Production Designing the Mental Landscape of THE RED ROBIN

Tommy Shellner's bedroom, including childhood sketches from the character, which were done by Stefan Baumann.  Dig the pulp magazine cover on the wall.

By Terry Keefe

Photos by Meg Urbani and Stefan Baumann

We're on the set of THE RED ROBIN feature film and were blown away by the work of production designer Dave Barnes, who transformed a stately Villanova, PA mansion (once owned by NBA legend Dr. J!) into the home of the fictional Shellner Family. 

The story centers around an ill-fated family reunion, in which the patriarch of the family, Dr. Nathaniel Shellner (played by Judd Hirsch), a famed psychiatrist, is on his death bed. Years earlier, Dr. Shellner adopted a number of children, who are now adults. The youngest of those children, Tommy Shellner (played by Ryan O'Nan), makes the stunning accusation that his father adopted the children for the purposes of experimentation for the government.

And those experiments reportedly happened in the Shellner mansion, a house which possibly holds some very deep secrets.

Some of those secrets are hidden in objects and artwork that was done by the young version of the lead character, Tommy Shellner, and the production design had to be very specific.

Of particular importance was the childhood bedroom of Tommy, which has not been changed since he moved out after high school. The room is lined with stacks of comic books (provided by Mike Ferrero of Fat Jack's Comicrypt in Center City, Philadelphia) and childhood artifacts from the years of Tommy's childhood.

The sketches that Tommy did throughout his childhood figure prominently in the plot, and were done by talented sketch artist Stefan Baumann. Art Director Tony Trovarello, Set Decorator Stu Probst, Set Decorator Maggie Ruder, along with Susannah McCarthy, Taryn Jones, Byron Kelly, Meg Urbani, and Cole Price were also part of the design team.

Below are some photos from the set:

The shelves of Tommy Shellner's bedroom.

Numerous sketches done by Stefan Baumann.

Actor Ryan O'Nan, playing Tommy Shellner, DP Adrian Correia, and director Michael Z. Wechsler.

The shelves of Tommy Shellner's room include early models of Apple laptops and desktops, along with comic books galore.

Little touches like a late 80s model video camera, along with spiral notebooks filled with wild drawing and doodles.

Production designer Dave Barnes.