SEARCH THE TOP FILM PRODUCTION DESIGNERS

More at : https://giggster.com/blog/15-of-the-best-production-designers-in-film-history/

Rick Carter >> // \\ :: [=]

Prolific Steven Spielberg collaborator Rick Carter helped manifest the worlds of “Jurassic Park” and its sequel “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “Forrest Gump,” “Back to the Future Part II” and “Back to the Future Part III,” and “Avatar,” among countless others. Carter came into production design from a background in painting, an art practice he still uses to conceptualize cinematic worlds at the beginning of a new project. His extensive traveling has also aided his ability to create grand, often fantastical landscapes. When beginning work on “Jurassic Park,” for instance, he visited the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, trying to gain insight into spaces where past and present converge. He has described his role as production designer as more than merely deciding what things look like, but also what they feel like, to “create a spirit of place.” Carter took home an Academy Award for Best Production Design in 2009 for his work on James Cameron’s “Avatar,” as well as for Spielberg’s 2012 biopic, “Lincoln.”

Bernard Evein

Bernard Evein (1929-2006) >> // \\ :: [=]

French production designer Bernard Evein created the production designs for New Wave legends like Agnès Varda, Jean-Luc Godard, and François Truffaut, and is partly responsible for defining the look of New Wave film. He worked on Claude Chabrol’s “Les Cousins” and “A Double Tour” and Godard’s first color film, 1961’s “A Woman Is a Woman.” Perhaps most famously, he designed the brightly saturated sets of Jacques Demy’s 1960s musical films, “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “The Young Girls of Rochefort,” as well as Demy’s first film, “Lola.”

Dante Ferretti

Italian production designer Dante Ferretti’s career has spanned over five decades and nearly 70 films. He worked with Italian auteurs Pier Paolo Pasolini (“The Gospel According to St. Matthew”) and Federico Fellini (“La Dolce Vita”), and has collaborated with Martin Scorsese on several projects, including “Gangs of New York,” “Shutter Island,” “The Aviator,” and “Hugo.” He also frequently works with his wife, Francesca Lo Schiavo, an acclaimed set decorator. Ferretti is an acclaimed costume designer

Barbara Ling got her start designing Pee-wee Herman and David Byrne’s stage shows, before going on to do the production design for “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Batman Forever,” and “Batman & Robin.” But it wasn’t until her work on Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood”

in 2019 that Ling won an Oscar for Best Production Design.

Catherine Martin is the creative and pragmatic force responsible for bringing her director husband Baz Luhrmann’s colorful ideas to life. The two met in college in Sydney, Australia, and swiftly became collaborators, with Martin designing both the production and costumes for Luhrmann’s projects. Their films—the iconic 1996 Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio adaptation of “Romeo + Juliet,” the 2013 adaptation of “The Great Gatsby,” and “Moulin Rouge!”—are always visually rich and sometimes aesthetically wacky. Martin won Academy Awards for both Best Production Design and Best Costume Design for her work on “Moulin Rouge!” and “The Great Gatsby,” making her the most Oscar-awarded Australian in history.

Ina Mayhew

Best known for her collaborations with Spike Lee and Tyler Perry, Ina Mayhew most recently worked as the production designer for “Respect,” the 2021 Aretha Franklin biopic starring Jennifer Hudson. Mayhew studied costume design in college but had always been passionate about set design and building, and still often works with carpenters on film sets to make sure her vision comes to fruition.

Patricia Norris was a longtime collaborator of David Lynch, having worked alongside him as both a production and costume designer. Their working relationship began early in Lynch’s career, with 1980’s “The Elephant Man,” for which Norris was the costume designer.

Jeannine Oppewall

Celebrated for her work on “L.A. Confidential,” “Pleasantville,” and “Seabiscuit,” among many others, Jeannine Oppewall came to production design from an unconventional path. After studying medieval history and working for iconic modernist American furniture designer Charles Eames for many years, Oppewall broke into the film industry with her then-husband, director Paul Schrader. After their divorce, she began work as a production designer, creating the wildly different worlds of films like “Desert Hearts,” “Ironweed,” and Clint Eastwood’s 1995 romantic drama “The Bridges of Madison County.” Oppewall’s sets are known for their convincing sense of realness, fooling many—even cast members—into believing they are not in fact sets but authentic structures.

Polly Platt

Mary Marr “Polly” Platt wore many hats in the film industry: producer, screenwriter, mentor (both credited and uncredited), and production designer. Many believe she was responsible for “discovering” Wes Anderson—she mentored him and co-produced his first film, “Bottle Rocket”—and she is widely credited with connecting Matt Groening and James L. Brooks, who went on to create “The Simpsons.” Though often publicly overshadowed in life by her then-husband, director Peter Bogdanovich, Platt’s contributions to production design and to the industry more generally are countless.

Richard Sylbert is the brain behind the production design of such classics of the 1960s as “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” “The Graduate,” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” as well as 1974’s “Chinatown.” Sylbert started off as a painter, but he quickly transitioned into set design for television, and then films. He did the production design for legendary filmmakers like Elia Kazan, Mike Nichols, Sidney Lumet, John Frankenheimer, Brian De Palma, and Francis Ford Coppola, and became known for creating sets that conveyed a strong sense of mood.

Dean Tavoularis studied art and architecture before getting hired at Disney Studios in the ’50s. He went on to design the productions of Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” trilogy and “Apocalypse Now,” “Bonnie & Clyde,” and the 1998 Lindsay Lohan adaptation of “The Parent Trap,” among many others.

Wynn Thomas has had a storied career. Thomas designed the productions of such Spike Lee classics as “Malcolm X,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” and “Do the Right Thing,” as well as Ron Howard’s “A Beautiful Mind,” and Tim Burton’s “Mars Attacks!”

David Wasco, along with his wife and creative partner Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, an art director and set decorator, has lent his production design talents to films by Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and many others over more than three decades. Together, they designed many of Tarantino’s films, including “Pulp Fiction,” “Reservoir Dogs,” “Kill Bill” (volumes one and two), and “Inglourious Basterds,” as well as Anderson’s 1996 debut “Bottle Rocket,” “Rushmore,” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.”

Bo Welch is behind the production design of films as variegated as “Edward Scissorhands,” “Beetlejuice,” “Men in Black,” “The Color Purple,” and Marvel’s “Thor.”