Production designer Fiona Crombie used secret passages and an enormous fake facade to transform a 17th-century English country house into the set for award-winning movie The Favourite.
Set in England during the reign of Queen Anne, the last of the Stuart monarchs, the film follows the power struggle between Lady Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz) and scullery maid Abigail Masham (Emma Stone) as they fight for the affections of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman).
The historic interiors of Hatfield House provided the backdrop of Queen Anne's palace in The Favourite
The film was nominated in 10 categories at this year's Academy Awards, including best production design, although it only won one ? Olivia Colman picked up the Oscar for best actress. It also won eight BAFTAs earlier this month, including best production design and best costume design. Speaking to Dezeen, production designer Crombie said she and director Yorgos Lanthimos wanted to create  a "grand" yet "stripped-back" design for the film. It was mainly shot at Hatfield House, a Jacobean-style property in Hertfordshire, but the building was completely transformed.
"We found our own language"
Crombie told Dezeen that her focus was on expressing the "frivolity and whims of the court" rather than the accuracy of the period decor.
"The design is quite spare. We really invented our own version of a period film, so it's not historically accurate. We just found our own language f...