Directed by the Russo brothers, The Gray Man is a globe-trotting action thriller that keeps viewers at the edge of their seats. The film’s production budget clocks in at a cool $200 million, making it one of Netflix’s most expensive films. One can imagine a large portion of that budget went to creating sets in which to tell the story originally set down in the 2009 novel of the same name by Mark Greaney. On Air provided some wallpaper, but our biggest contribution is also the least looked at, even though it serves as the literal groundwork of the film: flooring. From glossy marble to intricate parquet, OA provided several faux flooring solutions to help production designers Dennis Gassner and Chris Lowe create their vision. The flooring may not be the most noticeable thing in the shot (nor should it be), but it helps create the atmosphere for this tense, action-packed drama.
In this Prague apartment, the set designers have taken care to make it look and feel lived-in. A warm palette of brown and gold tones makes you feel at home, and strategic lighting creates the late-afternoon ambiance over piles of used books and cozy wood paneling. OA’s custom-colored Venetian marble paper lends a subtle vintage texture to the set. To ensure an authentic look, we printed the main parquet flooring and a coordinating border. This flooring was printed on MDO, a plywood-based board with a smooth veneer printing surface. The parquet pattern was already part of our faux surfaces design library, so only a few color adjustments were needed to create the perfect parquet for this set.
The Chateau de Chantilly was a main character in the cast of far-flung locations used in this film. Exterior shots were taken on-location, but interior shots were taken on a purpose-built set to resemble the chateau’s historic character. The space feels vast, old, and a bit foreboding– as it should since it serves as the headquarters for our main antagonists. In the entryway and throughout the chateau, you can see the black and white faux marble that we printed. The dramatic lobby shows it off best, a glossy surface perfect for bad-guy-expensive-shoe clacks. We printed both the white and cream main flooring as well as the black border for an extra dose of realism. We also printed the white marble pattern on wallpaper for use elsewhere on the set.
And finally, the piece de resistance of OA’s work on The Gray Man: 6,950 square feet of faux parquet for the chateau. OA designers scanned real parquet squares, color-corrected them to the set designers’ specifications, and printed them on MDO boards to be routed to size. By printing both the main squares and the coordinating border pattern, we were able to set up the set decorators for a successful installation. This flooring can be seen throughout the chateau, reflecting the light of chandeliers, candles, and hazy windows, lending the set an authentic historical touch.
OA specializes in bringing sets to life in ways both dramatic and subtle– and this project involved both. With a dramatic amount (over 15,500 total square feet of flooring across all sets) and a color-accurate approach, faux flooring for The Gray Man involved the design, print, and routing departments of OA. Flooring, even that amount of it, goes unnoticed if done well– and we’re happy to say this big job goes undetected in the final film.
