With the events of the last few months, this seems a perfect time to gain some perspective re: time and place, or places, actually. And, ICYMI, this is a perfect time for you to binge THE OLD MAN...or revisit!

The two-season series was five years in the making, from the opening episodes shot just before the pandemic shutdown to the final episodes shot and subsequently aired this last Fall.

There were multiple start-stop challenges: the aforementioned epidemic and resultant shutdown...then cancer & Covid overtaking the star, who amazingly recovered...thus, the series started up again, until a complete work stoppage because of the two industry strikes...and yet, Set Decorator David Smith SDSA and his team turned the delays into moments of light when they were able to dive even deeper into detailing the story they were conveying, taking us all over the world!

Original plans were to shoot most of the sets for Afghanistan, Tunisia and Morocco in Morocco. However, with restrictions on travel, the teams ended up creating facsimiles of each of these worlds within the greater Los Angeles area. [See below.]

Miraculously, all of the locations survived the devasting fires earlier this year, and give reminders that Hollywood and its environs are still remarkable settings, especially in the hands of amazingly talented, creative and experienced professionals.

In Part 2 of our coverage of THE OLD MAN, we will speak with David re: his collaboration with Production Designer Julie Berghoff for Season 1 for the essence for the series, and with Production Designer Giles Masters for Season 2, who further enhanced the vision.

For Part 1, let’s explore the in-depth international scope of the worlds of THE OLD MAN.

Russian oligarch’s Moroccan island mansion...

Pavlovich’s Moroccan mansion, as seen in top photo as well, was filmed in elegant California hill country east of Pasadena/Monrovia. Jeff Bridges as Dan Chase. Photo by Byron Cohen/FX ©2022 FX Networks. All rights reserved.

Set Decorator David Smith is a whiz at bringing in new elements while also using the appropriate pieces that a location might have in situ. Here, the red mohair sofa that anchors the room, complete with the haute velvet Venetian pillow.

He recalls, “The large office with mezzanine balcony was a complete dress. I loved this set, and was so glad to use some Rococo furniture from Universal and Warner Bros. along with the red Art Deco mohair sofa and chair from WB. Several hallways had to be dressed with new artwork for chase scenes, as well. I created most of the artwork, which was coordinated by Mardine Davis Art Consultant.”  You can see it in detail in Season 2, Episode 6.

USA...Former CIA chief, Morgan Bote’s sunroom

The Bote sunroom, shot at a private 1923 mansion in Pasadena. in production mode here, with the mats strategically placed to protect the floors of this fabulous vignette David Smith and his team pulled together. Inset: Joel Grey as Morgan Bote, photo by Prashant Gupta /FX ©2022 FX Networks. All rights reserved.

"Morgan Bote [Joel Grey] plays a brief but very important role as a former head of the CIA and father figure to the two main characters, Dan Chase [Jeff Bridges] and Harold Harper [John Lithgow]. He retains power over events and is able to pull strings that affect virtually everyone in the story. For the first season, we emptied out the living room and hallway of the location house and played that area as a sunroom where Bote retreats to paint still lifes and converse.”

Hong Kong Street Market
Expanding into our international scope, we have the Hong Kong Street Market, which was actually filmed in LA’s Chinatown.

Hong Kong street market. Courtesy of FX. Pictured: Janet McTeer as Marion, John Lithgow as Harold. Photos by Byron Cohen ©2024 FX Networks. All rights reserved.

“We dressed about 200 feet of stalls and vendors for the two actors’ characters seeing each other and then coming together for a conversation. We brought in seven truckloads of goods from Lennie Marvin’s Prop Heaven, Universal, and Warner Bros, and dressed over two days with Construction and Grips. A mall cart of candy from Lennie’s was augmented with Chinese candies. We had to add red “awnings” and shaded areas per the DP. All for less than a full page of dialogue.”

...And across the world, in London, an upscale bar/restaurant...

London Bar/Restaurant, with inset photo of barside table a deux. Courtesy of FX Networks. All rights reserved.

Shown here in process of coming together for camera. “The London Bar/Restaurant location was a non-working restaurant in downtown LA, with most of the furniture stacked on top of other furniture, which translates to assembling a puzzle on prep day! There was no existing bar dressing or dishes of any sort, so we did a massive rental from Town and Country. The artwork is rental from Art Dimensions and a custom iStock print of the horse and rider. We had it enlarged to the point that it looked as if it were from yesteryear, and then formally framed.” [S2 P1]

English Cottage...
“The English Cottage set was created in a1960’s house in a canyon in Beverly Hills, and was a complete clear-out with a complete dress by my crew.”

English Cottage, full of myriad details! Be sure to enlarge this montage to see the mantle top! Again, images reflect the layout boards for shooting. Courtesy of FX Networks. All rights reserved.

“Rain and mudslides caused a delay with shooting the set by two weeks. It also caused a request on the day-before-filming to have the curtains close out and darken the two rooms. To be more cost effective, I had rented curtains that didn’t close out over the sheers. That afternoon, we scrambled. Draper Garrett Flamig and the team at Omega Cinema Props rehung and shifted around the original curtains I had rented from Universal, added coordinating curtains and manufactured and installed two new pair of curtains for the study.”

English Cottage, aforementioned drapery, now closed over the sheers. Image courtesy of FX Networks. All rights reserved.

“As they began filming, Garrett was still hanging curtains as they were shooting in the other room. Never again. Going forward, all drapery will close out!!!”

Crete...Ruins of a centuries-old church

The desecrated Byzantine church where Dan Chase is tortured and left to die. Images courtesy of FX Networks. All rights reserved.

“Here’s a glimpse of a crumbling former Greek Orthodox chapel on the ancient island of Crete, complete with weathered saintly fresco...except it was designed and built for the series by Production Designer Giles Master and his teams in LA. David has fine stories about the pews and chairs...and the rubble! All to come in Part 2 of this article!

Tunisia...Airport file room

Tunisian Airport File Room (S1). John Lithgow as FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Harold Harper, Dan Chase’s compatriot. Photo by Prashant Gupta /FX ©2022 FX Networks. All rights reserved.

“The Tunisian Airport File Room was filmed at the old Ontario Airport. We had propmakers build 12 double-sided bookcases, and I rented display cases, file cabinets and bookcases. The three styles of boxes were purchased in box brown, assembled and then painted grey. A ton of paper dressing, mostly rented but also at least 50 reams of custom printed with Arabic and French writing, was dressed in on top of rented paper and scattered on the floor to represent disuse over the previous decades.”

Morocco...Banks – more than one in an international money-laundering center!

Both Moroccan banks were shot in downtown Los Angeles locations. Images courtesy of FX Networks. All rights reserved.

“The orange carpet was extant in the location we used for the Moroccan Bank that appears early in S1, as was the counter. I brought in all of the other dressing, including the art. Finding the orange swivel chairs was meant to be.” [See inset photo.] Later in the season, we went with the opposite palette, a monochromatic marble. Julie designed the bank counter in the monotone, our Construction Department installed it seamlessly. The desks and chairs are from Universal, augmented with dressing from Warner Bros.”

Morocco...Hotel

Moroccan hotel, bedroom. Created & filmed in Pasadena. Image courtesy of FX Networks. All rights reserved.

“The Hotel in Morocco was actually filmed in a private home in South Pasadena. Julie designed the bedroom wall with patterned tile trim printed on vinyl and added new arched doors. The Moroccan mirror was a rental from Berbere Imports.  The bathroom was shot in the home’s library, the books hidden by added panels and drapery, the bathtub and sink brought in to complete the room.”

Moroccan hotel, bathroom. Created & filmed in a home library in Pasadena! Image courtesy of FX Networks. All rights reserved.

Morocco...Train Station
“The Moroccan Train Station was filmed in the Orange County Transit Hub. For visual interest, Julie designed, then had printed on vinyl, a 22-foot circular tile pattern. It worked beautifully.”

Moroccan Train Station, a multi-level set, we’re only seeing a section of the mid-level, between escalators. with boarding/waiting area past the vendors. Image courtesy of FX Networks. All rights reserved.

“Barely seen in this same level, was a restaurant with orange metal tables and chairs from Lennie Marvin’s Prop Heaven. The 1970’s orange tandem waiting-room chairs in the deep background are from RC Vintage and were originally purchased for the feature film ARGO.”  
[Editor’s note: David assisted a close friend, Set Decorator Jan Pascale SDSA, on the sets for that Academy Award winning Best Picture.] “Moroccan rug, lanterns and clothing-vendor set dressing all came from Badia Designs. On the lower level, we also mounted 20 orange and green Moroccan flags.”

Afghanistan...rural tea house
“The Afghani rural tea house (S2) was designed by Giles and built at Blue Cloud Ranch, in Santa Clarita. The exterior was planned to be finished all the way around but ended up being a partial front façade.”
“Dressing the interior was a favorite and I bought about 30 new rugs for the floor and to make cushions. We depleted the stock of low Moroccan rustic tables at Badia and Berbere imports at the time. Our Costume Designer Tiffany White told me about Khyber Pass antiques in La Jolla, so Buyer Jennie Harris and I went down on a Saturday and bought a console, hanging beaded and yarn curtains, several chairs, more rugs and pottery. We also rented 12 worn pillows and 10 worn rugs from Universal and Warner Bros.”
     Editor’s note: For photos of one of our favorite sets, the Afghani rural tea house, click on the SHOW MORE PHOTOS button below.

Afghanistan...Warlord Faraz Hamzad’s village & compound
“The powerful warlord’s village was built from scratch at Blue Cloud Ranch, including excavating the hillside and putting in a road, a lagoon and six houses, also a mosque and five market stalls. Hamzad’s Compound exteriors include the façade for the main house and animal pens, a house that acts as a prison, plus three additional houses. For S2, Giles designed and built a village gate with three additional houses and four market stalls. The gate becomes a prominent feature when enemies overrun.”
     [Click on SHOW MORE PHOTOS below]

Afghanistan...Hamzad’s family/tribe’s mountaintop cemetery
The evocative mountaintop cemetery gives a dual perspective of the length of time Hamzad’s tribe has claimed these mountains, and the length of time of one man’s life, plus the gift of knowing that he will join his ancestors and become a part of the mountain forever, and the agony of the knowledge that his people and village may be destroyed when he does.
     [Click on SHOW MORE PHOTOS]

The team!
“Since it took 5 years to make 15 episodes, I’ve had a slew of different people on my crew, including: Leadmen: Peter Dang and Jason Cronburg, Buyers Jennie Harris, Humberto Garcia, Haley Contestable, Amy Wallenberg, Eva Firshein, Lia Lopez-Burrows, Howard Warman, Armen Khechoumian, and April Jones. Additional Set Decorator: Douglas Mowat.* Gang Bosses: Phil Briggs, Chris Nuccio, Edwin Hernandez, Peter Dang, David Holowach, Samo Tusak, Ben Robertson, Rudy Rodriguez, and Christian Fritsch. Drapers: Regina Henderson, Marcos Osario, and Garrett Flamig. Coordinators: Camille Adams, Alex Hunter, Jeff Butler, Jill Salavar, and Tracy Zungoni. OnSet Dressers: Larry “LJ” Fillion, Jason Michaud, and Alejandro Luna. Set Dressers: Alfonso Lima, Albert Barragan, and many others.”

“A large core of the crews stuck with the show because we all loved it and not only set decoration, but grip, electric, costumes, special effects. We had different construction and greens crews for the two seasons. Everyone above helped make our wonderful sets.”

     * Editor’s note: Because of the capricious schedule, when there was an undefined hold during the mid-prep, Set Decorator David Smith SDSA jumped in to assist his friend Set Decorator Lisa Clark SDSA on the mini-series LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE. [Click here for their Inside the Set conversation]. During this time, there came about a sudden window to shoot the first episode of THE OLD MAN, which David had to miss. Set Decorator Tamar Barnoon handled the pilot/first episode, then David was able to step back in for the entire series.

Resources/SDSA Business Members
To complete a project on this scale, Set Decorator David Smith SDSA had to use a vast array of resources, some mentioned above. He would particularly like to acknowledge the SDSA Business members with whom he worked in order to create the worldwide range of sets for THE OLD MAN:

Advanced Liquidators | Air Designs | Alley Cats + RC Vintage | Alpha Companies | AMCO  American Screen and Window Coverings | Art Dimensions | Art Pic | Astek Wallcovering | Badia Design | Bridge Furniture & Props | EC Prop Rentals | Faux Library Studio Props | Gold Room Props | Green Set | Hand Prop Room | History For Hire | Hollywood Cinema Arts | Hollywood Studio Gallery | Independent Studio Services | Jackson Shrub | Lawrence of La Brea | LCW Props | Lennie Marvin’s Prop Heaven | Linoleum City | Luxury Fabrics | Nest Studio Rentals | Objects | Omega Cinema Props | Pinacoteca Picture Props | Playback Technologies | Practical Props | Premiere Props | Prop Services West | Sandy Rose Floral | Town & Country Event Rentals | U-Frame-It | Universal Studios - Property, Drapery & Metal Shop | Warner Bros Studios - Property, Drapery & Sign Shop

Also...

Don’t forget to click on SHOW MORE PHOTOS below, and look for Part 2 of this article in May 2025!