Two of television’s most high-concept shows share an unexpected common mode of transportation: Air Force One.
This season, Apple TV’s Pluribus and Hulu’s Paradise both recreated the famous aircraft that carries the president of the United States, each aiming for a distinct take. Pluribus production designer Denise Pizzini and set decorator Ashley Michelle Marsh told Gold Derby they wanted their version to feel “a little bit different” from past depictions in media, while Paradise production designer Kevin Bird described his plane as “scaffolded together out of a million pieces.”
Pluribus cast members Rhea Seehorn (Carol Sturka) and Karolina Wydra (Zosia) both said they were “blown away” while aboard the fake Air Force One, thanks to “the craftsmanship” and “the decor,” respectively. Samba Schutte (Diabaté), whose narcissistic character insisted on meeting Carol aboard the executive jet, admitted with a smile, “I felt very presidential.”
Paradise lead actor and producer Sterling K. Brown (Xavier Collins) informed us that Air Force One was more “sentimental” for his character than it was about “geeking out over the actual plane itself.” And co-star Krys Marshall (Nicole Robinson) added that she felt as though she’d been “transported” to the real thing — despite being on a set on the Paramount lot.
Below, the Pluribus and Paradise teams break down their Air Force One builds and share exclusive concept art and behind-the-scenes looks at their sets.
‘A huge deal’
To make the Pluribus set feel fully immersive and practical, the team constructed an expansive exterior complete with functional access and accurate lighting.
Denise Pizzini: The exterior was a huge deal. We had the door to a Boeing 747, and we thought we’d just build a little surround, and then green screen and visual effects would build the rest of the plane. But no, we all realized Vince [Gilligan, the showrunner] would want to interact with it more than that, because he loves to do everything practically. We all do. We ended up building this huge side of the plane, enough where you could bring the steps up to the door and you can have the cast walk in. We had enough of that where you could go inside the plane from the exterior and shoot out.
We also had to do a bunch of light studies, because this was supposed to be Bilbao, Spain. We had scouted Bilbao earlier that summer, but we were going back in the fall, so the light was going to be different. We wanted to make sure the light was going to match when they’re standing on the tarmac, because we poured 100 feet of concrete to try to match the tarmac at Bilbao. We had to find the stairs that go up to it, and we built this giant metal structure, which we had to have engineered to withstand the winds.
‘It’s so precision-based’
For the interior of Air Force One, the Pluribus team focused on customization and subtle stylistic choices in order to ensure their version had a distinct visual identity.
Ashley Michelle Marsh: We had to have a bunch of furniture reupholstered. It’s so precision-based in there, because in an airplane you only have X amount of room. We really wanted to stick with the reality of situations. We found everything that matched exactly and then went it in there to make sure it worked.
Denise Pizzini: There are so many Air Force Ones in different TV shows, and I wanted to try to make ours feel a little bit different. We went with a kind of a deeper color palette, like this dark navy blue and these rich browns, and then that blue carpet. You can only go so far, but we wanted to tweak it a little bit and give it this clean, austere look. We were pretty intentional about everything that we picked, even wall colors. There’s a million different beige whites, so we kind of tweaked it to make it our own. We built all the interiors on stage, including the long walk-in, the conference room, and things like that.
‘Real and accurate’
For the Paradise plane’s exterior, the team blended large-scale practical builds with extensive VFX and matte work to create a seamless environment that still felt grounded.
Kevin Bird: Like everything we do at Paradise, Air Force One is sort of scaffolded together out of a million pieces. We built the huge set of doors, and we did a lot of green screen work looking into the doors, then we shot the doors again in an interior where Sinatra [Julianne Nicholson] was standing. Behind her is where they added the airplane graveyard. The guys did an amazing job of making it feel like Sinatra was standing in that tunnel into Paradise with smashed planes behind her.
It’s a break from what we normally do, because Dan [Fogelman, the showrunner] likes to shoot everything as real as possible, and obviously we in the art department love to do that, too. We made Air Force One as real and as accurate as possible. Everything the actors didn’t need to touch or be in close proximity to, the VFX team did the set extension on. When Sinatra is showing Link [Thomas Doherty] and he has an eyeline to it, at that point you’re fully in matte painting and CGI. The guys did an amazing job with those assets in combining 2D and 3D map-painting — it’s pretty convincing.
‘We aged it down’
For the interior of the historic aircraft, Paradise‘s production designer created a worn atmosphere to reflect the passage of time, and then the set decorators filled it with all the appropriate details.
Kevin Bird: We shot the interior on one of our stages. We built the presidential office and had the hallways outside of it. When we first did that for Season 1, it was built on a rig that could twist and turn when the nukes were going off and they were escaping. We didn’t do that this time. It didn’t get saved from Season 1, so we rebuilt it. Also it was now older, and we aged it down a lot more.
The interiors were lit by lantern, almost like candlelight. Then set dec brings the reality: the pens and the cups and all that kind of stuff. We pushed as far as we could with the de-aging. I think the chairs probably went out on two other shows. By the time we got them, they were bright blue, so we had to recover everything.
‘An insane undertaking’
Episode 2 of Pluribus takes place partially aboard Air Force One, soon after almost all of humanity becomes connected via a hive mind. Carol and Diabaté are unaffected by the virus, and they meet for the first time on the iconic airplane.
Rhea Seehorn: They built a giant portion of it from this place that’s apparently a graveyard of airplane parts. When you first see Diabaté open the door, he is on a partially real piece and up some stairs. The team built the whole rest of the actual Air Force One exterior in post-production, which was amazing to watch. I got to see a little bit of the building process. The interior was built to spec to the real Air Force One, which was an insane undertaking. All of that gorgeous walnut that’s in the real one is all hand-painted, with faux marbleizing in the wood by different artists. I was blown away by the craftsmanship of it. Playing Carol, she’s not even thinking, “I can’t believe I’m standing where the president stood.” Instead, she’s like, “What is this dude up to that he decided to come in this showy manner, and how is this gonna help me or hurt me?”
Karolina Wydra: It was pretty wild. I remember I was blown away by the decor and how spacious it was. The main room with the seating was quite impressive and felt like a proper room. It was very well detailed. And there were the couches as we were walking through the hallway. It was very impressive what Denise did. Samba felt like he owned that plane. We all felt very important.
Samba Schutte: The first thing I saw was the exterior, because I had to practice opening the door. That was a stunt, by the way. Those doors are very heavy — I don’t know how the hostesses and stewardesses do it. I had to practice and make sure I didn’t fall down 20 feet to the ground. It’s a real airplane exterior that they used. The interior was just ridiculously detailed. I mean, Denise had it down to the phones, the decorations, the seal, the emblems. There was even the press room, which we never used ourselves, but it was built there with the stairs that go up. The conference room was identical to what I’ve seen in movies and stuff. Everything looked like wood, but it wasn’t wood, it was some weird plaster. The windows opened and shut, so you actually felt like you were on an airplane. This was my area. I was the ambassador of humanity in that moment. I felt very presidential.
‘Very little acting’
Air Force One appears multiple times throughout the first two seasons of Paradise. First, it serves as a symbol of ambition that Xavier shows to his father (Glynn Turman). Then, it’s the location where Agent Robinson and members of the president’s (James Marsden) team survive a nuclear apocalypse. Years later, Sinatra and Link have their tension-filled sit-down aboard the jet.
Sterling K. Brown: Showing Xavier’s dad Air Force One, there’s a tremendous amount of pride associated with it, because he’s a pilot. So there’s the attachment to Air Force One itself, but there’s also the emotional thing of showing his father something that he wanted to see his whole life, and never would have gotten a chance to see if it weren’t for Xavier. So it’s more sentimental than it is about geeking out over the actual plane itself. Our production designers are amazing, from Graceland to the Oval Office to Air Force One. There’s very little acting that I have to do pretending to be somewhere, because you step into that place and you’re like, “I’m here. It’s real.”
Krys Marshall: We built an actual airplane set, which was really beautiful. It was detailed down to the nooks and crannies of what the scale of Air Force One really looks like. When you’re on that set, you feel like you’re on Air Force One — inside a stage on the Paramount lot. It’s pretty cool. Our art department does an incredible job of making the world feel so real. You don’t have to act or play — you’re transported there.
These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
