"It was more of an idea and a tone that he was exploring, and he wanted to invite people into that world to start the conversation," Tonner-Connolly tells Ankler Media deputy editor Christopher Rosen on the latest episode of the Art & Crafts podcast. Based on Raymond Chandler's novel of the same name, The Long Goodbye is synonymous with the 1970s New Hollywood noir style, something also present in 1974's Chinatown and 1975's Night Moves -- and it's easy to see the influence of all three on The Lowdown from the opening frames of the pilot episode. Inspired by the life of Tulsa historian Lee Roy Chapman, The Lowdown is a modern-day detective yarn about an investigative journalist named Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke) who finds himself embroiled in a vast conspiracy that involves rare books, white supremacists, political operators and a real estate development group that traffics in stolen land.
"It's my favorite stuff," cinematographer Mark Schwartzbard says of the 1970s influences on The Lowdown. "I feel like I've been lucky enough to have several jobs over the year that have fallen into my lap where we want to do '70s Altman, so to get to do it here is just so much fun. I love the vibe. I love the kind of simplicity, honesty and wacko humanism of the whole thing. Every director of photography I know loves doing it."
Filmed in Tulsa, the eight-episode first season of The Lowdown reunites several members of the Reservation Dogs team -- including Hawke, who appeared as a guest star on the final season. ("I never saw him in a role quite like this, you know?" Schwartzbard says of the star. "He's so versatile, but I don't think he's done a big comedy role like this.") For Tonner-Connolly and Schwartzbard, who shot multiple episodes of season 1 after Adam Stone (The Bikeriders, Take Shelter) served as director of photography on the pilot, shared history was vital in turning The Lowdown into a success.
"We have a creative shorthand, and also just an understanding about what's important to each of us and what's important to Sterlin," Tonner-Connolly says. "It's nice to be able to have a mutual understanding and just to really enjoy the collaboration."
But it was also their time spent in Tulsa while in production on Reservation Dogs that enhanced the new show's authenticity. "Having spent three years there, I really observed the climate -- during the summer, it's extremely hot, and there's a lot of direct sunlight throughout much of the year. During the winter, it's extremely cold there; they definitely get seasons," Tonner-Connolly says. "So we wanted to show the wear and tear and the colors on the buildings and sets. We wanted to showcase everything being worn in a realistic and grounded way. That helped us figure out the colors of it but also the combination of wanting to reference those New Hollywood movies subtly, and then make it specific and unique to Tulsa, to make it its own thing and its own world."
Of all the lived-in spaces on the show, however, few could compete with Hoot Owl Books, the rare bookstore owned by Lee (who keeps a small, messy apartment in the space above the shop). Tonner-Connolly refashioned an entire city block of derelict buildings in downtown Tulsa to stand in for the main strip depicted in The Lowdown, and from there, he found literally thousands of rare books to stock on the shelves of Hoot Owl.
"The books all made sense," Schwartzbard says of the production designer's effort. "A lot of designers just buy books by the foot, because it's just for a wide shot of books. But here, it all bore up to incredible scrutiny."
"I think that everybody in the art department and the set decorator department is pretty tired of me saying to keep it specific. That was my catchphrase," Tonner-Connolly says. "But we want the director, the actors, Mark -- anybody to be able to walk down the aisles, pull out any book and say, 'Oh, you know, this is great. This belongs here, and I can see why Lee, the character, would have this here.'"
However, as Tonner-Connolly discovered, the authenticity he created had some unintended consequences. "I think it worked, because I saw Sterlin and Ethan more than once take up a book and look at it, and then either put it in their bag or just sneak out the door with it at the end of the day. I had to say, 'Keep it on the shelf.'"
Adds Schwartzbard, "The whole crew appreciates the lending library you built."