P.O.N.I.E.S. is an eight-part Cold War espionage thriller set in Moscow in 1977. Produced by NBCUniversal for Peacock, the series was created and showrun by David Iserson, with Susanna Fogel directing the opening episodes. It stars Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson as two women working at the U.S. Embassy who are pulled into the world of espionage after their husbands die under suspicious circumstances.
Visually, we wanted the show to feel unmistakably 1970s — colourful, textured and slightly strange, but still grounded and naturalistic. We used a lot of symmetry, taking inspiration from Soviet architecture and design, and often framed characters through doorways, windows and other foreground elements to give the feeling that they were constantly being watched. At the same time, I wanted the photography to retain warmth and intimacy, particularly with Emilia and Haley.
We shot in Budapest on the Sony VENICE 2 in large-format 6K, using Panavision Panaspeed full-frame primes and Angénieux zooms. The camera language was generally quite controlled, with slow zooms, tracks and carefully composed frames, but we allowed it to become looser and more handheld when the story became more personal or chaotic.
