Catching up with WOLFS Art Director Sandra Doyle Carmola

This month, we caught up with Production Design Alum Sandra Doyle Carmola (AFI Class of 2014) who is known for her exceptional work as an art director and set designer on a range of projects including MINDHUNTER, AD ASTRA, REBEL MOON, SPIRITED and WANDAVISION – which earned Production Designer Mark Worthington and his team an Emmy Award® and an Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design. With the release of her new comedy WOLFS, we spoke with Sandra about crafting distinct environments for characters played by Brad Pitt and George Clooney, collaborating with fellow AFI Alumni Andrew Max Cahn (AFI Class of 1992) and Katia Najera (AFI Class of 2018) and the lessons she learned from her time at the Conservatory.

AFI: Congrats on WOLFS being released! How did you first become involved, and what were your team’s visual inspirations for the film?

Sandra: I was first connected with supervising art director Andrew Max Cahn via another AFI Alumni art department colleague and had a great long phone call with him. It was one of the coolest chats I’ve had with a colleague getting to know each other and how we like to work. He set up a zoom with production designer Jade Healy and we got along great. She knew exactly where she wanted to go with the design of the film, and I felt like I could be a good complement to her and fit in where she needed. The film is a really expansive journey over the course of one night in New York City. Jade lived there for years, so she had tons of great reference images from the city and from other films that she compiled into an overall lookbook for the vibe of the film from start to finish and individual lookbooks for each set that guided our entire art department.

AFI: On WOLFS how did you balance fulfilling the production designer’s vision while also bringing your own ideas and creativity to the table?

Sandra: We’re all working to tell the same story, so we try to make every decision with that in mind. Jade’s lookbooks were the guide, and she designed the key frames with concept artists and then we progressed into developing the sets with set designers. Like many in the art department, I have an architecture background which Jade and Andrew saw as an asset for the development of the luxury penthouse set, which would require a high level of finish and detailing. I also helped develop the exterior highrise tower design to marry the penthouse interior stage set to the exterior ground level shot on location to hand over to visual effects, because our penthouse window pattern did not match the upper floors of the actual building in New York City.

AFI: WOLFS unites George Clooney and Brad Pitt as rival fixers forced to work together. How did you design the film’s environments to reflect their personalities and enhance their comedic rivalry?

Sandra: The big joke is that these two lone wolf fixers are practically the same guy, so there were definitely moments where we planned for a two-shot of these guys as mirror images of each other. The comedy also comes from putting these cool guys in places or situations that contrast with their characters or betray their age. Jade had some very specific ideas for one of the funniest sets and scenes in the motel, which she and Katia had a lot of fun bringing that one to life. Overall, the film progresses through a range of absurd situations, physical comedy, gritty locations and heightened colors for both comedic and dramatic effect.

AFI: Do you have a personal favorite set or scene you’re most proud of in the film?

Sandra: I worked on all the elements of the luxury hotel and parking garage, as well as the gritty warehouse locations and some elements of the Chinatown mall chase that were shot in LA (some were also shot in Chinatown in New York City). I love the contrast and variety of the world the film takes place in. It was really rewarding to oversee the construction drawing process and build of the luxury penthouse on stage, to flesh out modern details and get to specify high-end finishes, and to see our scenic painters create beautiful faux marble. We worked with J.C. Backings to photograph and print a custom backing to wrap around the set, which gets a brief amount of screen time. And our set decorator Melissa Levander tastefully filled it with luxurious custom furnishings and art. The parking garage was designed to match the exterior garage elements shot in New York City, so we created signage and painted ground markings to match, and built a few set pieces in the location to help tell our story. The film shot for a few weeks in New York City so our art department counterparts there shared valuable info for a seamless match.

AFI: You collaborated with two other AFI Alumni on WOLFS. What did you learn from industry veteran Andrew Max Cahn, and what new ideas and perspective did Katia Najera contribute to your team?

Sandra: Andrew is a great collaborator and mentor. He’s been in the business a long time, so he’s seen it all and keeps a cool head, knows what to prioritize and where to compromise. He can diffuse a challenging situation and truly embodies the “duck metaphor.” I appreciated his trust and wisdom and candor, as every show is a learning experience. Katia brings such a positive energy to the art department, and she’s extremely organized and a very talented communicator. She worked on the Brooklyn Bridge set pieces built in Santa Clarita, so she had to do extensive research to match it to the real thing. It was seamless.

AFI: As an AFI Alum, what skills or lessons from your time at the Conservatory do you find yourself drawing on the most in your current work?

Sandra: I came to AFI from a background in architecture, including years practicing and owning my own design firm. AFI helped bridge the gap between architecture for real life and architecture for narrative. One of the most important things I learned was to remember we are designing in service of a story, so to always question whether something is helping tell the story, whether that’s character-specific or action-specific. I also learned that we can’t design in a vacuum – the sets have to be shootable. Through designing AFI short films and subsequent work experience, you begin to appreciate the collaborative aspect and massive amount of communication that has to happen with all the other departments throughout the design development process which is a huge part of my job as an art director. Luckily, AFI trains Production Design Fellows to be able to work in a number of art department roles, so I was able to get my foot in the door fairly quickly as an assistant art director and now also work occasionally as a set designer when I’m not art directing.

AFI: What excites you most about designing such distinct worlds and how has your approach evolved?

Sandra: As I’ve built my career, I’ve tried to select projects that provide a range of experience, whether in design style, period, genre or stage versus location. This diversity is what keeps me excited and in love with the job over real-world architecture, despite the long and sometimes difficult days. Getting to see our work realized monumentally faster than real-world architecture also keeps the tedium at bay. Every new project is a chance to start fresh and every work gap is a chance to brush up on technology to help with the next one. Designing for storytelling is an artful, subtle, challenging, fulfilling, whirlwind, collaborative affair. I try to work with clever and talented people who I can learn from and absorb a tiny bit of their magic.