Tales From the Loop is quite literally a work of art. The atmospheric new sci-fi anthology series (premiering Friday, April 3, on Amazon Prime) is based on Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag’s illustrations and 2014 book of the same name, in which humans in an idyllic town reside among haunting glimpses of a retro-futuristic universe. A stray robot idles in a grassy field; a black rock floats inexplicably; snow floats up. Its residents live above an experimental physics lab, dubbed “The Loop.” As its founder, Russ Willard (Jonathan Pryce) informs his grandson Cole (Duncan Joiner), the site is where the impossible becomes possible.
But instead of trying to unlock all the mysteries as the narrative unfolds, viewers should just take it all in. “We’re trying to maintain the enigmatic quality of the world without explaining every single thing in the literal sense,” Mark Romanek, who directed the first of eight episodes, tells Architectural Digest. (The famed music video director created the visuals for “Criminal” by Fiona Apple, “99 Problems” by Jay-Z, “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift, and more.)
“When you look at the paintings, you have to just accept this is what it is. The same concept applies here. We were very religious to his work, and then whatever we couldn’t find, we extrapolated it so everything was cohesive,” he says.
To accomplish that striking aesthetic, Romanek helped assemble a behind-the-scenes team of cinematic vets—including production designer Philip Messina (he worked on Mother! and Ocean’s Eleven), cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (Gone Girl) and Oscar-winning set decorator Victor Zolfo (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). “We were really trying to elevate the craft of the show and make it like an hour-long movie,” he says. He also shot the episode on the equivalent of a 70-millimeter sensor camera, giving it a “large-screen-format quality.”
Tales From the Loop establishes its unique realm from the get-go, as Cole tries to help a young girl named Loretta (Abby Fortson) find her missing mother amid the gray-skied, snowy landscapes of the fictional Mercer, Ohio. The Canadian city of Winnipeg in Manitoba served as a substitute for the Midwest. “It was going to guarantee a good amount of snow,” he says. (Alas, a few balmy days led to a bit of special effects–enhanced powder.)
What Loretta (who’s from the 1950s) doesn’t realize is that she’s entered a time warp and landed somewhere around 1980. And while Stranger Things have happened, the retro touches here have an Eastern European flare akin to the oeuvres of directors Ingmar Bergman and Krzysztof Kieślowski. “You think it’s American, but there are subtleties,” he says. “We wanted period architecture from ’70s-era Soviet Union and late-’60s Sweden to create our own timeless world. This is not a nostalgia-fest.” Most of the items—including a yellow TV, Scandinavian chest, and rotary telephone as seen in Russ’s family home—were sent in from overseas. “You can’t grab that stuff at a local thrift store in upstate New York or Canada,” he adds. “So Phil and Victor sent out shoppers with a guideline of references.”
Get the essentials to grow a sustainable business at our member-only event.
As for The Loop itself, it’s an expansive underground space with a nondescript entrance. And purposely so. “It’s understated to belie its overall vastness,” he explains, noting that the facility is structured as a six-mile loop with a “massively long” curved corridor. These interiors were constructed entirely from scratch: “We were really able to control the look of the show by building everything,” Romanek says. That includes the centerpiece item—an oversize sphere, i.e., “The Eclipse,” which radiates power. “I don’t want to give away too much behind the curtain, but we built about two thirds of The Eclipse so that anyone would be physically able to touch it and look it at and we could have light bounce off it.” Romanek discovered its metallic surface from an iPhone wallpaper pattern on Pinterest.
Now that many of the design secrets have been revealed, Romanek would like viewers to focus on what really matters above and around The Loop: families and their emotional dynamics. “At its heart, we wanted the show to be about what these characters are going through,” he says. “There are dark topics but there’s an uplifting quality, and that’s ultimately what people are going to connect with. That’s why this is a good show for these weird times.”
