By Robert Goldrich

A student at the Art Institute of Chicago, Julie Berghoff fell in love with fashion and sculpture. She became a model builder in Chicago, working in commercials before moving to Portland, Ore. where she hooked up with the storied “Claymation” house Will Vinton Studios. There she worked on the stop motion primetime series The PJs.

Satiating a long-held desire to live in California, Berghoff relocated to Los Angeles where she started set decorating commercials, then moved up the ladder to become an established TV commercial production designer. Berghoff then diversified with her first feature film as a production designer, the horror thriller Saw. Her feature fare had a definite horror genre bent in the ensuing years. She then had a fateful meeting with writer/director Lisa Cholodenko.

“I remember first meeting with Lisa and she said to me, ‘You have a very dark résumé,” recalled Berghoff.

Cholodenko saw beyond that résumé, however, hiring Berghoff as production designer for The Kids Are All Right, a comedy-drama which went on to garner assorted accolades, including four Oscar nominations in 2011–Best Picture, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Annette Bening), Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Mark Ruffalo) and Best Original Screenplay (Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg). The Kids Are All Right also earned an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay and three other nominations–Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male, and Best Director (Cholodenko).

Cholodenko later gravitated to Berghoff for the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge. Based on Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name with a teleplay by Emmy winner Jane Anderson, Olive Kitteridge tells the sweet, funny, emotionally wrenching story of a seemingly tranquil New England town stricken with illicit affairs, crime and tragedy as related through the eyes of Olive (portrayed by Frances McDormand) whose sharp wit and harsh demeanor mask a genuinely warm yet troubled heart and strong moral core. Spanning 25 years, the story focuses on Olive’s relationships with her husband Henry, their son  Christopher and other varied members of the community.

Olive Kitteridge has already scored this awards season with Cholodenko winning her first career DGA Award. Additionally Olive Kitteridge received three Golden Globe nominations, including for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture for Television. Olive Kitteridge is considered a strong Emmy contender on several fronts, including Berghoff’s production design.

SHOOT: What’s the process like of working with Lisa Cholodenko?

Berghoff: We have a fantastic working relationship. Lisa is an amazing writer/director who focuses on character development, which is one of my favorite aspects of being a production designer–being able to sit down with a director and develop characters, knowing who they are so their environments reflect that and help to define them.

I remember the presentation I made to her for The Kids Are All Right. I had a picture of Mark Ruffalo [in the part of Paul] before he was even cast. I thought of his personality, easy going looseness and sexiness when I saw the character the film called for. And then you design around that understanding of the character. Little connections like that helped me get The Kids Are All Right–and Lisa’s ability to see what I was capable of, to see beyond a schizophrenic résumé.

For Olive Kitteridge, I did a master presentation showing Lisa who I thought these characters were–including Olive, her eccentricities and nuances. From a production design perspective, I came up with some dark but humorous ways to add to the story. And it’s a story I love, making it a joy to get that kind of opportunity.

SHOOT: What were the biggest creative challenges that Olive Kitteridge posed to you as a production designer?

Berghoff:  The story spans 25 years. For me the challenge was trying not to make obvious jumps over that passage of time. The people lived very simply. I wanted to show each transition in their lives in a subtle, nuanced way. Olive is very frugal, smart, doesn’t like clutter. You reflect that through production design. We gave her jadeite china, a china that came out of the Depression era. It was one of the special details that Lisa felt Olive’s character would have. As a production designer, you help to build these characters–and in doing so you see how they work things out when they come together, in particular Olive and Henry’s relationship, their marriage [with Richard Jenkins portraying Henry Kitteridge]. As a production designer, it’s all about the story and adding subtle nuances to support that story.

SHOOT: What led you to production design? It seems an atypical transition to a profession from model building and working on a stop motion TV series at the Vinton studio.

Berghoff: I feel very fortunate to have found a career in production design. I kind of fell into it. I feel like I know a lot about little things. There are so many different trades a production designer touches–drawing, design, interior design, wallpaper finishes, paints, flooring, fixtures, architecture, textures. In that sense, it was a natural transition for me. I like subtleties, nuances, elements that define characters. We converted a restaurant into a pharmacy for Henry. It’s an environment that helps to define his character–an old apothecary to one side, a gumball machine that kids would want to fiddle with. Environments can define what these characters are and what they work to become.

SHOOT: What’s next?

Berghoff: I did The Last Witchmaker [directed by Breck Eisner, and starring Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood]. It’s the largest budgeted film I’ve done, building sets, creating other worlds, nests for witches. I’m excited for that to come out in October. And I’m embarking on The Conjuring 2 with James Wan directing, and shooting taking place in Los Angeles. [Berghoff was production designer on the original Wan-directed The Conjuring, a 2013 release.] My goal is simply to continue working with fantastic filmmakers.

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