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Train Dreams’ Production Designer Details an Invisible, Immersive Approach

Alexandra Schaller explains how documentary-style restraint supports the film’s dreamlike interiority.

Overview

  • Schaller says the team pursued a documentary-like look with production design that feels “invisible.”
  • Research centered on early 20th-century Pacific Northwest logging, including extensive oral histories.
  • The design aims to ground the period while expressing a lyrical, memory-driven perspective.
  • Color choices and layered depth were heightened to convey Robert Grainier’s inner world without overt stylization.
  • The IndieWire craft roundtable conversation was presented in partnership with Netflix.