Behind the Making of the Art in The Christophers

It was over drinks that director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Ed Solomon hatched the idea for the new movie The Christophers and, in their minds, immediately cast it. Soderbergh, a painter himself, imagined Ian McKellen in the role of Julian Sklar, an iconic British artist turned canceled curmudgeon who hires an assistant to catalogue his belongings for appraisal while he films Cameo-style videos for cash. Solomon, the son of a painter, immediately pictured Michaela Coel, creator of HBO’s I May Destroy You, as that aide, Lori. She’s a skilled artist and forger who’s actually been employed by Julian’s estranged adult children (played by James Corden and Jessica Gunning) to secretly complete their father’s fabled series of unfinished portraits. One day, after his death, the siblings will “discover” the titular canvases and, ergo, have an inheritance after all. Lori’s reason for participating in the scheme goes beyond money, which takes the film in surprising directions when Julian catches on to the plot.

For inspiration in creating the lore of Julian Sklar, Solomon spoke with figures of the ‘60s British Pop Art explosion including soft sculpture pioneer Jann Haworth and the late Derek Boshier. Meanwhile, the film’s production designer, Antonia Lowe, researched the studios of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud—“The way that they use the walls as a palette gives that sense that you’re immersed in it,” she says—and visited Royal Academician David Remfry’s workspace.

McKellen had ideas of his own for the cluttered London duplex Julian inhabits. “We talked about the humor that he wanted to instill in small elements,” Lowe tells Galerie. “So it was like an old Statue of David in a postcard that he had scribbled a funny picture over. He requested an Andy Warhol-style picture that he used as a dartboard. Then he just said, ‘I want lots of willies and boobs around.’ And I went, ‘OK.’ So we went to all the hire companies to find any kind of phallic statue.”

Lowe was raised by artists, so she wasn’t too phased when her set decorator, Kimmy Hussey, brought in clay and announced they’d be sculpting some anatomical pieces themselves. “We made some funny things that probably don’t get their close-up in the studio, but they’re there,” Lowe says, adding that crew members requested those particular props as souvenirs when filming wrapped. “The joy of being in the art department is enriching the set with all those little details that give that texture, that sense of history, and a real life lived, and, for Julian, also this feeling of loss. Because there are elements of his past there that make him him, but that he hasn’t touched and that he doesn’t use.”

Artist Barnaby Gorton, whose paintings have appeared in the Harry Potter franchise, produced all eight canvases in the unfinished set, known as The Christopher Series III. (Julian immortalized the long-lost love in two acclaimed groupings during their relationship in the ‘90s). Gorton nailed a ninth canvas, a failed forgery attempt by Julian’s daughter before Lori signs on, on his first try. “You just saw it, and you laughed,” Lowe says of the monstrosity. “We were like, ‘That’s it! You’ve done your job!’”

More tricky was producing Boy Under Cloud, an important drawing that Julian made when he was just six years old. Lowe looked at famous artists’ earliest works, including Le Petit Picador Jaune from an eight-year-old Pablo Picasso, and briefly wondered if she should commission a child to execute Julian’s. Then she remembered she’d never seen a child draw like Picasso, and gave Gorton the green light. Still, it took a lot of back and forth for him to capture Solomon’s vision and to ensure that the Boy doesn’t read as a man (challenging, Lowe notes, when you only see a figure from behind).

Lori’s studio and original art receive plenty of screen time, too. “For her paintings, it was trying to find somebody that was quite contemporary and that was much more colorful,” Lowe says. “I wanted it to feel like there was a lot more joy in her work, not as tortured as Julian might have been at points.” Hussey tapped into her local knowledge of the vibrant St Ives art community in coastal Cornwall, England, and found a match in artist Iona Sanders.

Sanders offered options from her back catalogue, and Soderbergh selected an abstract landscape as Lori’s momentous “Untitled #7.” She also provided photos of her workspace for reference and showed up in-person when Lowe’s team was dressing Lori’s live-in studio. “I was like, ‘Just live in the space and add things where you feel like they should be,’” Lowe says. “She did other extra bits that could go on the wall and just made it feel authentic.”

Additional painters, including the set decorator’s petty cash buyer, Finley Lucas, contributed pieces for the communal space Lori shares with other artists. Lowe wasn’t sure how Lucas would respond when they asked if Julian could dub one of her textured diptychs “absolute s—t” as he saunters by. “We rang her up, and she was like, ‘I love it! That’s great!’” Lowe reports. “Totally up for it.”