The beloved children’s book HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON by author/illustrator Crockett Johnson is wondrously brought to life by multi-Oscar® nominee Director Carlos Saldanha and his teams...And then they suddenly take us far beyond the book, into the real world, and the magic that it holds.
 
We first see the line-drawing of Harold, with purple crayon in hand, drawing simple images as the Narrator guides him. Along the way, the stories and line drawings become more animated. “As he got bigger, so did his imagination,” the Narrator tells us. But one day, the Narrator’s voice is gone, and Harold, who has grown up by now, decides to make the leap into the real world to find him. He draws a door, then draws it opened...and then goes through!
 
Suddenly, he is a young man in the fully dimensional real world, naively, sweetly, optimistically open to the possibilities, certain that he will find the Narrator and continue his adventures. What happens is a journey of self-discovery. 
 
Saldanha and his production teams were committed to honoring the book’s homage to the imagination and the world of possibles. He spoke to us via zoom re: the sets and soul of the film, and the delight in creating it.

BTS of Director Carlos Saldanha and Benjamin Bottani, who plays Mel, on the school set...with some friends! Photos by Hopper Stone ©2024 Columbia Pictures CTMG. All Rights Reserved.

SET DECOR: Congratulations for your outstanding animated films and the richly deserved recognition for them. Was this your first mix of animation and live action? And how did this come about?
 
Director Carlos Saldanha: Yes, this was my first feature scale animation/live action project with lots of visual effects.
 
I worked for 28 years at Blue Sky Studios, where I made all my movies...the studio was closed during the pandemic. And then I got a call from one of the producers that I work with, John Davis, saying. “Look, we have this beautiful script, and we have this great story, and I think that you'll be perfect for it.” ...And then when I looked at the story, I fell in love with it, because I read this book to my kids when they're young, and it talks about using your imagination, for you to draw your life. And I drew my whole life, you know, since I was a kid, and then I build a career out of drawings. And I felt that this would be perfect for me to engage in and be a part of.
 
And then, because it was my first live action movie, I had to figure out a way to plan as much as I could the vision that I was looking to create...I had an amazing crew that had a lot of experience, so they guided me through every step of the way. I drew a lot of storyboards...especially for the effects sequence, I had a lot of pre-viz storyboards! I love to storyboard my movies. I love to imagine and visualize the sequences in my head before I get through it. So it was a fun process for me.
 
SETDECOR: Storyboarding is in a way, a nod to the artistic concept of the book. And interestingly, many of the world’s great paintings began with simple drawings. That sketch, that single line drawing, is the essence. It's the purity. It's when the artwork first begins. And we can see these line animations of Harold that are the essence of the message: imagination. And you then made it bloom.

Crockett Johnson Museum set, display: The museum card says, “There was nothing but pie.” A small ceramic blueberry pie sits next to an illustration of Harold drawing a multitude of pies, which we see referenced later in the film in Mel & his mother Terry’s kitchen and in their backyard. A sweet reference! Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Sony © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Director Carlos Saldanha: Yeah, that was one of the most challenging parts...When I first saw this project, I knew that I had to come from a 2-D book to a three-dimensional world. I wanted it to look like something the crayon lines would be, something that I could touch, that I could put the camera through...to have dimension, because in the book it’s very simple. It's beautiful and simple, but it's 2-D. And I wanted, when it comes to the real world, to become completely three-dimensional. 
 
So then it became a lot more. Then I really needed to work on that look, because I wanted people to feel that he literally was drawing in the air, and so that took a while to get going. We created guides for Zach, the actor, to be able to draw...we actually built the drawings with wire so we could be able to guide him in the beginning, and then towards the end, Zach was so used to it that he was now literally drawing in the air, painting in the air. It was something  we were really excited about...[to then create] the transformation to the real things.

The plane! Zachary Levi as Harold with his purple crayon drawing a plane into existence! Inset: BTS: A gimbaled plane offers real dimension for the actors and camera. L-R: Lil Rel Howery as Harold’s anxious friend Moose, who has reluctantly followed Harold into the real world, Benjamin Bottani as young friend Mel and Zachary Levi/Harold. Photos by Hopper Stone/Sony © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

SETDECOR: That's a wonderful evolution. And when we think of so many of the full animation films that you've done, they have an energy, and it's that energy of animation that would give Harold the confidence to jump...to propel him off the page to literally jump into another world. So that's a wonderful marriage you've created.
 
Director Carlos Saldanha: I love that you said that. I think animation needs to be fun, needs to be active. And that's the stuff that I always loved for my animated movies. Like, think about action scenes. Think about funny and comedy all done with motion, like it sometimes doesn't have a lot of dialogue. It's more like the energy, and that energy needs to be going through, it needs to be happening. 
 
And that's the stuff that I really pushed for it in this story...how to have it evolve, because it goes from a very simple animation from the book, to a more high-energy, like he's grown up in the book. So I kept saying, his imagination got bigger, his energy got bigger. Everything got bigger and more fun. And we try to carry that through the live action as well, as much as we could.
 
SETDECOR: And at one point, we get a glimpse of origins...the lovely set that was created to portray author Crockett Johnson's home/museum, particularly the displays we see depicting a journey of creation.
 
Those are beautiful, inspiring displays, several incorporating details from Mr. Johnson’s illustrations. Did the displays come about from specifics you requested? Or did they evolve from the research and subsequent translation by Production Designer Shepherd Frankel & Set Decorator Danielle Berman, and their teams? 
 
Director Carlos Saldanha: That was a combo, but I have to give a lot of credit to Shepherd and Danielle, because we always talked about the importance of that moment. It needs to be emotional. It needs to carry that nostalgia. It needs to carry the vibe of the times when the book was written and the inspiration.

Crockett Johnson Museum set: Zachary Levi as Harold discovering illustrations created by the narrator/author/illustrator, his father figure. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Sony © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

We didn't have any big (visual) reference of his house or his life, so we asked, “How can we create the feeling, the emotion that he might have had...the inspiration?” 
First, we went out and scouted for the house. And when we found that one that was very much like a cabin in the woods...with beautiful light outside and within, we said, “We're going to transform this into (our interpretation of) his inspirations.”
 
There are so many drawings and so many pieces that we created in order to create the world of Harold in that space. Shepherd and Danielle were like masters. I remember they told me when they were building the props...building ‘this’ and ‘all that’...but they never told me exactly what ‘that’ would be.

Crockett Johnson Museum set: A drafting table depicting the illustrations of the Apple tree scenes that Harold drew with his purple crayon. Note the ever-present moon, his friend. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Sony © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

So, I went to see the house before the shoot, just for the final touches. When I walked into the set, I was so emotional. I felt it. I was like a little bit in tears there, because I felt like I was at Crockett Johnson's place, even though I never met the guy. I felt inspired right away. I wanted to see everything. And when I did, it was really an incredible emotion. I think that's when you see how a set moves the actors...how a place that you build brings the emotion, or the safe space that you expect it to be so you can let your emotions out. And I think that was, for me, perfection, when they did it.

Crockett Johnson Museum set: Typewriter and inspirational props, i.e. the balsa miniature airplane, a metal toy vehicle, a badge...and cut outs of illustrations from the book HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Sony © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Crockett Johnson Museum set: A wonderful depiction of “Up and up, he went, into the dark,” a quote from the Crockett Johnson 1957 book HAROLD’S TRIP TO THE SKY. The vignette has a child’s cityscape created of cardboard blocks painted with precise rows of window-squares. Rising above it, we see a collector’s small hot air balloon with basket & the requisite tiny sandbags tied on each side. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Sony © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

SET DECOR: Yes, that is perfection. You know, set decorators will put things in a drawer that would likely be in that character's drawer. The camera is not going to see it, but the set decorator does that as a gift to the actor to help with building a sense of the character and a level of comfort. Here, in this set, we do get to see...your camera does see all and shares with us this depiction...and it’s a wonderful immersion. It truly gave the essence that you wished. A beautiful tribute you and your team created.

Crockett Johnson Museum set: Wooden-framed glass display case with a “Harold” doll dressed in his blue onesie and holding his purple crayon. On the table, as well, are a vintage wooden chess set and cribbage box. There’s an exquisite Art Deco bronze table lamp with a linen shade that has a button strip, a study in the artful use of geometrics that interested Mr. Johnson. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Sony © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Let’s jump from that which is so carefully curated to Terry and Mel's house...
This very earthy young woman and her son, with the house reflecting the sort of stoppage of time for them since their husband/father died. It’s obvious that it’s a loving home, but the sadness is palpable, and the palette is muted. As we go upstairs, it becomes more colorful. Certainly Mel's bedroom has the animation brights...and while the attic has the dust and must, there are some amazing spots of color, and everywhere layers and layers of history. We get to see things like the hints of music...the cymbals, the stereo, and on top of a turntable is a child's hammer toy with the bright primary colors. Could we talk about this?
[See photo at top of page]
 
Director Carlos Saldanha: Yeah, you know, the beauty of having super talented set decorators is the fact that they understand the vibe that we're going for, the palette. They know exactly what would work, what would make it feel cozy, you know? Every time before we build a set, when we talk about the scene, we talk about the emotion, we talk about what it is that I want to get out of it, and I think everything that they put in brings it connected to that emotion. 
 
That set was about nostalgia of their past. So everything there needs to represent the past, like the music sheets for her, the old toys for the kid...memories, like clothes from the husband...toys that the kid would play with the Father, but doesn’t play with anymore. You know, things that would give you that kind of sentiment of like a happier past life, that are now catching dust in an attic. 
 
And I think that we wanted to make it feel rich and colorful, because even though there is sadness, there's happiness in the memories, and I think that needed to be conveyed in that space again. And because we had fun with it, there's the stand-up bed for Moose, so he could sleep. There's the window that mimics the window that Harold had in his bedroom with the moon in the distance. We wanted to create that connection, and also because we're talking about a story where now they...the mother and son... have a new life. 
 
What we briefed ourselves was that they live in a middle-class house that maybe at one point used to be perfect, used to be well-painted, used to be full of happiness. But now times are different. We wouldn't put anything too modern, too new, because now they are
trying to live by what this mother makes on her own. We needed to make that visual show that they have a good house, the foundation of a good life that they used to have, and now they have to try to maintain that as best they can.
 
SET DECOR: Yes, the house is wonderfully layered, more and more so when we go upstairs, downstairs is an earthiness. Here in the family room, textures help create the depth and warmth, the linen lampshades, the knit blanket, the  woven pillows....

Harold generously shares the purple crayon as Mel discovers manifestations of his imagination! Note: The solid, earthy furnishings surrounding them juxtapose the wild imaginings and offer grounding and comfort. Zachary Levi and Benjamin Bottani. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Sony © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Director Carlos Saldanha: Yeah, I think the details that they put into everything, like even the textures, make a good composition. They help separate the backgrounds. They help draw interest...Finding the right textures, that aren’t overpowering, but they mean something, or they connect you to give you warmth, or give you detail. I think it makes everything richer.
 
It's like when we build a set, people can say, ‘Oh, nobody will be looking at that stuff.’ But I disagree. I think that God’s in the details. I think your vision, your eyes, capture a lot more information than sometimes your brain can process. It makes a difference if you build a set that's bland or you don't have like [visual] information, that you're going to look at it and think, ‘There's something wrong. I don't know what it is .’  But we do know what it is, it's the lack of not only the detail, but also the cohesive uniformity of the language you're trying to give.

The widowed young mother, Terry [ Zoe Deschanel], in her kitchen discovering: “There was nothing but pie.” [Quote from the original book.] Again, note the earthiness of her home. Inset: Enjoying pie! Zachary Levi, Benjamin Bottani & Lil Rel Howery. Photos by Hopper Stone/Sony © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

And kudos to the designers & decorators, because they think about everything. They think about the paint, the color of the paint in the background that's going to stand out, against the sofa, against the cloth, and then all these elements help create dimensions and separations that stage the actors, and then it becomes rich.
 
SET DECOR: And all the more these days, as this is a film that, after seeing it in the theater, people are going to get in the DVD format or streaming, and they're going to play it over and over again. So, even more, you have to make sure you have that depth in there, because that's just going to make it more real for them each time. 
 
And speaking of realistic, then we jump into a McDonald’s palette with the Ollie’s discount mart-style store. What a first-time experience for Harold and his friend, Moose!
 
Director Carlos Saldanha: Yeah, that was the contrast, like you would come from the coziness and warmth of her home and the safe space that conveyed. Then we go to a place that’s bright, sterile, big and full of aisles of things that you don't want. And in a place that she didn't like to work. It's a place that was meant to be in the destruction path of Harold's creativity. So, we needed to make  sure that it felt that way as well, like a grid, almost mechanical, very commercial. It was a combination of location and stage...We had to dress every shelf, to create the spacing...all the things to choreograph the big helicopter coming through, and all of that was done practical.
 
So again, we capture the vibe and create a different mood for that place. And that comes with the way that we stage every shelf, the way that we stage the store, the way that we would play with the lights to create that feeling.

Ollie’s Discount Store, an alien experience for Harold and Moose, thus some, er, situations they accidentally create! Rows and rows of product, much of which ends up not on the shelves! Zachary Levi, Lil Rel Howery. Photos by Hopper Stone/Sony © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

SET DECOR: It had that kind of uniformity of the products that was purposely non-personal. 
 
Director Carlos Saldanha:  Yeah, exactly...and the storage room, the boxes, everything needed to be giving that uniformity that goes sometimes against the creativity of Harold. You know, the improv kind of nature of Harold's drawings.
 
SET DECOR: That leads us to the school...the background thematic of palettes with the blues and greens, and the Alice in Wonderland black and white floor. Who doesn't love that? Could you talk about the school, please? 
[See photo of Carlos above with the child actor who plays Mel, and the stand-in for Mel’s “imaginary” friend...]
 
Director Carlos Saldanha:  We went to look at many different schools. Actually, you caught exactly what I thought when we walked into that hallway and with that kind of checkerboard. We felt like, oh my god, we're going to this place! It's special. It had a lot of richness in the patterns and the color, palettes that helped us quite a bit...a lot of greens, and the dragon has purple tones. So it's a good backdrop that allowed us to be able to set decorate with flags and banners and things that make it feel like a school...And I loved the style of the school on the outside as well, because it reminds you of New England, which we're trying to portray.
 
SET DECOR: Yes, as did the parks and town square. And the almost mystical battle that took place there, emanating from the librarian’s thwarted desires...There were some sculptural elements...was any of that practical?

A library always holds magic...the imagination blossoms through books. However, this librarian has a medieval emperor complex, which opens the door to dungeons, fire and evil when the purple crayon is misused. See more in the Show More Photos section. Photo credit: Hopper Stone/Sony © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Director Carlos Saldanha:  Yeah, a lot of it we built, all the spikes and the things that came out of the ground. Of course, there's the carriage that we got and then dressed...It was a good combination of having a real set with a lot of special effects, which is always helpful, because sometimes when you create everything digital, there's always a little bit of that sentiment that everything feels a little bit more plastic, or a little bit more, you know, I would say CGI. And when you actually build those things with textures, and with the set dressing, it becomes richer, it becomes more believable, more grounded. I would say nothing really replaces reality, you know...
 
Like, for example, if you have a set that's all green, everything is green, and you have more control. You don't have the environment to disrupt your shoot.  You can shoot during the day to become night. You have a lot more control, but you lose a little bit of the truth of the place, or the happy accidents that the place might give you, like a different kind of wind, some leaves that would blow into the set, or some kind of unexpected light. So if you're able to combine the two things, I think usually the best results come out of that. I know that is hard for everyone, but I think the payoff is a lot better. 
 
[Editor’s note: Click on SHOW MORE PHOTOS below]
 
SET DECOR: Definitely. And, speaking of things in the set...the piano, was that scripted, or did that come about because of Zoe’s talents?
 
Director Carlos Saldanha:  That was scripted. We had a list of things that we wanted Harold to draw. And the piano for us was always a big emotional moment, because he drew a lot of things for the kids, but then he drew something for Terry. And we wanted it to be special. We wanted to have the impact of something that he would create, that would make a difference to her life. And I always loved that scene. One thing that came later, though, was that piano coming back to life. But the idea of the elements coming back to life was something that came later in the game. We were happy we had the plates for that, so we were able to re-create that moment.
 
[Editor’s note: Click on SHOW MORE PHOTOS below]
 
SET DECOR: I remember particularly the piano and the tires on the car, in terms of the significance of coming back, there was much dimension to both of those. And, of course, the house being painted again. I think those were the biggies, because those were essential elements in the story.
 
Director Carlos Saldanha:  Yes, that's when you marry props and ideas with emotions. The tire was to help them getting out of that pickle, the piano was something just to fill her heart with joy again, and the house was trying to mend to help them with the hardship of their lives. So those things coming back meant a lot to me for the story, especially because that was the revival of hope, little pieces of hope that he was giving to the family. 
 
SET DECOR: You said it so eloquently. It's about possibilities and belief that possibles are out there.
 
Director Carlos Saldanha: Yes. And I think people say, ‘Why do you spend time doing this? Why do you choose that color? Why do you put that thing there?’ And for me, it's because it brings emotions. You know, a good decor, a good color selection, a good composition, a good element doesn't need to be fancy. It doesn't need to be expensive, but it brings you the right emotion. Like I tell my family, when I walk around my house, I like to look at places and pieces that I have, of corners that I have, that bring me a feeling. And that's what I believe the sets will bring to movies. They give you feelings. They give you emotions, even when you don't know it. You know back in your head, all the way in the back, people are feeling it.
 
I’m super excited that we talked about the sets, because I believe so much in the power of that. Every time I would walk onto one of those build sets...the emotion came right through it, you know. And I think that's the beauty of these artists...it is really kind of special. 
 
SET DECOR: Well, it comes from your vision first. So thank you for all of this!