Watch ‘Palm Royale’ Artisans Untangle the Show’s Uniquely Opulent Challenges

“Palm Royale” may star Kristen Wiig as an ambitious outsider clamoring to fit into an exclusive club, but to hear the most senior craftspeople behind creator Abe Sylvia’s glittering period dramedy tell it, unique challenges faced artists at every level in this elite creative class for Apple TV+. 

“I learned a lot about how quickly original vintage fabric can disintegrate,” costume designer Alix Friedberg told IndieWire, appearing on a virtual crafts panel about the show, where she was joined by production designer Jon Carlos and cinematographer David Lanzenberg. They delved deep into sharing their dream-like production process. For her part, Friedberg described an intoxicating opportunity, curating looks for a cast that included Hollywood legends from Allison Janney and Laura Dern to Ricky Martin and Carol Burnett. 

“Abe was coming up with ideas constantly and it was really based on what he was seeing on the day and what relationships were working well and what sets were working well, what was exciting to him,” she said. “And he would just come to us and oftentimes just call me or call [production designer] Jon Carlos and say, ‘Can we do this?’ And you never ever wanted to say no.”

The trio recalled a joyful inventiveness while concocting “Palm Royale” and said they felt an almost maddening level of delight seeing the end result of their, as Friedberg put it, “historical camp” collaboration.

“Without a doubt, it’s the most colorful [show] I’ve ever done,” Carlos said. “When I [interviewed with executive producer] Tate Taylor, he literally said, ‘Are you afraid of color?’ And I said, ‘I’m not afraid. Most of the shows I’ve done just don’t want that vibrancy, but I’m in. Let’s go.’ That was what attracted me to this. It was something I hadn’t done.” 

“Palm Royale” imagines the luxe and leisure of Palm Beach, Florida, in 1969. It’s re-created through the lens of myriad references, chief among them the glamorous wealth and elegance captured in Slim Aarons photography. Funny enough, Carlos and Friedberg met on the austere Starz sci-fi thriller “Counterpart” in 2017. They bonded anew in the flamboyance baked into Sylvia’s mid-century cultural tonic. 

“Lean into uncomfortable, because if you don’t go to uncomfortable, then you never progress as an artist, and you’re not creating something new for the show because you’re just replicating something that you’ve done before,” Carlos said. 

“Diving into the research, you realize that the late ‘60s has a very flamboyant and theatrical aesthetic, so we didn’t really push it too far beyond what it actually is historically,” Friedberg said. “I think the two of us just sort of held hands and looped [David Lanzenberg] in and said, ‘Are we actually going to do this? Are we really going to push this as far as we are going to push it?’” 

The answer, of course, was yes. Having previously established the tone on award-winning series like “The Morning Show” and “Wednesday,” Lanzenberg, who served as cinematographer for the first two episodes before Todd McMullen took over on the remaining eight, named “Palm Royale” as one of the most singular artistic evolutions he has witnessed as a cinematographer. 

“It went even further than I could ever have imagined,” Lanzenberg said. “Getting to work with Jon and Alix was truly a real pleasure, everything from the production design to the costumes was like being in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and tripping on acid at the same time — in a good way!” 

For their virtual reunion, Friedberg, Carlos, and Lanzenberg reflected on the obstacles they overcame to deliver their dazzling joint effort — considering everything from how they nailed the tricky balance between big stars, big sets, and even bigger wigs… despite the threat of humidity and mosquitos in a botanical soundstage known to “Palm Royale” set dressers as “Jurassic Alley.” 

“There was so much [that] could have gone wrong and should have gone wrong, but was ultimately really beautiful,” Friedberg said. 

Watch the complete panel in the video above. “Palm Royale” is now streaming on Apple TV+.

IndieWire’s Consider This Conversations bring together the cast and creative team members of television’s most prestigious shows to discuss some of the best art and craft of TV production of 2024.