Some of the year’s most memorable moments in entertainment were locations, locations, locations — southwestern desert towns, English countryside estates and California's mid-century dream houses.
New Spotlight on New Mexico
Is it a coincidence that two of the biggest films of the year — Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, the highest-grossing biopic in history; and Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, the biggest arthouse release since 2016 — took place in the dusty dreamscapes of New Mexico? Then there was Showtime's The Curse, Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s exercise in discomfort starring Emma Stone, which takes place in Española and Santa Fe.
The oldest capital city in the United States, Santa Fe certainly casts an entrancing spell of Southwestern culture and history. Martian mountainscapes and the psychedelic quality of the high-desert light serve as perfect backdrops for the New Mexican metropolis’ heady mix of pueblo-style architecture, abundant Indigenous heritage and cattleman swagger. Beyond the gift shops of Ghost Ranch or the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe is increasingly a mainstay shopping destination for authentic Cochiti pottery figures, bespoke Western fedoras, antique Chimayo weavings and even Japanese bamboo basketry.
Read more on why we think Santa Fe is a wonderland for aesthetes here.
Very Big Houses in the Country
How do you make a film set almost entirely on a country estate feel fresh in the age of Bridgerton and The Crown? If you're director Emerald Fennell, you choose a location that had never served as stomping grounds for endless period-piece fluff on Netflix. In Saltburn, Fennell wrangled Drayton House, a breathtaking private country estate in Northamptonshire, England, to finally make its big-screen debut. Though don’t expect Hollywood to roll out the red carpet anytime soon. It was written into the Saltburn contract that Drayton House’s owners keep the property private from tourists and would-be location scouts.
Not to be outdone, director Ridley Scott chose a different Northamptonshire estate as a backdrop for some of the more memorable moments in Napoleon: Boughton House, oft-referred to as the “English Versailles.” And the fourth season of You, the dark comedy about serial killing and the loving literature, brought Joe (Penn Badgley) across the pond to “Hampsie,” the nickname for Hampsbridge House, a fictional family estate played by the real-life Knebworth House, a Hertfordshire Tudor mansion in Hertfordshire.
Castles in the United Kingdom made plenty of news this year. Estelle Manor, an Oxfordshire estate turned hotel slash private members club, has found success by being a manor suited for all manner of tastes, with four restaurants, a Roman-inspired bath house, padel courts, a “riviera-inspired” pool and greenhouse “filled with eclectic blooms.”
Cowley Manor Experimental Group, the Cotswolds estate that inspired Alice in Wonderland, features fountain-laden gardens designed by landscape artist David Masters, rolling meadows with llama pastures, and afternoon tea service spiked with Taittinger Champagne.
