By Thom Fowler
January 24, 2003
“When you go to a movie and see the amazing set of BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA or MOULIN ROUGE you have to remember it comes from the mind of a director, its put on paper for everyone to read, but it gets created by all the little decorator queens that run Hollywood. It’s our job to make the mega-stars and mega-directors look great.”
Steven Cordrey is an interior designer and set decorator whose business, C.B.I. Enterprises, is based in Malibu, California, home to the rich and famous. Steven set me straight on the importance of the film set and dished the dirt on a few celebrities and directors he has worked for. And then I asked him for some practical design advice which he has given out to the world at large through a handful of design shows on the telly.
The one thing I liked most about talking to Steven is that, while he has a client list of people, some of whom are so famous he can’t mention by name because his contracts stipulate that he can’t gain any publicity off his clients without going through an approval process, he doesn’t have that arrogant sense of self-importance that even less successful Hollywood designers usually carry around with them. He not only works for the clients who can afford to do just about anything to their homes, he also sees clients with humble means to work out a design plan to fit their limited budgets.
Thom: What is the difference between a set designer and a set decorator?
Steven Cordrey: A set designer is the one who determines what the set should look like. A set decorator is the one who takes direction from the set designer and does all the labor like paint the walls, puts the drapes up, lays the rug and brings in the furniture.
[Set Design, Lesson 1: A set decorator is different than a prop master. A table could be a prop, if it is picked up by the actor and thrown at a wall, or decoration if it just sits there to create ambiance – ed]
Thom: How did you get into this business?
Steven Cordrey: I was in a Broadway show in 1986 and I enjoyed talking to the set decorators and I got very interested in how the set around me got created. From then, I was in another production and they needed some help painting and putting up walls and I assisted them and I really enjoyed it and I gave them some suggestions and they liked my suggestions and they passed my name on and my career got started from there.
Thom: What shows or movies have you worked on?
Steven Cordrey: I’ve worked on A TIME TO KILL, BATMAN, VH-1 DUETS, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S SO YOU THINK YOU’RE FUNNY and lots of sitcoms and pilots and commercials, and I designed the pilot for AIN’T IT COOL NEWS for Comedy Central, a show based on the website that is currently in development limbo.
Thom: You’ve worked behind the scenes but you’ve also been on camera. Which shows have you been on?
Steven Cordrey: I guest hosted an episode YOUR PLACE OR MINE (NBC), CELEBRITY HOMES (E!) and MTV CRIBS.
Thom: Anything you’ve been working on?
Steven Cordrey: In two weeks I’m shooting a pilot for A&E called THE MOTHER-IN-LAW MAKE-OVER SHOW. I interviewed for the ANNA NICOLE SHOW but after minutes of counseling I decided that might not be the best career choice. The publicity that was created by Bobby Trendy being on the show, although grand, is not the kind of publicity that is very fruitful. People were left with an impression of him as an incompetent, overpriced decorator queen and I didn’t want to be remembered as that. I decided Anna should create her environment on her own.
Thom: What is the most fun about being a set decorator?
Steven Cordrey: You are able to create an environment from nothing solely based on the mind of a madman. You are able to bring to reality or pseudo-reality, an environment that doesn’t exist, might exist or could exist. It’s magical. It’s creating magic. That’s what makes it the funnest. Creating something out of nothing. Where once stands an empty stage can stand an entire empire on the moons of Peridor, or whatever.
Thom: What is the most challenging?
Steven Cordrey: The most challenging thing is to create this magical environment with time restrictions. Getting in the head of the director and trying to understand what he or she wants so that the story can come to life.
Thom: Do you meet a lot of celebrities?
Steven Cordrey: Yes.
Thom: …
Steven Cordrey: I don’t just decorate sets, I’m also an interior designer, which came from being on the set and impressing the people around me so much so that they asked me to do their homes and from there I have gotten many, many celebrity clients like Leanza Coronet (Miss America [YEAR?]), Mark Steines (ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT), Kim Fields, Mark Price [Skippy from FAMILY TIES who is now producing STAR DATES for E!, the show that recently featured Kim Fields who said about her blind date with a randomly chosen guy, “If he calls me Tootie, he’s outta there.”], Kevin Costner, Blair Underwood, Brooke Burke (WILD ON E!), Rene Jones (DAYS OF OUR LIVES), Macy Grey, Elgin Baylor (General Manager of the Los Angeles Clippers), and several uber-rich mega-stars he can’t mention because he’s under contract.
Thom: What’s up with Bobby Trendy?
Steven Cordrey: I don’t want to give Bobby any press, he’s had his ten minutes. I call his design style EARLY DRAG QUEEN.
Thom: What’s the bitchiest thing you ever heard anyone say?
Steven Cordrey: I can tell you the most absurd things anyone has said to me.
“Pink! I didn’t say PINK. I meant pink.”
One time, after creating an entire set - the bed linens, the sofas, the drapes, everything done flawless, perfect, absolutely amazing, the director walks on the set and says, “This looks great but I was thinking something a little lighter” and I had to redo the entire set in two hours.
Macy Grey said, when we were doing her dining room, she said, “Wow, is it possible to make that a little more super-dope?”
In the world of design, its funny that everything is subjective, even though there is mega money behind it and unlimited creativity is afforded, it’s very interesting that sometimes the thing that makes that director or uber-star or whatever the most impressed about the creation or gives them the greatest sense of accomplishment about the creation isn’t the most expensive thing in the room, isn’t the largest thing in the room, its usually something very, very small that they notice that makes it complete for them.
For example, with Macy Grey, we created this amazing dining room with floor cushions form Morocco and slippers for guest, hand painted plates from India, fresh flowers from Hawaii, all of this was laid on the table, and the one thing that made it feel magical for her, when she sat down to take a drink out of a glass, it was this giant, oversized, overdone wine glass and when she grabbed it she felt like she was the queen at this feast with all her friends and loved ones around her and that’s what made it perfect for her.
Whereas Macy Grey likes everything to be dope and superfly, Kim Fields loves it when it’s very inspirational.
Thom: Living in Malibu, you probably have a lot of neighbors in the entertainment business, anyone we’d know about?
Steven Cordrey: Mark Hamill, Cher, Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand. Everybody lives here.
Thom: Do you ever run into them?
Steven Cordrey: Oh yeah, I ran into Barbra Streisand at the dentist. I ran into Pamela Anderson at the plastic surgeon’s office.
Thom: Doesn’t Mark Hamill have some weirdo name for his house?
Steven Cordrey: It’s called The Raccoon Lodge.
Thom: What was your impression of Harry Knowles?
Steven Cordrey: Harry is a very creative, very interesting, very eccentric human being. He’s very nice and very kind but if you want some dirt, definitely, despite his persona, he’s the pawn of the movie industry. He may have started out as the rebel and the independent but he definitely gets swept away by the grandeur of Hollywood.
Steven Cordrey: Ask me what the craziest thing I’ve found is.
Thom: Okay, what’s the craziest thing you’ve found?
I found that no matter where they hide it, no matter how long its been there, no matter whether they remember it or want anyone to remember it, I found every dildo, sordid sex toys, kinky lingerie and bedside warriors [a gun], I’ve found them all. I found “Fred”, the thirteen-inch double headed dildo in the home of the actress who played [guess who?]’s daughter on DYNASTY. And in her closet in the back between an old coat and some nasty jeans was Prince’s outfit from Sexy M*F* . I found the ultimate symbol of American Royalty, the crown for Miss America, discretely tucked away under a box of old papers in the back corner of Leanza Coronets house.
Thom: Do you have any memorable Hollywood moments?
Steven Cordrey: I was doing a set for a benefit for an AIDS hospice and they kept being very hush hush about who the talent was. And I had done this beautiful set in the back of this amazing estate in the Palisades Riviera, where President Reagan had his home, and I was in the bedroom, sitting on the bed and talking to my mom on the phone. There was nobody in the room, someone walked in and sat right next to me and said, “Hey how’s it going. When you are done can I use the phone?” And I said, “Sure, no problem. Hey mom, gotta go. Call you later.” I hung up the phone and turned to my left and sitting hip to hip with me was Liza Minelli.
And I almost threw out someone’s Grammy thinking it was junk. I was redoing a music legend’s den, when, as I was sorting through old books, ugly tchotchkes, bad silk plants, the client walks in and looks in the box and says, “What is all that?” I said, this is junk, you need to throw this stuff out, and the worst is this little victrola thing, the plaque is falling off. He takes it from me very carefully, puts the plaque back on and tells me, “Do you know what this is? Why don’t you read it aloud.” And I proceeded to read, “The Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presents this Grammy.” His name is Larry Levine, that Grammy was for TASTE OF HONEY produced by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss (the A and M of A&M RECORDS)
Thom: Do you only go after high-end or famous clients?
Steven Cordrey: No. Absolutely not. I have a belief that design and style is for everybody. That it doesn’t matter how much money you have, how much clout you have, or where or how you live, that even if you are in a trailer in Alabama, you too can have a celebrity home.
Thom: Does driving an SUV make you feel like you are destroying the environment or supporting terrorism?
Steven Cordrey: Uh. No. I think its very convenient when I have to deliver a 7- or 8-foot sofa in an hour. As is everything in Hollywood, whatever is wanted or needed is wanted right now and needed yesterday. Now THAT is Hollywood.
Thom: What is more important when creating your living space: money or style?
Steven Cordrey: Style. Style comes from personal knowledge, from educating oneself simply by looking at magazines, movies and television or anything that inspires someone.
I guess its okay to be flashy and trashy especially in the case of Tommy Lee. The more hoochies you can fit in a room, if you are Tommy Lee, then you’ve hit high style.
Thom: How do you get lots of hoochies in a room?
Poles, pillows and rugs is how they did it.
Thom: What are some simple ways anyone can bring fresh energy into their environment?
Steven Cordrey: Painting a room. Buying plants. Moving furniture around. Changing the color scheme of a room. Most importantly, CLEAR THE CLUTTER. Take those old unused out of date rusty broken and cheesy items that have been sitting in that room for the past decade, put them in a box, label the box “Stuff I want to keep” and put it in the closet.
You’ll give yourself a space that is full of possibility and giving you the ability to transform what once was a dull, drab, displaced environment into a new, fresh, and inspiring surrounding.
Thom: Was becoming an interior decorator always a goal of yours?
Steven Cordrey: When I was in high school, I was in a play and I was really impressed by the set that surrounded me. So I asked my mom if I could do this for a living. And of course, my mom said, “Of course honey, you can do anything you want and be anything you want to be” Soon after, Greenspoint Mall in Houston Texas had a home show. I got a booth in this home show and in this booth I had a masculine display and a feminine display. I put a box in my booth for a drawing for a free in-home consultation. Of course everybody won and from that I got a hundred clients. I learned that style and design were not a function of money or status but that style and design was a function of creativity. It definitely takes a lot of creativity to make a double wide mobile home with wood paneling and shag carpeting look fabulous.
[What’s not already fabulous about a double-wide with shag carpeting? –Thom]
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