Is the Eerie Palazzo in 'A Haunting in Venice' a Real Place?
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After viewing the trailer for A Haunting in Venice, you might get the impression that the movie is horror-leaning rather than a typical murder mystery. While a detective story at its core, the film—in theaters now—is an artful blend of both thanks to the innate eerieness of its setting: Venice, Italy. The adaptation of iconic author Agatha Christie’s 1969 book Hallowe'en Party taps into the city's ominous appeal to amplify a frightening tale. To get insight into how the unsettling world was brought to life through the filming locations and sets, we spoke with production designer John Paul Kelly. Dive into the details below.
Where Was A Haunting in Venice Filmed?
As you may have guessed from the title, the mystery was actually filmed in Venice and at Pinewood Studios located outside of London. Fans of Christie’s book likely recall that the original story is set in England. The location change is one of the many liberties that were taken with the story to make it feel fresh. The production landed on Venice because screenwriter Michael Green believes there’s no location more haunted than a Venetian palazzo. (Although, the Victorian house reputation begs to differ). The city was selected because it “calls for mist and masks, and the creepy crawly, throw-a-body-in-the-river kind of feel,” Green said in a press brief. “We wanted to take advantage and use the inherent spookiness and the magic and luster of Venice, to make an unimaginably terrifying Halloween night.”
The story follows the once-celebrated sleuth Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) who is called to debunk a séance by his friend and mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey). The séance is performed by a famous clairvoyant (Michelle Yeoh) and takes place on a stormy night at the decaying palazzo owned by opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), where the majority of the film plays out.
The production filmed at many of Venice’s famous landmarks. Venice’s primary square the Piazza San Marco is featured along with Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) and the Bacino San Marco (Venice’s main harbor). Other exterior scenes were shot at the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, known for its exterior spiral staircase; Campo San Samuele; the Grand Canal; the Garden of Palazzo Malipiero; Palazzo Grimani; Ponte Conzafelzi, the famous iron bridge; Campo Santa Maria Nova; and San Giorgio Maggiore, one of Venice’s numerous islands. Some interior scenes were shot at the Conservatory of Music Benedetto Marcello and the gothic-style museum Palazzo Ducale.
Is the Haunted Palazzo a Real Place?
Unfortunately, the haunted palazzo isn’t a real location. The interiors and exterior of the palazzo were built by the production team. “It became very obvious, very quickly that we were going to have to build our world because people don't take very kindly to chandeliers smashing in their 500-year-old houses,” Kelly tells House Beautiful.
The concept for the home was also too specific to not build. Since the tale takes place in one building, it required varied atmospheres to keep the world captivating—from the dark, traditionally scary basement with dripping walls and chains to the romantic rooftop garden.
How Was the Palazzo Built and Designed?
The exterior is a combination of sets, a real palazzo in Venice, and a one-third-scale model of the building and its surrounding environment. The model was built with meticulous detail on an airfield in the English town of Reading, while the sets were built at Pinewood Studios. One set involved the construction of a massive concrete tank to hold several 35-foot-long gondolas.
As for the interiors, each room was given a distinct look from the shape of the space to the color palette. The goal was to “create a labyrinthine world of confusion,” Kelly says, particularly in one of the standout spaces: the daughter Alicia’s bedroom. The murals on the walls evoke an enchanted forest that’s imaginably hard to navigate. “There's a coldness in those teal-y blues, and there's a loveliness,” Kelly says of the room’s color palette.
The bed resembles a carved-out column, which almost feels like a tomb, for practical reasons and to emphasize the daughter’s state. Since multiple scenes occur in the room without Alicia in it, the bed would remain empty. “In a traditional layout of a bedroom in a palazzo, the bed would be toward the middle of the room," Kelly says. "But that really wasn't working in terms of storytelling."
The alcove-style bed, which has grilles on it, provides protection but also feels like a prison. “We wanted it to be a very pretty environment that didn't feel like your average spooky house," Kelly says. "But at the same time, it was a house where the candles had been extinguished."
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