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"  Photo: Getty Images The walls of Dr. Mindy Lahiri&amp;#039;s bedroom have come apart. The fashionable New York room, with its attached walk-in closet and luxurious bed, has been opened up. Massive lights hang from the ceiling, allowing Fox&amp;#039;s The Mindy Project to shoot a scene there. The rest of the apartment, which is actually located on a sound stage in Los Angeles, has been decorated for what appears to be a wedding shower. But what that means for the upcoming second season is unclear. The writers of show won&amp;#039;t specifically say what scenes are being filmed as they offer a tour of the set.  Across the sound stage from Mindy&amp;#039;s apartment is the medical office where the character, played by Mindy Kaling, works as an OB/GYN. The office and apartment are similar to the way they appear on the show, although the minutiae of the sets would be easy to miss if you didn&amp;#039;t know where to look. Kaling, a former cast member and writer on NBC&amp;#039;s The Office, created the series as a vehicle for herself and is deeply involved in many of its aspects. Actual photos of her and her family hang on the walls and the stylish decor of Mindy&amp;#039;s office reflect Kaling&amp;#039;s own aesthetic.  Not much has changed on set since last season, but the characters and their circumstances will. The show&amp;#039;s second season premieres September 17 on Fox and will bring closure to some of last year&amp;#039;s cliffhangers. At the end of Season One, Mindy chopped off her hair and agreed to go to Haiti with her boyfriend Casey (Anders Holm) despite a romantic moment with fellow doctor Danny Castellano (Chris Messina). Season Two will find Mindy returning from Haiti with a few things altered, including her relationship status.  Kaling, still in costume, took a break between filming scenes to discuss the upcoming season and the show&amp;#039;s set alongside the rest of the cast and the series&amp;#039; writers. After snooping around Mindy&amp;#039;s apartment, movable walls and all, one thing is clear: No one in NYC has an apartment this nice.  In honor of the show&amp;#039;s second season (which premieres September 17), here are ten things you didn&amp;#039;t know about The Mindy Project.  1. Mindy will be sporting the super short hair fans saw in the finale this season.  But although Mindy chopped off her hair, clipped locks are not something Kaling shares with her onscreen counterpart. &amp;quot;This is a wig,&amp;quot; Kaling said of her character&amp;#039;s blunt hairdo. &amp;quot;Which I have loved. But my writing staff largely hates it. I was told by my writer Jeremy Bronson that if I cut my hair off the show would tank. But I think it&amp;#039;s really fun. Chopping your hair off is something every woman fantasizes about doing so I get to have it both ways.&amp;quot;  2. The National will be the first band to make an appearance on The Mindy Project. The indie rock group recently shot a music festival-themed episode with the cast. But the significant is lost on Kaling. &amp;quot;I didn&amp;#039;t know what they were talking about when they said The National was coming to the show,&amp;quot; Kaling said. &amp;quot;I didn&amp;#039;t understand what that meant.&amp;quot; A concert sets her character up for a good visual gag, though. &amp;quot;Imagine Mindy in a muddy, Coachella-type environment,&amp;quot; executive producer Matt Warburton added. &amp;quot;[Executive producer] Jack [Burditt] and I both love music and we&amp;#039;re subjecting Mindy to this episode.&amp;quot;  3. Season Two will boast a bunch of guest stars, including Chlo\u00EB Sevigny, James Franco, Adam Pally, Bill Hader, and Kris Humphries.  Franco will not be playing a love interest for Mindy, however. When Mindy comes back from her trip to Haiti, which she undertook at the end of last season, she arrives to find Franco in her work territory. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s the anti-Mindy,&amp;quot; said Ike Barinholtz, who plays the show&amp;#039;s off-kilter nurse Morgan Tookers. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s everything she&amp;#039;s not.&amp;quot;  4. The New York City setting of The Mindy Project is central to the show, but the cast hasn&amp;#039;t shot a single scene there. The series is filmed on two stages at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, as well as a fake NYC block on the studio&amp;#039;s back lot. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s done on New York Street,&amp;quot; said writer Tracey Wigfield, who previously worked on the New York-based show 30 Rock. &amp;quot;On the lot there&amp;#039;s a big New York street and that&amp;#039;s where we do a lot of our exteriors like outside of Mindy&amp;#039;s office and outside Mindy&amp;#039;s apartment. Before I came to the show I was so impressed by how much it looks like New York.&amp;quot;  5. Kaling has no qualms about her character (and the title of her show) featuring her real name.  But there&amp;#039;s one place she&amp;#039;s hesitant to use it, thanks to some advice from Malcolm in the Middle creator Linwood Boomer. On her first day, Boomer told Kaling never to use her real name when ordering lunch in case someone hates her show and messes with the food\u2013and she hasn&amp;#039;t since. &amp;quot;This makes me sound like a lunatic,&amp;quot; Kaling said. &amp;quot;Peggy is my name [when ordering food]. It&amp;#039;s Peggy from Mad Men. Landon our writers&amp;#039; assistant picked it because it&amp;#039;s a woman in an all-male field.&amp;quot;  6. The on-set photos, both in Mindy&amp;#039;s apartment and office, are straight out of Kaling&amp;#039;s own photo albums.  &amp;quot;All the pictures in there are pictures of me, my friends from college, my friend Brenda who was my writing partner before I moved to L.A., and my family,&amp;quot; Kaling said. &amp;quot;And then you&amp;#039;ll even see little surprises here and there\u2013there&amp;#039;s an old photo of Tommy Dewey, who played my ex-boyfriend. We try to make it very realistic.&amp;quot;  7. Kaling actually decorated much of the set herself. Writer Jeremy Bronson said that Kaling showed up early on with much of set dressing in the back of her car. &amp;quot;Mindy went on Etsy and started driving around in her little Mini Cooper, and 90 percent of the stuff in here is stuff she bought and threw in her car,&amp;quot; Bronson said. &amp;quot;It reflects the character,&amp;quot; Kaling added. &amp;quot;The apartment is very eclectic and colorful in a way I&amp;#039;m more averse to. I like things to be more muted. It&amp;#039;s very young. I&amp;#039;m 34, and to me, this has a much younger feel to it, maybe someone who&amp;#039;s more playful.&amp;quot;  8. The writers have fought to keep some of the seemingly unimportant set pieces around, most notably the sea-green glass chandelier that hangs in Mindy&amp;#039;s dining room. &amp;quot;That chandelier we had many discussions about,&amp;quot; Bronson said. &amp;quot;We came in this year and the chandelier had been changed and we were like &amp;#039;No no no, it has to be this chandelier!&amp;#039; That&amp;#039;s [Mindy&amp;#039;s] favorite piece in the whole place.&amp;quot;  9. Mindy&amp;#039;s massive walk-in closet isn&amp;#039;t just for show. Kaling makes sure her character is wearing the most up-to-date looks. &amp;quot;I send suggestions [to the costume designer],&amp;quot; Kaling said. &amp;quot;I obviously don&amp;#039;t have time to go to all the New York Fashion Week stuff but I watch all the runway shows. I&amp;#039;ll find something and send the images to Salvador P\u00E9rez, Jr., our designer.&amp;quot; In that way, Mindy&amp;#039;s onscreen look reflects Kaling&amp;#039;s own sense of style. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s very intimidating to have to dress for Mindy,&amp;quot; Bronson said. &amp;quot;She has a very cool style so we all try to impress her with our looks.&amp;quot;  10. Kaling feels that her success in heading her own show is largely due to her awesome parents. &amp;quot;My parents just rocked and they thought I could do anything,&amp;quot; Kaling said. &amp;quot;Until two days before my mom passed away she was like, &amp;#039;Don&amp;#039;t get married if a man is going to tell you not to do things. Just do whatever you want to do.&amp;#039; So I was really lucky because I don&amp;#039;t know how many people have parents like that.&amp;quot;   Photo: Emily Zemler "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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