Oscar-nominated production designer Joe Alves, best known for his work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the three Jaws films, will receive the Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) Lifetime Achievement Award atthe 24th Annual ADG “Excellence in Production Design” Awards. A true veteran of Hollywood’s studio system, Alves is a master artist, art director, production designer, producer and director. The 2020 ADG Awards will return to the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown in the Wilshire Grand Ballroom on Saturday, February 1, 2020. This is the first of four Lifetime Achievement Awards to be announced by the Art Directors Guild.
“The breadth and depth of Joe Alves contribution to the art of visual storytelling can hardly be overstated; he has been involved with helping to create many of the most iconic feature films and television shows of the last 65 years. It is difficult to imagine a more deserving recipient of this honor,” said Mark Worthington, Art Directors Council chair.
Alves’ motion picture career began as a young visual effects Disney animator assigned to the 1956 MGM classic, Forbidden Planet. His confidence and creative growth were nurtured by many challenging television and feature film experiences, a filmography rich in its diversity. Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain, Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, Free Jack and Geronimo are all productions masterfully designed by Alves’ imagination and talents. Alves has designed three features for Steven Spielberg, including Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, for which he earned an Oscar nomination. He made his directing debut with Jaws 3-D. Alves created a memorably derelict Gotham City for John Carpenter’s science-fiction adventure Escape from New York and served as visual consultant on Carpenter’s Starman.
Alves was an innovator and advocate for in-camera practical and visual effects solutions. A 64-year career that transverses analog-to-digital filmmaking, his design leadership on Close Encounters and Jaws are both analog examples of how to walk through the fires of adversity in order to meet the challenges inherent in pre-digital filmmaking.
ADG Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to outstanding individuals in each of the guild’s four crafts: Art Directors (AD); Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists (STG); Set Designers and Model Makers (SDMM); and Illustrators and Matte Artists (IMA). Previous recipients include AD: Jeannine Oppewall (2019), Norm Newberry (2018), René Lagler (2017); STG: Jim Fiorito (2019) John Moffitt (2018), Albert Obregon (2017), Bill Anderson (2016); SDMMs William F. Matthews (2019), James J. Murakami (2018), Cate Bangs (2017); and IMA: Ed Verreaux(2019), Marty Kline (2018), Joe Musso (2017).
The producer of this year’s ADG Awards (#ADGawards) 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 February 1. 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 Awards, Cinematic Imagery Awards and new inductees into the Guild’s Hall of Fame will be announced at a later date.
“Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo named Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year
Cynthia Erivo, who is starring in the hit musical "Wicked," was named Tuesday as the 2025 Woman of the Year by Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals.
The theater group, which dates to 1844 and claims to be the world's third-oldest still operating, said Erivo will receive her Pudding Pot award at a celebratory roast Feb. 5. Afterward, she will attend a performance of Hasty Pudding Theatricals' 176th production, "101 Damnations." Actor Jon Hamm, who came to fame starring as ad executive Don Draper on the AMC series "Mad Men," is the 2025 Man of the Year. He will receive his Pudding Pot Jan. 31.
"We are holding space for Cynthia Erivo's arrival," Man and Woman of the Year Events Coordinator Hannah Frazer said in a statement. "We're sweeping out our broomstick closets and prepping some wicked smart humor as we eagerly await her in February. Before she flies off with her Pudding Pot, she'll have to work a little magic to earn it."
Along with starirng in the smash hit musical, the British entertainer is a two-time Oscar nominee and an Emmy Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award winner.
Erivo burst onto the scene with her brilliant performance in the Broadway revival of "The Color Purple." winning her the 2016 Tony for best actress in a musical. She performed songs from the play on the "Today" show, earning the Daytime Emmy for outstanding music performance in a daytime program. And the show's soundtrack won best musical theater album at the 2017 Grammys.
Last year, Erivo starred in and produced "Drift," which follows a young Liberian refugee who has escaped her war-torn country to a Greek island. In 2021, Erivo was nominated for an Emmy for her portrayal of Aretha Franklin in the National Geographic series "Genius:... Read More