-- The Art Directors Guild (ADG) Film Society and the American Cinematheque are co-hosting the annual 2018 Screening Series Production Design: Designers On Design highlighting the work of renowned Production Designers and their creative collaborations. The monthly series will run from April through August, and the screenings will alternate between the American Cinematheque's Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian (6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood) and the Max Palevsky Theatre at the Aero (1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica) with all screenings starting at 5:30 pm.
Moderating the screenings are Production Designers THOMAS A. WALSH ADG, JOHN MUTO ADG, and MICHAEL ALLEN GLOVER ADG. The screening series is sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter. For tickets, go to: www.americancinematheque.com.
The 2018 Art Directors Guild Film Society Screening Series schedule is as follows:
GRAND HOTEL (1932) - A TRIBUTE TO MGM's LEGENDARY OSCAR WINNING SUPERVISING ART DIRECTOR CEDRIC GIBBONS
Sunday, April 22, 5:30 PM at the Aero Theatre
GRAND HOTEL will launch the ADG Film Society's 2018 screening series with a spotlight on CEDRIC GIBBONS, whose record 11 Academy Awards and 39 nominations include honors for SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, THE WIZARD OF OZ and THE GREAT ZIEGFELD. Gibbons was clearly the most influential Supervising Art Director of Hollywood's Golden Age. Regarded by those who knew him best as the Mercury of Hollywood, he was the design trendsetter most responsible for bringing glamour and sophistication with a touch of surrealism to Depression-era audiences. His four-decade tenure as Supervising Art Director at MGM from 1924-1956 saw his stamp of approval on a record 1,500 films. Dark and handsome, and always elegantly dressed, he was seen as an arbiter of taste and fashion and his career was closely followed in the 1930s by gossip columnists - particularly when he was married to actress Dolores Del Rio.
The star-studded GRAND HOTEL takes place at a luxurious Berlin hotel between the wars where the once-wealthy Baron Felix von Gaigern (John Barrymore) supports himself as a thief and gambler. In this lavish adaptation of the successful Broadway play, the baron romances one of his marks, the aging ballerina Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo), and teams with dying accountant Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore) against his former boss, crooked industrialist Preysing (Wallace Beery), and his ambitious stenographer, Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford).
Production Designer and Film Society co-chair THOMAS WALSH will moderate a discussion with MARIA COOPER JANIS, daughter of Gary Cooper and great niece of Cedric Gibbons. They will explore the legacy of Gibbons' work and spotlight in the Golden Age of Hollywood socialites.
THE CONFORMIST (1970) - A CONVERSATION WITH PRODUCTION DESIGNER HANNAH BEACHLER ADG (Black Panther)
Sunday, May 20, 5:30 PM at the Aero Theatre
As we look up toward the designers that inspire us as filmmakers and designers, we ask them what inspired them. This year, Production Designer HANNAH BEACHLER (Black Panther, Moonlight, Creed, Lemonade) is in the spotlight and chose THE CONFORMIST as one of the films that inspired her to become a designer. The film was directed by Oscar-winning Writer/Director/Producer Bernardo Bertolucci, and designed by Oscar-winning Production Designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti, best known for The Last Emperor, Toys and Last Tango in Paris.
In THE CONFORMIST, Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a member of the secret police in Mussolinis Fascist Italy. He and his new bride, Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli), travel to Paris for their honeymoon, where Marcello also plans to assassinate his former college professor Luca Quadri (Enzo Tarascio), an outspoken anti-Fascist living in exile. But when Marcello meets the professors young wife, Anna (Dominique Sanda), both his romantic and his political loyalties are tested.
Moderating the discussion with Production Designer HANNAH BEACHLER will be Art Director MICHAEL ALLEN GLOVER.
THE PLANET OF THE APES (1968) - CELEBRATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY: A TRIBUTE TO OSCAR-NOMINATED PRODUCTION DESIGNER WILLIAM J. CREBER ADG
Sunday, June 24, 5:30 PM at the Egyptian Theatre
Production Designer WILLIAM CREBER, nominated for three Oscars, is virtually the last of the Golden Age Production Designers. He is best known for his designs for THE PLANET OF THE APES as well as THE POSEIDEN ADVENTURE and THE TOWERING INFERNO, among many others. Celebrating its 50th Anniversary as a science-fiction classic, THE PLANET OF THE APES garnered two Oscar nominations and combines sensational high adventure, thinking mans science fiction, and social commentary. The film became a critical and commercial hit, and has spawned three sequels, a television show, a 90s remake, three acclaimed re-imaginings and a myriad of product tie-ins. WILLIAM CREBERs sets for the original film, principally Ape City, set a high bar and have not aged a day in fifty years. PLANET OF THE APES was scripted by Rod Serling, famed creator of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, and directed by Oscar-winner Franklin J. Schaffner (Lionheart, Papillon, Patton).
THE PLANET OF THE APES maroons three astronauts on a desolate wasteland planet. Finding their way to a lush valley they encounter a tribe of mute, backward humans just as they are suddenly attacked by fierce, rifle-carrying gorillas on horseback -- a human hunting expedition. Taylor (Charlton Heston), the lead astronaut, is injured in the attack; now rendered mute, he is taken to a nightmarish Ape City and thrown into a human zoo. Surrounded by apes walking upright and speaking English, Taylor is befriended by a sympathetic chimpanzee scientist -- whom he hopes might help him escape.
Moderating the discussion on Production Designer WILLIAM CREBER will be Production Design
