Fantastic Four production designer Kasra Farahani talks about optimism, The Jetsons, and other inspirations for his gorgeous designs.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place in an entirely different Earth, Earth-828 to be exact. Here, there are no Avengers or X-Men or any of the traditional superheroes we’ve become acquainted with in the advent of Marvel Studios. Instead, the only super-powered beings within this multiverse iteration of Earth are the Fantastic Four, led by Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal). A da Vinci-level inventor/architect, Richards’s influence on this Earth manifests visually in a gorgeous array of retro-futuristic buildings and interior designs tilted toward mid-century modern. Fantastic Four production designer Kasra Farahani dabbled in retro-futurism before. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on the Loki Disney+ series.
However, his work here in the world of the Fantastic Four exists on an entirely different plane from that of Loki‘s TVA (Time Variance Authority).
“It was interesting when my phone rang for this job because I immediately thought, ‘Oh, mid-century retro-futurism is something I’ve done a lot already in Loki. But after looking more into the source material, I realized it was very different than that of Loki. There, we were going after the feel of an ominous Orwellian monolith,” explained Farahani. “It was clear in the source material for Fantastic Four that this was something very different. It is about optimism first and foremost and about dynamism and acceleration and forward movement.”
In initial conversations with director Matt Shakman (WandaVision), Farahani learned that his vision for the film stemmed from the real-world events of the early 1960s. Both artists felt inspired by the optimism of the jet age, best reflected in the advent of the Apollo programs and enhanced space exploration. Additionally, during that period, technology became increasingly married to people’s everyday lives. As a result, early 1960s fashion, product design, and architecture were all heavily influenced by the intersection of technological advancements that made the seemingly impossible more achievable.
Here, in Fantastic Four, that aesthetic intersects with the birth and ascension of Reed Richards, a figure that Farahani equates to an “Oppenheimer meets da Vinci-type figure.” His designs stand out within the film and feel like monuments to human potential. It’s a sense that Walt Disney and other visionaries tapped into for New York’s 1964 World’s Fair.
“The 1964 World’s Fair is an amazing collection of all of these ideas manifested on a very, very large architectural scale. Considering the amalgamation of all the pavilions, it looked like a small city from the future,” Farahani remarked. “Whether you’re looking at The Jetsons or the World’s Fair or automobile design from that period, it’s undeniable that they’re all looking to the jet age and space flight as a source of inspiration, trying to capture the optimism and hope and kind of sense of awe that those things had in society and distill it into ordinary products that people can buy.”
All of those inspirations manifested as the accelerating curves and monolithic white surfaces of Farahani’s production design. Yes, the concept is retro-futurism, but unlike the dark, 50s-based sci-fi world of Loki, everything here feels bright and curvy. There are, in fact, no straight lines in the Richards-built structures in the film. For example, the bathroom countertops seen in the first frames of the film are wavy. The light fixtures are circular. Even Richards’s lab features colored circles that represent the organization of his mind and thought process.
There’s so much going on within the design that it’s impossible to encapsulate all details within a written piece, so I encourage you to check out the audio of my conversation with Fantastic Four production designer Kasra Farahani. Here, he elaborates on the connections between Fantastic Four, The Jetsons, the World’s Fair of 1964, and the optimism baked into his designs. He talks about the balance between the playfulness and reality of the production design. He also discusses which architects and structures most inspired his interpretations. Finally, he begrudgingly reveals which aspect of the film’s design was his personal favorite, something he likens to choosing a favorite among one’s children.
Click here to listen to my full interview with Fantastic Four production designer Kasra Farahani. You can also see samples of his incredible, Oscar-worthy work below!
The Fantastic Four: First Steps streams exclusively on Disney+.
Podcast Music:
Royalty Free Music from Tunetank.com
Track: Here We Go! by cinematic alex
https://tunetank.com/track/802-here-we-go/
