The job title "set decorator" is a bit of a misnomer. Decorating a set sounds like such a casual, fey thing to do. In fact, the job is crucial: no less than the capture and expression of character. A set designer may construct the perfect room, but if the objects within it don't radiate the personality of the people whose lives have formed it, the film won't ring true. This takes empathy, intelligence, drive and practicality – all of which Stephenie McMillan had in abundance – but also a scavenger's eye. The lifesize cardboard cutout of a geisha leaning against a wall in Hugh Grant's hallway in Notting Hill, for instance, tells us as much about Spike (Rhys Ifans's character) as his buttock cleavage, and earned a starring role in two scenes.
Stephenie's enormous empathy made her as award-winning a person as she was an artist. During our 15-year friendship I never once heard her raise her voice or say anything mean. In an industry that is full-on most of the time, Steph was gentle, charming, sensitive, good-natured, optimistic, stylish, always smiling – and still amazingly productive. Anthony Minghella, the director of The English Patient, adored her as I did. She'll always be my ideal of the perfect Englishwoman.