Behind the Scenes on the NYC Set of The Knick, Steven Soderbergh’s Medical Series Set in the 1900s

This week, we were invited to view the New York City set of Cinemax’s The Knick, Steven Soderbergh’s medical drama set in early 1900s. A few months back, we researched and discussed the film locations used by Soderbergh and his team, whose goal was to recreate New York City at the turn of the last century. During our recent walkthrough of the sets used during production, we got a sneak peek into the mind of Soderbergh, the director, cinematographer, editor and showrunner of The Knick through conversations with the show’s production crew.

The Laboratory

During our time on set, we were taken through each aspect of the production: art design, special effects, costumes and props, and were given the opportunity to speak to the heads of each department. We saw up close some of the pieces that help create the shows amazing characters, such as the beaver fur bowler of Clive Owen’s Dr. Thackery, the top hat of Michael Angarano’s Dr. Chickering, and the wedding dress of Juliet Rylance’s Cornelia Robertson. In the prop department we got to see the light blue bicycle of Eve Hewson’s Nurse Elkins, as well as actual medical equipment from the 1900s, bought by or donated to the show to truly capture the time period.

Dr. Thackery’s Office

We also got to speak to Dr. Stanley Burns, a NYC ophthalmologist and head of The Burns Archive: the home of the largest collection of early medical photographs in the world. Burns was brought in by Soderbergh to bring his experience as a surgeon and historian of early medicine to make sure each procedure and conversation was historically accurate. The author of 44 books and over 1,100 articles, Burns is not only there to make sure each stitch is sewn and line of jargon fits the 1900s, but to also make it visually presentable.

Hallway of The Knick

The highlight of the day was walking through the incredibly detailed sets of The Knick. We got to walk through the operating room, the office of Dr. Thackery, the wards, the lobby of The Knickerbocker Hospital, and the medicine room to name a few. Looking at every piece of furniture, paper and piece of medical equipment, left us astonished at the amount of tremendous research, and careful attention to detail, that goes into every set used in the series.

Medicine Room

Our final conversation was with the creators and head writers of the show, Jack Amiel, Michael Begler, as well as Steven Katz, a co-writer on some episodes in season one. Inside one of the wards (sitting on the beds no less), the writers talked about their relationship to Soderbergh, Katz’ encyclopedic knowledge of the time period and gave us some hints at what to expect for season two of the acclaimed series, which will premiere later this fall. We are unable to share any tidbits about season two yet, but stay tuned for updates once the next season premieres.

Check out other photos we took during our time visiting the set of The Knick:

Detail Shot of The Surgery Room

Detail Shot of The Surgery Room

Detail Shot of The Knick’s Lobby

Office

Detail Shot of The Medicine Room

Detail Shot of The Surgery Room

Next, see how the sets of The Knick appear on the show in our film locations rundown. To see how he would looks like in a bowler and a white pair of Stacey Adams boots, contact the author @ChrisLInoa