Best Bathrooms in Hollywood Movies
When it comes to Hollywood often, the sky’s the limit with interior design. The silver screen has featured some of the most ostentatious kitchens and bathroom spaces imaginable thanks to budgets that can realise the dream, even if they sometimes feel purely designed to make audiences feel envious. While occasionally, onscreen bathrooms can stand out for the wrong reasons, others can inspire with their architectural brilliance. From classic gangster flicks, Hitchcockian thrillers to modern-day Bond adventures and Oscar-winning dramas, listed in chronological order, we have explored some of the best bathrooms in Hollywood movies.
Scarface (1983)
Tony Montana (Al Pacino) doesn’t know the meaning of subtlety, and that certainly sums up his circular sunken bath pit from the classic gangster flick Scarface. It’s a bathroom that oozes architectural ostentatiousness and is undeniably emblematic of the 1980s love of excess and living it up. So, it would be rude not to include it as one of the best bathrooms in Hollywood movies (warning: the clip contains strong language).
A Perfect Murder (1997)
This otherwise routine 1990s thriller starring Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow has a redeeming feature: it showcases an eye-opening bathroom space. Paltrow resides in a plush Manhattan apartment. Yet her bathroom, with its translucent sliding white doors (aka Shoji screens), is straight out of Japan. She plunges into a jacuzzi bath that features one of the largest bathtub faucet fillers we’ve seen. The way the flowing water generously trickles over the top remains an unexpected highlight of an otherwise lukewarm film (warning: the clip contains some explicit violence).
The Talented Mr Ripley (1999)
Due to the candlelit decadence, it’s difficult to define the exact details that make up the bathroom of Jude Law’s Italian villa glimpsed during a teasing game of bathtub chess in this lavishly lensed Patricia Highsmith adaptation. However, with its centrally positioned bath (complete with surprisingly luminous green water), black and white tiles, and overall steamy ambience, it’s nothing less than a bonafide bather’s dream.
What Lies Beneath (2000)
In another thriller that screams Hitchcock (also see the above-mentioned A Perfect Murder), Michelle Pfeiffer plays a lonely housewife who suspects her lavish lakeside house is haunted. It features several unnerving scenes, all the more realistically menacing for their tastefully appointed décor. The private bathroom space is a particular standout, with its inviting freestanding clawfoot bath complete with vintage faucets. The bathroom provides an alluring backdrop for several spine-tingling scenes, including a chilling midnight seance. However, it’s during the climax, which sees a temporarily paralysed Pfeiffer helplessly submerged in the fast-filling tub, that provokes bathroom terror! With the squeamish in mind, we’ve chosen a less dramatic but creepy bathroom sequence earlier in the film.
Panic Room (2002)
A mammoth four-story brownstone in New York’s once highly sought-after Upper West Side is the foreboding setting for this containment thriller from director David Fincher. Before Jodie Foster and an adolescent Kristen Stewart find themselves hauled up in the titular room following a home invasion, we experience the brilliance of the bathroom. Foster takes timeout to indulge in a relaxing plunge in the freestanding clawfoot bathtub as we marvel at the decadent décor, which hinges on minimalist interior design to enhance its rather ominous spaciousness. You can glimpse the bathroom in question in the above trailer around the 54-minute mark.
Casino Royale (2006)
During a tender interlude, Bond (Daniel Craig) and fellow agent Vesper (Eva Gren) take a rather unorthodox shower fully clothed in the exclusive titular Monte Carlo hotel in an attempt to wash the proverbial blood from their hands. Unsurprisingly, the bathroom featured is beautifully appointed, complete with one of those generously spacious showers that could accommodate a family.
Quantum of Solace (2008)
We were treated to a surprising look at the luxurious living space of M’s London dwelling in Casino Royale after Bond broke into her apartment. However, in this direct sequel, we got an intimate sneak of her equally impressive bathroom. The bathroom has a sharp centralised marble tub (complete with all the bathtime accessories) and appears to combine some living room features, too, with an open fireplace and a couple of comfortably upholstered chairs to soften the space. It’s no doubt an idyllic place to unwind after a stressful day keeping tabs on the unruly exploits of her super spy.
Call Me By My Name (2017)
Call Me By Your Name may have won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, but we think the production design deserved a golden statue. The striking turquoise-hued art deco design of the Perlman’s Italian villa bathroom is a mesmerising reminder of how delightfully colourful bathrooms could be back in the 1980s. Why not try and recreate some Hollywood-style bathroom interior design glamour in your home by exploring our elegant selection of freestanding baths. You can also learn more about creating an ideal bathroom colour palette in our blog.
