Denis Olsen, prolific artist on movies, television, theater and commercials, is set to receive the Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual “Excellence in Production Design” Awards on Saturday, February 1, 2020, returning this year to the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown in the Wilshire Grand Ballroom. This is the second of four Lifetime Achievement Awards to be announced by the Art Directors Guild.
“I am very fortunate to have known and worked with Denis for several decades. He is a wonderfully talented and very interesting man,” said Patrick DeGreves, Scenic, Title & Graphic Artists Council chair.
Olsen began his career as an art director at KCOP (Channel 13) in L.A. He worked for various studios and other entertainment companies for more than 40 years including Superior Backings as a scenic and sign painter, The Walt Disney Studios in entertainment development, Warner Bros. Studios in its scenic department and J.C. Backings Corp. as the lead man on backdrops and special artwork for movies, television, theater and commercials. Olsen’s career also included countless productions at 20th Century Fox, MGM Studios, KNXT and CBS-TV.
His numerous film credits include Ghostbusters, Rocky 2 & 3, The Muppet Movie, Romancing the Stone, Mr. Mom, Star Trek 2 & 3, Johnny Dangerously and Poltergeist. His TV credits include All in the Family, Soap, Three’s Company, One Day at a Time, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Fame. In addition to his set work on the Emmys® and the Oscars®, Olsen’s talents have graced several television variety shows including The Carol Burnett Show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Smothers Bros. Show, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and Cher. He also worked on projects for Disney World and Disneyland, Epcot, Tokyo Disneyland, Marineland, Universal Studios Tours and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Olsen is credited for creating some of the stunning Las Vegas show sets including the MGM Grand stage, Folies Bergère, David Copperfield and Siegfried & Roy.
Olsen was curator at the ADG’s Gallery 800 in North Hollywood, retiring in 2017. He created over 40 art exhibits highlighting personal artwork of members of the ADG. He also served on the ADG Executive Board for several years.
The ADG Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to outstanding individuals in each of the guild’s four crafts. As previously announced, Joe Alves will receive the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award from the Production Designers and Art Directors Council. The honorees for the Set Designers and Model Makers, and Illustrators and Matte Artists will be announced shortly.
The producer of this year’s ADG Awards is production designer Scott Moses, ADG. Online nomination voting will be held November 18–December 6, 2019. Nominations will be announced December 9, 2019. Online balloting will be held December 18, 2019–January 30, 2020 and winners will be announced at the dinner ceremony on Saturday, February 1, 2020. ADG Awards are open only to productions when made within the U.S. by producer’s signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.
Additional honorees for Lifetime Achievement, Cinematic Imagery and new inductees into the Guild’s Hall of Fame will be announced at a later date.
Timothée Chalamet returns to “SNL” as host — and musical guest
Timothée Chalamet will return to "Saturday Night Live" for his third stint as a host — but this time, he'll be pulling double duty.
NBC announced Friday that comedian Dave Chappelle will host the sketch show Jan. 18, with musical guest GloRilla, while Chalamet will be the host and musical guest on Jan. 25.
It's Chappelle's fourth time hosting. The trio of announced performers are all in the thick of awards season. Chappelle and GloRilla, one of The Associated Press' Breakthrough Entertainers of 2024, are each nominated for Grammys at the Feb. 2 show. Chalamet has been nominated for a slew of acting awards for "A Complete Unknown" and is considered a contender for the Oscars, whose nominations will be announced Jan. 19.
For "A Complete Unknown," Chalamet sang and learned to play the guitar and harmonica to embody Bob Dylan. It's not clear what the actor will sing during the live show (he also sang in "Wonka" and dedicated fans may be hoping for a "Statistics" reprise), but he did previously identify to which Dylan songs he was drawn.
"I like the more intimate songs like 'Girl From the North Country' or 'Boots of Spanish Leather' or 'One Too Many Mornings' or 'Tomorrow Is a Long Time,'" he told the AP late last year. "But then I also liked 'North Country Blues' and 'Rocks and Gravel' or 'Ballad of Hollis Brown' — things where you hear the iron ore in Bob's voice, the North Country in Minnesota, the Hibbing."
Dylan himself has appeared on "SNL" — once, as the musical guest, in 1979. Current cast member James Austin Johnson, who portrayed Dylan in a skit earlier this season, briefly appears in "A Complete Unknown."
"SNL" is in the midst of celebrating its 50th season. The show will return in the middle of February to... Read More