Although it's probably not as daunting as re-creating the battlefields of World War II in Band of Brothers, designing the sets for the surgical drama Nip/Tuck also has its challenges.  The task of coming up with Sean (Dylan Walsh) and Christian's (Julian McMahon) homes, offices and other settings falls on the very capable hands of veteran set decorator, Ellen Brill.

Now that the offices of Drs. Sean McNamara and Christian Troy are relocating from swanky Miami to posh Los Angeles, the UCLA-educated Brill spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about the changes and adjustments for Nip/Tuck's transplanted upcoming new season.

According to Brill, who's previously done work on 24, Entourage and Pulp Fiction to name a few, she and the rest of her set design team have had to work from scratch for Nip/Tuck's all-new Los Angeles-based fifth season.

“Nothing survived… nothing,” Brill disclosed.  “Everything was completely torn down and we're actually on our tenth episode of the new season, or of the fifth season now.  And we've been working on these new sets and they're interesting, they're very different, way larger.”

She does, however, mention that although the new Nip/Tuck is practically devoid of its Miami look, one thing has survived the move to the city of angels.

“I might say there's still a fish tank, but other than that, there's not a lot that's the same.”

Noting that she's revealed that the new season's sets are of a grander scale than their first four seasons, Brill also admitted that the budget she now has to work with has also risen considerably.

“The new sets since we moved from Miami from Los Angeles are probably four times as big,” the three-time Emmy nominated designer pointed out.  “The new surgery center has 16 foot high ceilings and the volume of the space is way larger, so right away the budget increases.”

She went on to name some of the set pieces that have burned the largest holes in the Nip/Tuck wallet.

“Let's see, the most expensive one item.. actually the light fixture that hung over Christian's dining room table might have been $6,000 and it was kind of just a ‘70s vintage piece,” Brill confessed.  “That was kind of expensive.”

Aside from the priciest or most expensive, the one-time Chairman of the Board of the Set Decorators Society of America also shared her favorite new set of the coming Nip/Tuck season.

“The entry to the knee surgery center is quite spectacular, which you will see in the first episode of the season.  I think it's kind of jaw dropping, quite honestly, so I'm excited for everyone to see that on film.  We got to screen it a few weeks ago, and I got chills.”

Nip/Tuck aficionados will get the chance to take in Ellen Brill's work, including her touted knee surgery center entrance, when the show returns from Los Angeles October 30.


-Rosario Santiago, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Media Blvd
(Image Courtesy of TV Addict)