There are captivating performances in Saltburn but none quite as alluring as the Saltburn house itself. This film is an immersive experience that lingers in your thoughts long after leaving the cinema. Despite the peculiar and shocking events, many of us have fantasised about being invited to a long-lost summer in a majestic country house. In an exclusive video interview, Production Designer Suzie Davies and Set Decorator Charlotte Dirickx share insights into creating a house of dreams (and nightmares) and delve into the filming location, design and décor details.

From Academy Award winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) Saltburn unfolds as a dark tale of societal divisions and youthful yearning. With a nod to L.P. Hartley’s 1953 novel The Go-Between and the 1999 film The Talented Mr Ripley, the story revolves around Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a financially challenged student at Oxford University. Struggling to fit in amongst the plethora of posh kids, he finds himself drawn into the world of the enigmatically charming aristocrat Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for what promises to be an unforgettable summer.

Scroll to see our video interview. 

The filming location of Saltburn

The Saltburn house and grounds captivate us as much as Oliver is captivated by Felix and, according to a line in the film, even the great writer Evelyn Waugh was also obsessed with the imaginary estate.

“We wanted people to feel like they wanted to visit, they wanted to go to a party there, they wanted to eat there, to get drunk there… part of the whole thing with Oliver’s desire and obsession, we wanted the audience to feel that too: What are we desiring? What is aesthetic? What is we want we can’t have?” Davies told us.

Despite the UK being rich with historic buildings suitable as film locations, finding a house to play this starring role was not as straightforward as you might think. The real star of Saltburn is Saltburn so Fennell deliberately chose a location unfamiliar to audiences, ensuring the setting becomes a character in itself.

Eagle-eyed film fans will be familiar with locations like Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, England (which has been used for the filming of The Favourite, Batman Begins, Paddington, Harry Potter and The Great) as well as Ham House in Richmond (The Young Victoria, Never Let Me Go, Anna Karenina), Blenheim Palace (Spectre, Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation), Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire (Gothic, Peter’s Friends, Gosford Park)) and Boughton House and estate in Kettering, Northamptonshire (Napoleon, Les Misérables). It’s little wonder that Fennell wanted to find something we wouldn’t recognise to play the fictional family home of the Catton family.

The house had to work for filming all the interior scenes too (known in the industry as a ‘composite set’), not only for reasons of practicality, but for the purposes of atmosphere and process in the making of the film. “It was important to me that we were all in there together, that the making of the film in some way had that feeling of a summer where everyone loses their mind together” Fennell said. “The energy in the scenes is much more fluid,” adds Davies, “the actors were able to inhabit this world”. 

Fennell and Oscar-nominated Production Designer Suzie Davies found a house that fitted the bill: Drayton House in Northamptonshire, a Grade I listed house which has been in the Stopford Sackville family for over 250 years. With its 127 rooms and centuries-old charm, Drayton House adds a unique, dreamlike quality to the film.

Discover how the team found the house in our video interview below.

 

The design of the Saltburn house, gardens and maze

Davies and Set Decorator Charlotte Dirickx, with the generous approval of the current owners, undertook the task of enhancing numerous rooms for filming purposes. Their transformations involved lifting carpets, repainting walls, rearranging furniture, incorporating wallpaper, and adorning rooms with carefully sourced furniture and new decor.

Drawing inspiration from a diverse palette, their vision for the film’s aesthetics was influenced by various sources. They looked to the cinematic lighting and intensity found in Caravaggio paintings, the whimsical nature of Pre-Raphaelite artists, the photography of Martin Parr and Annie Leibovitz, and the interior design of David Hicks. Adding a touch of kitsch pop and early 2000’s technology further enriched their creative blend.

The overarching goal in designing the Saltburn house and shaping the film’s visual identity was to emulate the essence of an aging oil painting hanging in a grand hall. The painting metaphorically begins to drip down the canvas, mirroring the story’s unfolding distortions and perversions.

The colour red emerges as a recurrent theme throughout the film, symbolising danger, blood and sex. Davies emphasises, “Red is such a beautiful colour to play with, especially in cinematic terms. It’s sexy, it’s scary, it’s intense.” The richness of the colour palette was carefully modulated for specific scenes, a task facilitated by the astute lighting and cinematography skills of Linus Sandgren.

The recreated Saltburn house is unveiled when Felix provides Oliver with a rapid tour upon his arrival. Oliver’s exclamation of “Wow, just wow” upon entering the grand reception hall mirrors our own awe. The grand dining room, the oak staircase, and the eclectic arrangement of antique furniture throughout the numerous rooms all contribute to the visual tapestry. Let’s explore the interiors together: –

 

The TV lounge

Gathered around the TV room watching a film, Oliver is introduced to the modern-day eccentric Catton family. Davis and Dirickx transformed this space by removing the original carpet, incorporating silk panels, repainting the walls, and introducing new furniture and art.

The décor displays a captivating layering of various time periods and interior design styles, reflecting the eclectic tastes of an affluent family with a penchant for collecting for generations. The room features vibrant orange-red Pierre Frey silk wallpaper adorned with both classic and contemporary art, framed portraits, a modernist silver sculpture, a red velvet sofa with fringe, a lamp with fringe, assorted bohemian cushions, a zebra-patterned chair, chinoiserie chairs and side tables, and even some Wotsits on the coffee table.

Davies notes, “We aimed to recreate the feel of Elspeth (Rosamund Pike’s character) having designed the TV room about 15-20 years ago,” drawing inspiration from Elle Decoration or Homes and Interiors with a touch of bohemian flair. Dirickx explains the combination of the house’s original extraordinary antiques with added elements of ‘Mayfair glitz’ and a hint of ‘Aspinall family,’ and then “dialled it up to give it that Emerald Fennell look together with Notting Hill boho touches”.

The only giveaway to the film’s time period is the technology – a silver block TV firmly places us in the early 2000s. You’ll also notice that the film is devoid of smartphones.

 

The Dining room

Gathered in the grand wood-paneled dining room, the family dress formally for dinner. A sizeable wooden dining table takes centre stage, adorned with various silver candelabras and multicolored candles. A lavish spread includes prawns and oysters on a bed of ice presented on a silver platter, alongside a jar of Marmite. The decision to opt for brightly coloured candles, rather than conventional white, was a deliberate choice by Fennell. Davies recalls, “I think we had white candles, and she was like, ‘No, let’s go big.'”

These juxtapositions assault the senses yet Dirickx drew inspiration from the real butler and house-keeper of Drayton House. Despite the formality of a dining table, the Marmite jar and tomato ketchup bottle, upon closer inspection, reveal sterling silver lids—a detail observed from the real estate staff.

Find your own silver marmite lids and silver sauce bottle lids in our marketplace.

 

The Breakfast room

In the breakfast room scene (where Oliver is served runny eggs!), a warm red light envelops the space. Although a further scene centered around eggs didn’t make it to the final film, it served as a significant influence on the design of this room. Look closely and you’ll see the dining chairs are upholstered in a yolk yellow fabric with strips of egg ‘blastoderm’ red.

Specifically crafted for filming, the red curtains in the room feature black vines and ivy climbing up the fabric, mirroring the intricate plasterwork on the ceiling. These details contribute to the nuanced and visually captivating atmosphere.

 

Felix’s bedroom

The fusion of eras and style continues in Felix’s bedroom. A vivid blue four-poster bed, specially sprayed in a car yard for the film, stands as a centerpiece. Antique tapestries adorn the walls, complemented by a 1950s side table and a 90s yellow lamp. All these elements are set against a backdrop of lustrous, blood-red, high-gloss walls, creating a visually striking atmosphere.

 

The bathroom

The spacious bathroom situated between Oliver and Felix’s bedrooms was entirely constructed for filming purposes; in reality, it functions as a bedroom in the house.

Designed by Davies and Dirickx, the bathroom features a wrought iron, clawed-feet bath where a distressing scene unfolds. Numerous mirrors, two vanity units flanking the room, a geometric tiled floor, and marble-effect wallpaper selected to mirror Oliver’s sinewy muscles were all meticulously crafted by the design team. The repainted dark grey gloss ceiling was a deliberate choice to evoke the appearance of wet oil paint beginning to melt, reflecting the escalating tension in the unfolding story.

 

The Gardens and maze

The Gardens are dressed for Oliver’s birthday celebration, featuring captivating, gargantuan lotus flower lantern lights floating on the pond.

We are treated to a memorable panorama of the gardens and grounds. From the balcony, Oliver surveys the aftermath of the party, witnessing a chaotic scene on the littered lawn: scattered chairs, fire pits, sculptures adorned with metallic slash drapes, and clothes strewn about.

The maze (a combination of physical construction and post-production effects) is home to a family of minotaurs positioned around the north, south, east, and west of the maze center. At the heart of it all stands a 12-foot hero minotaur, affectionately dubbed “Big Willy” by the team.

 

Elsbeth’s bedroom

In Elsbeth’s bedroom, red takes centre stage as she lies incapacitated amid an array of medical equipment. Interestingly, this particular location was not filmed within Drayton House. The deliberate use of “red on red on red” in this space symbolises the metaphorical tearing out of the heart from the Catton family.

We are granted a final, memorable tour of Saltburn as Oliver dances through each room—an unforgettable scene in more ways than one.

Discover what Production Designer Suzie Davies and Set Decorator Charlotte Dirickx would choose to take from the Saltburn film set for their own home in our video interview above, and let us know what you would choose in the comments below.

Saltburn is still showing in select cinemas and available on Prime Video.