Four-time Academy Award -nominated production designer Jeannine Oppewall, best known for her work on L.A. Confidential, Pleasantville, Catch Me If You Can and Seabiscuit, will receive the Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) Lifetime Achievement Award at the 23rd Annual “Excellence in Production Design” Awards. The 2019 ADG Awards, themed “Production Design: Landscape of the Imagination,” will be held at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown in the Wilshire Grand Ballroom on Saturday, February 2, 2019.
Nelson Coates, president of the ADG, said, “Jeannine is one of our most treasured production designers whose 40-year career continues to flourish, right up to the current Best of Enemies. She is a most deserving recipient of our Lifetime Achievement Award. We are proud to honor her outstanding career and cinematic contributions.”
Oppewall has received four Academy Award nominations for Best Production Design–for L.A. Confidential, Pleasantville, Seabiscuit and The Good Shepherd. This is a remarkable achievement for someone who has concentrated on films set in the 20th century. Other memorable films she designed include Wonder Boys, Rules Don’t Apply, Snow Falling on Cedars and Bridges of Madison County. In all, she has designed more than 40 films.
Her very first film was Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar. Tender Mercies starring Robert Duvall was her earliest movie as production designer and remains one of her favorites. Oppewall began her career working for the Office of Charles and Ray Eames, best known for their now iconic furniture, where she helped organize and design museum exhibits.
ADG Lifetime Achievement Awards are awarded to outstanding individuals in each of the guild’s four crafts: Art Directors; Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; and Set Designers, Model Makers and Previs Artists. Honorees in the other crafts will be announced shortly. Previous recipients include production designers Norm Newberry (2018), René Lagler (2017), Patrizia von Brandenstein (Amadeus) (2016) and Jim Bissell (Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation) (2015).
The producer of this year’s ADG Awards is production designer Scott Moses, ADG. Online nomination voting will be held December 5, 2018-January 4, 2019 and nominees announced on Monday, January 7, 2019. Final online balloting will be held January 8, 2019, and winners will be announced at the dinner ceremony on Saturday, February 2, 2019. ADG Awards are open only to productions when made within the U.S. by producers signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More