lace curtains, which add a softening to the otherwise unadorned room. “We just kept the room very stark, very pale, and Charlotte lit it beautifully…DP Charlotte Bruus Christensen. She was wonderful…the combination of Charlotte and Kevin was just spectacular…”
Trains are featured sets in two key films this year, Spain’s entry for Best Foreign Film, Pedro Almodóvar’s JULIETA and the eponymous THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN. Whereas the first film focuses on action within the train on a long distance trip, the second, based on a best-selling novel, places the audience aboard a commuter train traversing between Manhattan and New York’s bedroom communities.
Through the train windows, we have viewing access into the seemingly perfect backyards and lives, as does the film’s central character, who becomes more and more directly involved in what initially seems as heightened voyeurism.
Set Decorator Susan Bode-Tyson SDSA and Production Designer Kevin Thompson, who are each known for an elevated sense of style, brought their top teams to the project.* They not only created these picture-perfect homes but also built an accurate reproduction of the Metro-North Hudson Line train.
While doing extensive train research on the internet, Bode-Tyson came across an obscure blog reference to a derelict NY Metro North car that someone had noticed in a scrap yard in Ohio. After several attempts, she located the owner of the yard, who was willing to hold the train car from being scrapped while she and Art Director Deb Jensen flew from New York to Cleveland, then drove an hour northeast to the scrapyard in order to determine if the interior would be usable for filming!
“We bought a train,” she says with a smile. It was taken apart and packed in sections in the correct order for reassembling, then trucked to New York where the teams constructed and fitted out an iconic commuter train so accurate that we felt we were actually travelling back and forth on it!
Bode-Tyson reveals that she had the train seats custom made because in her experience, recovering older transportation seats is often problematic. So she found vinyl that closely matched the original, and this crucial set, which she expected to be the most difficult to create on stage, came together beautifully!
In the photo gallery above, we have a glimpse into other key sets, including:
· The Westchester former home of the central character, the commuter Rachel [Emily Blunt], in which her ex-husband Tom [Justin Theroux] now lives with his new wife Anna [Rebecca Fergusson] and baby…Anna has redecorated to put her stamp on the house, but some of the good bones from Rachel’s quietly curated furnishings are still there, heart-breaking for her…
· Megan and Scott’s house [Haley Bennett, Luke Evans] a few doors down on Beckett Road, which Rachel begins to obsess about…
· The house where Rachel is currently residing - a spare room in an otherwise overflowing earthy home, to which she doesn’t seem to be able to connect…
· The psychiatrist Dr. Kamal Abdic’s [Édgar Ramírez] office and home, each an oasis of calm in a fraught tale…
· …and for a touch of Manhattan, an oyster bar, plus a upscale bar where Rachel imbibes 3-olive martinis…that's plural...!
*Bode-Tyson notes: “It was a joy to work with Kevin Thompson, and be a part of his process in bringing his vision to the screen. I always learn something working with Kevin. Director of Photography Charlotte Bruus Christensen beautifully lit and shot the movie; and my assistants Sara Dennis and Anya Lebow, SDSA Associate member, were wonderful.
It was truly a great movie to be part of, a very special experience…"
