{"id":1800,"date":"2026-06-14T21:08:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T21:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1800"},"modified":"2026-06-14T21:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T21:08:06","slug":"inside-pluribus-ice-hotel-illusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1800","title":{"rendered":"Inside \u2018Pluribus\u2019 Ice Hotel Illusion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nIn a flashback sequence in episode three of Pluribus<\/em>, protagonist Carol (Rhea Seehorn) and her partner, Helen (Miriam Shor), are transported to a Norwegian igloo hotel, roughly seven years before the Joining event. To the viewer, the glacial accommodation looks like the real thing: a frozen room intricately adorned with ice-carved sculptures. In reality, the characters are on a soundstage in the Canary Islands in a space crafted by production designer Denise Pizzini using translucent panels and Styrofoam blocks.<\/p>\n

Read more Wanda Sykes Claims Bill Maher Confronted Her About Golden Globes Joke, Calling It \u201cStupid\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy first thoughts were always, \u2018How do we build this?\u2019 \u201d Pizzini admits. \u201cHow do we make it look real and how do we light it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPizzini worked with Paul Donachie, the cinematographer on the Vince Gilligan Apple TV series, to figure out the latter \u2014 specifically, how to illuminate a set so there would be no reflections from the lights or cameras in the ice. The pair first tried translucent panels made of a clear plastic that looked like molded ice, \u201cbut they were too translucent,\u201d Donachie says.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe went through a few materials crunched up behind them to give them more depth. We actually used some stuff that you use for softening lights in the end, and Denise\u2019s team sort of crunched that up and that gave it some depth, it felt more real. And I experimented with lights above it and behind it,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe structure and the wave-like art \u2014 including sculptures of koi fish \u2014 on the walls were carved out of Styrofoam. Then everything was hard-coated in plaster to look like real ice, using flecks of a \u201ccrystally thing that the light could pick up,\u201d says Pizzini. Special effects then came in and blew fake snow on the ground and the walls to give them extra texture.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, the room didn\u2019t look cold enough on camera, says Donachie, noting that in their research they found that designers light ice hotels with blue strip lighting under the furniture. \u201cWe added some haze that mixed in with the sparkly stuff in the walls and the special effects snow and the texture of the walls,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe added some CG breath as well to the actors occasionally, and we had to put strip lighting in there. I originally thought it\u2019d look great if it\u2019s just white [lighting], but in the end, it worked with the LED lighting as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo add to the complicated nature of the sequence, Donachie decided he would film the scene in a 360-degree, one-take shot. \u201cEvery inch of it was interesting to look at, so I suggested to [screenwriter] Gordon [Smith], \u2018Why don\u2019t we choreograph this in a way that the actors take us around the room, and we reveal the whole thing in one shot?\u2019 \u201d he says. \u201cHe went for that idea, and he figured out what lines he wouldn\u2019t mind off camera and what lines he needed on camera. With the camera operator, we figured out how to show this room, using the actors to take us around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe idea of a 360-degree shot impacted Pizzini\u2019s design, although she made sure that nearly every inch of the space was dressed in case the camera panned to a particular part.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cWe always design everything so there are no restrictions,\u201d she explains. \u201cSo if they walk in and decide, \u2018We\u2019re going to do a 360,\u2019 it\u2019s ready. But they always surprised me \u2014 for example, [at one point], the camera\u2019s looking down on the ground, so we have to accommodate for that, too. \u2026 Vince is always a production designer\u2019s dream. He says, \u2018Denise, I promise we\u2019ll see everything.\u2019 And he means it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSurprisingly, the ice hotel room wasn\u2019t the biggest challenge for Pizzini or Donachie. It was the hallway that leads there. \u201cIn the script, it says that they go through this long [hallway], and I had this elaborate thing [planned],\u201d says Pizzini, who had to scale down the set build to keep within budget. \u201cIt was like, \u2018How do I reduce this set and still maintain this kind of magical feel to it?\u2019 And then how we actually manufactured it was [still] kind of a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdds Donachie: \u201cThe talking dialogue was way too long for the set we had. We had to feel like you\u2019re still moving along a continuous corridor when it was actually only 30 feet long. That\u2019s why we did all those shots: the top shots, the side shots, all that kind of stuff gave us room to fit all that dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSo what\u2019s happened to the elaborate set since the segment was shot? \u201cI think it\u2019s in a dumpster somewhere,\u201d Pizzini says. \u201cA few people may have nabbed a koi fish or two, and I know that we had these little plaques carved for the door of these little wood forest animals, I think those are at Vince\u2019s Pluribus<\/em> office, or in Gordon\u2019s office. But I think it all went to the dumpster \u2014 I know, it\u2019s heartbreaking, but it was captured at its best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSome of the Styrofoam for the ice hotel was reused for the body parts in the warehouse that Carol finds in episodes five and six after tracking milk cartons consumed by the Others. There was no VFX involved here, since Gilligan likes \u201ceverything practical,\u201d Pizzini says.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAll those body parts are real,\u201d she adds \u2014 \u201creal\u201d meaning handcrafted and not computer-generated. \u201cIt is a 100-foot warehouse, and these body parts are stacked. We had to do research on how you would actually butcher a body, and I had bins of torsos, heads, arms, legs, and then we shrink-wrapped them all,\u201d Pizzini explains. \u201cI called it the \u2018body-carving circles\u2019; I had people there just carving for a few weeks and making body\u00a0parts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThis story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The \u2018Pluribus\u2019 production designer talks transforming a soundstage into one of the series\u2019 most striking sets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[245,826,827,1480],"class_list":["post-1800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-awards","tag-emmy-awards","tag-emmys-2026","tag-pluribus"],"yoast_head":"\nInside \u2018Pluribus\u2019 Ice Hotel Illusion - US Property Moves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1800\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside \u2018Pluribus\u2019 Ice Hotel Illusion - 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