“The Universe Is So Much Bigger than You Realize”: The Unconventional Production Design of Everything Everywhere All At Once

“The Universe Is So Much Bigger than You Realize”: The Unconventional Production Design of Everything Everywhere All At Once

Production design interprets a film’s script into a stunning, immersive visual world. However, in the classical Hollywood style of production design, these settings are only supposed to convey necessary information and maintain a sense of realism for the audience. While this approach succeeds in many films, it limits the alternative styles of production design we could be seeing, and in turn limits the diversity of stories. Everything Everywhere All At Once (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, 2022) is an example of a film that innovatively subverts conventional production design expectations. The research I propose aims to show that the film’s production design successfully supports its characters and culture by including authentic details in unconventional ways such as maximalism and theatricality. By examining scholarly sources on various production design styles, primary sources from the film’s directors and art department, the content of the film itself, and the widely positive critical and public reception to the film, I hope to raise further questions about the future evolution of mainstream production design. As streaming services and movie theaters battle for viewership, it is more important than ever to understand the stories and styles that resonate with an audience.