“George & Tammy” airs its penultimate episode Jan. 1 on Showtime with stars Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain as George Jones and Tammy Wynette — and greater than 120 fastidiously constructed sets reflecting the stormy personal and skilled lives of country music’s iconic couple over a 30-year period.
“We had over 300 people within the art department between carpenters, painters, drapers, builders, set designers … and there have been an unlimited amount of sets,” “George & Tammy” production designer Jonah Markowitz told The Post. “On a project like this, where we went from 1965 to 1995, you have got to always remind yourself what era you’re in — and what’s stepping into George and Tammy’s story.”
Markowitz (“Generation,” “Room 104,” “Mapplethorpe) said he used colours to shade the various eras of the lives and careers of Jones and Wynette, who were married from 1969-1975 and continued to perform together after their divorce.
“I’ve done movies where I used different colours for various characters or worlds or many years or flashbacks,” he said. “This was an interesting palette progression because [the story] didn’t go in a linear direction. When George and Tammy meet [in the mid-’60s] his colours are reds and greens and he or she’s all the time yellow, and after they’re at their best we get into this blue world. We checked out lots of, if not 1000’s, of reference images of those time periods.”
Markowitz said the team tried a recent approach to the usage of colours within the ’70s-era “George & Tammy” scenes.
“I do a number of period work, and the way in which we’ve come to represent the ’70s is all the time with the identical colours: brown, avocado, orange … we desired to do something different where we broke the molds a bit of bit, so we leaned into a number of really vibrant colours and first colours which were all absolutely around [in the ’70s] … their country mansion [in the series] is vibrant teal and the bedroom is cherry — those are only not colours you’re used to seeing in ’70s-era movies.”
Markowitz and his crew also intimately recreated key historical sites within the Jones/Wynette saga: the Ryman Auditorium, home to The Grand Ole Opry until 1974; Nashville’s legendary Quonset Hut Studio, where Jones and Wynette recorded together; their many tour buses; and their suite on the Landmark Hotel in Las Vegas where, in 1971, they became the primary country music artists to headline Sin City (and Jones failed to point out up on opening night).
“The Grand Ole Opry moved out of Ryman Auditorium but we did have the chance to shoot at the unique auditorium … and we actually built the [Grand Ole Opry] set from 1968, which was a tremendous experience for us,” he said. “We also built the large Grand Ole Opry barn, which was the backdrop for years; we built two of those at different scales for production purposes when were were shooting in two different places.
“People saw the Grand Ole Opry every week of their homes so we actually needed to get the vibe of that right,” he said. “It’s the opening scene, so it’s sort of where you’re going to get country fans to lean in or lean out of the series.”
Markowitz et al. also recreated the Quonset Hut Studio (which closed its doors in 1982).
“We had photos of the unique studio and … We did attempt to be true to form,” he said. “We desired to make it real and complement it, so we built these dividers that had glass pieces at 45-degree angles at face level, which wasn’t an actual thing. But [director John Hillcoat] all the time desired to have the ability to shoot and see each George and Tammy and never only after they were standing next to one another singing. So we designed ways he could either shoot through the glass or use it as a mirrored image to alter the dynamic — and use the design to inform the story.”
Creating the various tour buses owned by Jones and Wynette posed an enormous challenge, Markowitz said. “There have been like five different buses … and there have been really intense scenes in them in such a small space … so, conceptually, it was cool to know that these scenes were really necessary.”
Once the buses were brought in, Markowitz discovered that they wouldn’t work of their original form, since Michael Shannon (as Jones) was too tall to walk around comfortably. “We ended up welding two bus frames for 4 period buses and made them a bit of taller so Mike could stand, and all of the panels popped out so that they could shoot and we jockeyed backwards and forwards between buses,” he said. “The decorating teams went crazy. George Jones was a bit of over-the-top so we tried to recreate his red bus. It’s just wild. I believe he spent something like $150,000 on his bus.”
Markowitz said he had probably the most fun designing George and Tammy’s lavish Landmark Hotel suite during their ill-fated run in Las Vegas.
“That was super-exciting,” he said. “It’s each story- and character-based and is the sort of pinnacle moment within the series and George just leaves Tammy there, alone. A number of the researchers got a hold of the unique plans from the penthouse; it’s funny, back in those days they weren’t that luxurious or big … they didn’t do these palatial suites.
“I immediately tripled the scale of it with 20-foot windows,” he said. “I wanted the dimensions to be enormous in order that, for once, Tammy Wynette felt small. She’s headlining an enormous show at the highest of her profession with a number-one song on the charts and I wanted the camera to get to date away from her that she looks tiny, like Vegas was just going to swallow her up.
“I designed this red bed for her and, above it, a second level with a round opening with a balcony … to point out her super-alone — and to balance verisimilitude and story.”
“George & Tammy” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on Showtime.