Ryan Murphy recreates 1981 L.A. as the land of sun and serial killers in 'The Shards'

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Set us as preferred In the opening scene of “The Shards,” a teenage Bret Easton Ellis (Igby Rigney) cruises down Mulholland Drive in his black Mercedes-Benz, cigarette in hand, blasting the Cars’ “Moving in Stereo,” to catch a Saturday matinee of “The Shining.”Not only does the sequence evoke the eerie opening of Stanley Kubrick’s seminal 1980 horror masterpiece, it transports the viewer into a hyperspecific world — sunshine and cigarettes, prep schools and predators, where turning 17 means receiving a slick car from absentee parents.We’re entering Los Angeles, circa 1981, and just like the Overlook Hotel, danger lurks beneath a glamorous facade.Ryan Murphy’s 1980s coming-of-age thriller, which premiered Wednesday on FX and Hulu, is based on the 2023 novel of the same name by L.A.

literary provocateur Bret Easton Ellis, of “Less Than Zero” and “American Psycho” fame.Ellis fictionalized his Buckley School years for the novel, originally released as a serialized audiobook on his podcast.Fans of the novel will be relieved to know that the show retains this autobiographical sensibility, filtering its depiction of early ’80s L.A.

through the prism of Ellis’ memory — as interpreted by series co-creator Murphy, whose stylish fingerprints are all over the screen.That means perfectly coiffed hair, stark white interiors with pops of color and, despite the era’s prevalent greenery, no extraneous plants.Awards In an essay for The Envelope, Hines explains how he refined his ‘obsession’ with the tale of John F.

Kennedy Jr.and Carolyn Bessette into a pitch that the mega-producer would love.“If you put all those ferns in, it might give the impression that people didn’t have very much taste,” explained “The Shards” production designer Cat Smith.

“There’s a sense of glamour to e...