“Despite its striking architecture, Palm Springs has seldom been captured effectively on film — even the movie “Palm Springs” shot somewhere else. But no longer. The Olivia Wilde-directed dystopian fantasy “Don’t Worry Darling” makes ample use of the California resort town’s well-preserved mid-century buildings to showcase her vision of 1950s suburban bliss covering up something menacing underneath. Endless sunny skies, broad avenues lined with swaying palm trees and turquoise swimming pools are signifiers of an idealized life for the inhabitants of the fictional Victory Project, like the attractive young couple played by Florence Pugh and Harry Styles.
Production designer Katie Byron, the art and set decoration teams and location manager Chris Baugh pushed hard to be able to shoot in landmark mid-century buildings, and furnished them with period-appropriate items – despite the difficulty of filming in pristine historic locales…”
