Outer space. Chicken farms. A dystopian society. Human replicants. These are just some of the ingredients of Prime Videos’ new sci-fi feature Foe, which is now in theaters before heading to Prime. Starring A-listers Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) and Paul Mescal (Aftersun), Garth Davis’ new feature is adapted from Iain Reid’s 2018 novel and is rich with visual components that could make for a stunning big-screen project. Ronan and Mescal play Hen and Junior, a seemingly happily married couple living on a farm in the year 2065, as Earth is crumbling around them. Then, a mysterious visitor (Aaron Pierre) pays them a visit and offers Junior a chance to venture into space for a year and help humanity branch out to perhaps more promising terrain. But there’s more than what meets the eye for each of these three characters…

In honor of the release of the film, which has faced mixed reviews thus far, we recently caught up with the Academy Award-winning production designer Patrice Vermette, who is just the man for the job. He has worked extensively with acclaimed filmmaker Denis Villeneuve and won his Oscar trophy for Dune (2021). We can’t wait for Dune: Part Two, but in the meantime, Vermette spoke about bringing Reid’s book to life and some of the challenges behind it.

Sci-Fi That Explores ‘The Human Condition’

Before Foe, Vermette and director Davis were exploring another developing film: the highly anticipated Tron: Ares, which didn’t end up materializing for the two. But there was still hope for another project to collaborate on, as Vermette told us:

“Garth said, ‘Well, don’t be disappointed too long because I’ve got this other script for you if you’re interested in it, but it’s much smaller, obviously.’ And I said, ‘Let me read it.’ And I fell in love with the script. I thought it was super interesting. I love science fiction that talks about the human condition, makes us asks questions about who we are personally, and especially this one for relationships, the state of the world, the state of the planet.”

“It resonated with me,” continued Vermette, “and it’s funny because one of the first images I threw in, Garth said, ‘Wait a minute, I’ve got the same image.’ And it was the Andrew Wyeth painting of a woman in a field and the house. So that was kind of the cornerstone of where the design started.”

Designing the Retro Future
Prime Video

Sure, it’s also a science-fiction tale, but really that genre serves as the backdrop only. For all the cinephiles out there itching for an alternative kind of love story, Foe might just be the film for you. “It’s mostly about a relationship, about a guy [played by Paul Mescal] that doesn’t want to live in the future, doesn’t want to live in the present either,” said Vermette, who added:

“He’s got this smell, this toxicity of, ‘I like the good old ways.’ It’s almost like a ‘Make America Great Again’ type of thing. It’s like, ‘Wait a minute. In my world, if you don’t want to adapt, you go into decay and you eventually you get extinct.’ And the house was basically a representation of that. Not knowing it’s a sci-fi, you could almost believe that it’s a period movie, except for these contemporary elements. And the futuristic elements come from the character of Terrance [Aaron Pierre], who was the agent of change.”

Related: Foe Review: Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal Trapped in a Disappointing Retro-Future Drama

Terrance is perhaps the most interesting character, a governmental employee, driving a slick vehicle, whose modern-day look doesn’t exactly fit in well with the old-school nature of Hen and Junior’s lifestyle out in the middle of nowhere. “The fun part of Terrance’s character was the opportunity of designing a car, which was built,” said Vermette. Another fun part of the production design? Chicken farms of the future.

The question was like, ‘Okay, Junior works in a chicken farm. What would be a chicken farm in the future?’ I think it’s something that’s gonna go vertical. And so we had all these chickens in that tower. And it was fun to do like a mirror effect with the rocket, in which you’re all sitting the same way that the chickens are, so that was fun.

Another visual component of Foe that’s certainly noteworthy is the insect infestation that Hen and Junior face at different points in the movie. The bug that they see inside their home is the three-horned beetle, a choice Vermette loved. “When I researched it, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is clever,’ because of the action of Junior in the sink at the end, when he squashes it with a beer bottle. And Hen is fascinated by it,” said Vermette. “The signification of a three-horned beetle in Hinduism is ‘changes.’ It’s a rebirth. So Junior doesn’t accept that.”

Australia and Denis Villeneuve Collaborations
Warner Bros. Pictures

Besides the futuristic chicken farm, Foe is rich with other visually arresting locations, evoking a simultaneously futuristic yet rural look to paint the grim picture of planet Earth in the year 2065. “The location where we shot, we were welcomed by the Aboriginal community of Yatte Yattah in Australia,” Vermette explained. “Where we shot, believe it or not, in the late ’50s, the government over there had a project: ‘Let’s do a lake, so let’s drown everything in sight, and let’s do a lake for water sport.’ It was going to become a place where people are going to do water-skiing and whatever. And in the late 1990s, they realized maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

“So they decommissioned it,” continued Vermette. “And the result of all these drowned trees, mature trees, it helped and supported the look of the movie, for the state of the Earth and the planet and where we’re heading. It supported that concept as well.”

Related: Denis Villeneuve’s 10 Best Movies, According to Rotten Tomatoes

It’s locations like Australia that call to mind past futuristic projects, like Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. Vermette won an Academy Award for the film and has collaborated with Villaneuve on other high-profile films, including Arrival, Sicario, and Prisoners. Vermette commented on what it’s like working with both Villeneuve and Foe director Garth Davis:

Both are very different but very similar at the same time because they’re very cerebral people. They do think nothing is done for coolness. It’s like, everything serves a purpose, which I love. And both of them are passionate. And both of them are extremely good team players because they surround themselves with people who they trust, and you can express yourself as an artist. I enjoy that.

And audiences have enjoyed the results. From Amazon Studios, Foe is now in theaters and will be released in Canada on October 13. The film comes out in the UK and Ireland on October 20 via MetFilmDistribution