Acclaimed set decorator dug deep into Batman’s mind
What do set decorators actually do? Well, way more than pick the curtains, it turns out. For Vancouver-based Peter Lando—nominated for an Oscar for his wonderfully bleak take on The Dark Knight—the work involves a huge element of psychology. Lando sees his first job as drilling deep into each character’s motivation and, well, character. The very items on Bruce Wayne’s imposing penthouse bookshelves, for instance, reflect what Lando describes as Batman’s tortured, empty soul. “Let’s find things that say nothing, that have no personality and no character and other things that were about the absence of meaning.”