Wall Street Journal
“Base Conditions” featured in an expansive Wall Street Journal article about the historic Marina City towers and its role in the major motion picture “Candyman”.
Photo: Mohammed Alkhabbaz
CHICAGO’S MARINA CITY TOWERS GET CAST IN THE NEW “CANDYMAN”
A scene in the horror film is set in a restored unit of the 1960s residential towers, considered a mid-20th century masterpiece of architecture
by: Alina Dizik
November 4, 2021
Appeared in the Nov 05, 2021 , print edition as 'Chicago Towers Get Another Closeup'
This year’s remake of the 1992 horror classic “Candyman” is giving a former diva a new star turn.
The new film, co-written and produced by Jordan Peele and directed by Nia DaCosta, needed a backdrop for the home of one of the characters (played by Rebecca Spence). Production designer Cara Brower knew the perfect place where a design-obsessed art critic would live: the modernist masterpiece that is Marina City on the Chicago River.
[A]s for the film, the buildings’ famous curvilinear hallways added to the sense of suspense, Ms. Brower says. After she decided on the towers, she spent weeks looking at units in both buildings. “I wanted the apartment for an art critic to really look like it has been preserved and honored,” she says.
Ms. Brower and her team toured roughly 50 of the complex’s 894 units. Many original design elements were renovated beyond recognition. She felt the character wouldn’t live in those apartments. “I had an idealized version that it would all look very bespoke and all be original,” she says.
A month later, she found her dream spot: A 35th-floor unit that architects Karla Sierralta and Brian Strawn bought in 2005 and restored it to its midcentury glory.
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