Juliette Lewis Remembers Her First Day as a Chair

Everyone remembers their first time becoming a piece of furniture, especially Juliette Lewis. In By Design, which premiered at Sundance, she plays a woman whose body swaps with a chair, and in her decades-long career in Hollywood, it’s safe to say it was a new experience. “Our first day of shooting was us holding these positions where they go, ‘Chair in, chair out. Now you’re the chair…’ That was really a first.” Lewis explained. “I’ve been doing this 30+ years, and that was a fun first day.” Despite the novelty of the idea, it was still an “easy” set to work on as the team focused on “servicing the story” at its core, explained Lewis’ co-star, Mamoudou Athie, who plays a piano player named Olivier. “Look, it’s awkward right? Whenever you start to get self-conscious in that way it’s like, ‘Wait what are we doing? Okay, right. Back to that…’ Then you don’t care anymore.”

Written and directed by Amanda Kramer, By Design follows Camille (Lewis) who feels like a piece of expensive furniture around her friends. But when she comes across a beautiful chair she can’t afford, she gets Freaky Friday’d, body swapping with piece and eventually ending up in the possession of Olivier (Athie). Even after the movie is all said and done, Kramer and her team haven’t stopped thinking about chairs: “To this day, my production designer Grace is still sending photos of possible chairs.”

We’re back at Sundance in the Vulture Spot, where we’re interviewing the casts and creators of the year’s buzziest films. Check out the rest of our coverage from the film fest here.