Inside Lincoln Center and Paris Ballet Locations

Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino’s Amazon Prime Video series “Étoile” is set in the elite ballet worlds of Paris and New York City, and while the two dance companies featured in the series are fictional, the show utilized real locations that link each to the famed (and real) ballet institutions of each city.

The co-creators told IndieWire this visual association was intentional and important. A principal goal of the series was to capture dance being performed at the highest level, not unlike what one would see at the famed New York City Ballet, most famous for its yearly holiday performances of “The Nutcracker.” Physically grounding the show’s fictional companies in these real institutions helped make that connection.

In New York, that meant shooting at the very recognizable Lincoln Center.

Lincoln Center and Beyond

“We didn’t want it to be so fictionalized that you didn’t recognize it,” Palladino told IndieWire. “We really want people who know New York to really get the sense this is kind of the New York City Ballet, but not quite. It’s fictionalized, but it is set in the one of the iconic cultural centers of New York City.”

“Étoile” producer Dhana Gilbert told IndieWire that the iconic Lincoln Center exterior is not only one of the most sought-after locations in New York, but also one of the hardest to book. According to Gilbert, the NYC institution made an exception for “Étoile,” due to the series’ mission to bring ballet to a wider general audience.

“They wanted to be part of something that helped bring a new generation to ballet and to the arts,” said Gilbert. “They had never structured a deal the way that they did with us, which is essentially we partnered and formed what was almost a stage agreement with them, because they understood how Dan and Amy were trying to bring an awareness to the arts.”

The New York portion of “Étoile” Season 1 shot for 12 weeks, during a period that stretched from June to October. Lincoln Center is already one of the city’s most sought-after film and TV locations, but the busy summer festival season meant that, while shooting, the exterior grounds were even busier than usual. By structuring their deal “like a stage agreement,” Lincoln Center agreed to check in with the Amazon Prime Video series before agreeing other shoots and outside events to use their campus.

While Lincoln Center also permitted “Étoile” to shoot in the lobby of The Metropolitan Opera House, the series was only able to use a single major interior space: the grand Met foyer. The dance-heavy TV show needed far more access and shooting days than Lincoln Center could ever accommodate; therefore, production moved across the Hudson River to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and into a theater space that was the approximate size of the Lincoln Center stage where the New York City Ballet performs. The “Étoile” team cut a deal with NJPAC that gave them the necessary time and control over the theater to build, stage, rehearse, and shoot its ballet productions, many of which utilized classic sets from established productions like “Romeo and Juliet.”

For the fictional NYC ballet’s company’s offices and rehearsal space, production designer Bill Groom drew inspiration from Lincoln Center’s own non-stage interiors. Considering how much the “Étoile” exteriors were shot at Lincoln Center, where large plazas are surrounded by the institution’s architecturally-distinct office buildings, Groom knew he would need to build interiors that matched the narrow and tall (floor-to-ceiling) concrete windows that define its 1960s modern exterior.

Interior Spaces

But “Étoile” is also a workplace comedy, in which the ballet-obsessed characters truly live their jobs. From a storytelling perspective, Groom needed to build office interiors that reflected the characters, which didn’t always align with the actual Lincoln Center.

This was true for Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby), whose spacious and elegant office is the center of the fictional company’s inner workings, relationships, and drama. From the start, Groom instinctively saw Jack’s office as having a more old-world wood panel look.

“I scouted that building extensively, all five floors of office space, but I couldn’t quite figure out how to reconcile that Jack’s office interior as a wood-paneled interior in this very 1960s modern interior that I was seeing at Lincoln Center,” Groom told IndieWire. On the production designer’s very last location scout stop, he stumbled upon the Benefactor’s Lounge at Lincoln Center. “I walked in and it had all of the elements of Lincoln Center, the narrow windows, floor-to-ceiling, and it was this flat wood paneling. It was just beautiful,” he said. “And I thought, ‘Wow, this is how I can justify Jack’s office.’”

The Paris Leg

The equally grand and welcoming office of Jack’s Paris counterpart, Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), is a library location Groom discovered and that the Palladinos loved. There was more flexibility with Geneviève’s space, because the fictional “Étoile” Paris company wasn’t rooted in just one specific arts institution like Lincoln Center, but rather the amalgamation of three.

The outside of the National Theatre of the Opéra Comique in Paris was used for the exterior of the fictional Paris company. The Théâtre du Châtelet was used to shoot the actual ballet performances. And The Palais Garnier, where the Paris Opera Ballet performs, was the model for the grand interior spaces around the main stage.

“Dan and Amy had done a private tour [of the Garnier] when they were creating the show, and they got to go to all the back rooms and visit that incredible institution,” said Gilbert. “And there is one room specifically, that is really like the holding space, the warm-up room directly behind the main stage, which is spectacular.”

Although the Garnier was welcoming to “Étoile,” the government-owned building couldn’t be made available to the production. Regardless, the actual warm-up space the creators fell in love with on their tour was too small a space for their shooting needs, so the Garnier would serve as a direct and recognizable inspiration for the larger version Groom built on a soundstage.

“Étoile” choreographer Marguerite Derricks added, “The details in what Bill Groom does, the dancers freaked out when they first walked on [the Garnier-inspired set] in Paris because it looked like The Paris Opera Ballet on steroids.”

All episodes of “Étoile” are now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.