Reference Point: Elliott Hostetter
Reference Point: Cultural bonbons from film industry aesthetes
ELLIOTT HOSTETTER
Production Designer
Place of Origin:
Indianapolis, IN
Home Base:
Altadena, CA
PROJECTS:
SPRING BREAKERS | WAVES | THE NEON DEMON | BONES AND ALL
July 5, 2023
From left: Spring Breakers, The Neon Demon, Waves, Bones and All
FILM
Last film you saw that you loved:
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
Actor you would watch in anything:
Taylor Russell!
Favorite movie theater:
Cinerama Dome in Hollywood
Director(s) whose work you love:
Kelly Reichardt
Film you would like to inhabit:
Swiss Family Robinson
Coveted item from a character’s wardrobe:
Dorothy’s ruby slippers
Movie you will never tire of:
Beetlejuice
Scene that haunts you:
“Night on Bald Mountain” scene in Fantasia
From left: Taylor Russell in Bones and All, dir. Luca Guadagnino, 2022; the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California; Dorothy's ruby slippers
MUSIC
Currently listening to:
“Xanadu” by Olivia Newton-John. My daughter, Nina, is rollerskating all around the house, I’m the DJ.
Xanadu by Olivia Newton-John
Last live show you saw:
Kendrick Lamar at Crypto Arena in L.A. I took my 13-year-old son, Julian, and his friend. It was amazing.
Podcast recommendation:
Ram Dass Here and Now
Favorite radio station:
94.7 The Wave
From left: Kendrick Lamar; Ram Dass
ART
Favorite museum or gallery:
I’m not sure if these count exactly, but my favorite art spaces are the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Matisse’s Rosary Chapel in Vence and Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel in Padua
Artist(s) you admire:
Rachel Rose
What’s hanging on your walls:
Mira Dancy, Zach Harris, Harmony Korine, Virginia Yount
Piece of art you’d like to own:
An Amy Sillman painting
From left: the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas; Gilder Beach Twitch, Harmony Korine, 2020
DESIGN
Do you collect anything:
Lumpy sculptures, rocks, flattened pennies
Most treasured object:
A seashell shaped like an ear. I found it on the set of The Tree of Life.
It’s a magical object to me.
Favorite designer:
Gio Ponti
Most beautiful room you’ve been in:
I’ve been in so many beautiful rooms! I’m very lucky in that way. Holy buildings are the most beautiful to me. All the chapels I mentioned before. It’s hard to beat St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. A small, ancient temple I visited once in rural India. Arcosanti, Arizona.
Favorite quotidian design object:
An Alessi pepper mill, a gift from my mom. She has the same one and is an amazing chef. It always makes me think of her.
From left: Gio Ponti sculpture; Alessi pepper mill; Arcosanti
BOOKS
Last great book you read:
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Favorite authors:
Kurt Vonnegut, my hometown hero
A book you consider required reading:
Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Magazines or books on your coffee table:
Bright Shade by Chelsea Harlan, The San Gabriels by John W. Robinson
Writer you’d like to have a drink with:
Carl Jung
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From left: Kurt Vonnegut; Bright Shade by Chelsea Harlan
TRAVEL
City you most love to visit:
Miami. Wild energy.
Favorite hotel in the world:
🤷🏽
Best trip you’ve ever taken:
When I was 10, my parents let me go stay for a month with an
elderly couple on the coast of Maine. It changed my life.
Place where you find sanctuary:
Millard Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains, behind my house.
It's my therapy and my church and my gym.
Level of interest in traveling to space:
Not at all interested in going to space. I guess if someone paid for
my trip I would go, but otherwise I’d rather go to the beach. There’s too much to see down here.
Millard Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains
