“The show gets immediately into some really emotionally charged stories that were really personal to me,” production designer Joshua Petersen shares about what drew him to Hulu’s “Life and Beth,” which was created by and stars Amy Schumer. The series toggles between present-day Manhattan, where Schumer’s character Beth works as a wine distributor, and 1990s Long Island in flashbacks to Beth’s adolescence. Those flashbacks really appealed to Petersen, who relished the opportunity to capture “the life and color of childhood” and create “an interesting palate and an arc and a through line.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
“Life and Beth” draws a lot of its inspiration from Schumer’s own life, and Petersen talks about collaborating closely with her to accurately recreate her past for the series. “Right from the beginning, I came back to New York to start and she had left flowers and a stack of her childhood diaries on her desk” to read, he says, and he was immediately “struck” by Schumer’s vulnerability. Her attitude allowed Petersen to pull from his own past, too, looking at old photographs and even using the carpet from his childhood home.
The Long Island house is not only Petersen’s favorite set from the first season, but it also serves a vital purpose in the series, as the audience learns so much about Beth’s past and her mother Jane (Laura Benanti) through the look and feel of the space. The home tells the story of someone “who’s had money and lived an aspiration life and decorated a really beautiful upper-class home” who had to downsize unexpectedly, but still tried to maintain as much of their taste and style as possible. “The idea that people [who] don’t have money are not expressive is a criminal offense to me,” Petersen adds.
The other essential location for the series is the farm and vineyard where Beth meets her love interest John, played by Michael Cera. Although they appear seamless on screen, Petersen says that they are two different locations in upstate New York that featured “similar geology” so that they could be “stitched together visually.” Schumer’s real-life husband Chris Fischer was an excellent resource for the production in terms of authenticity and Petersen found him “inspiring.” Petersen also talks about his enjoyment of “working with local vendors” and leaving behind some of the production’s builds to be put to real use at farmers markets and at the vineyard.
The penultimate episode of the season, titled “MRI,” also features one of Petersen’s favorite sets from the series. He and the production team built an MRI room, a claustrophobic space and experience that prompts Beth to revisit some of the most painful memories of her childhood. Petersen loves the episode not only because it features a “really special” set, but also because the physical room played such an important role in revealing “the emotional weight” that Beth has been carrying in all the prior episodes. “Life and Beth” has been renewed for a second season, and Petersen could not reveal any information he might know, teasing, “I wish I could tell ya, but I can’t.”
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