Oscar®-nominated filmmaker David O. Russell, whose films have consistently reflected the highest quality of production design, will receive the prestigious Cinematic Imagery Award from the Art Directors Guild (ADG) at its 20th Annual Art Directors Guild’s Excellence in Production Design Awards, presented by DXV by American Standard, it was announced today by ADG Council Chair Marcia Hinds and Awards Producer Thomas Wilkins. Set for January 31, 2016, the ceremony, at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, hosted by Owen Benjamin, will honor the prestigious spectrum of Russell's extraordinary award-winning work.
The ADG's Cinematic Imagery Award is given to those whose body of work in the film industry has richly enhanced the visual aspects of the movie-going experience. Previous recipients have been Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, the Production Designers behind the James Bond franchise, the principal team behind the Harry Potter films, Bill Taylor, Syd Dutton, Warren Beatty, Allen Daviau, Clint Eastwood, Blake Edwards, Terry Gilliam, Ray Harryhausen, Norman Jewison, John Lasseter, George Lucas, Frank Oz, Steven Spielberg, Robert S. Wise and Zhang Yimou.
Said ADG Council Chairman Hinds, "Year after year David O. Russell has delivered consistent excellence and creativity in his motion pictures. His films are not genre specific. They are story and character specific and an integral part of those stories is the production design."
Five-time Academy Award® nominee David O. Russell co-wrote and directed American Hustle, which earned ten Academy Award nominations – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and acting nominations in all four categories and a Best Production Design nomination for Production Designer Judy Becker and Set Decorator Heather Loeffler. The film also won three Golden Globe® Awards including Best Picture, three BAFTA® Awards, including Best Original Screenplay and won the Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress awards from the New York Film Critics Circle. American Hustle is David O. Russell’s highest grossing film at over $150 million domestically and over $248 million worldwide.
Russell's previous film, Silver Linings Playbook (2012), was also a box office success and a major awards contender. It earned eight Academy Award® nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and acting nominations in all four categories (with a win for lead actress Jennifer Lawrence). The film also garnered four Golden Globe® nominations, four Independent Spirit Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay, and a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In addition, his film The Fighter (2010), earned seven Oscar® nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress – meaning that Russell has directed actors to a total of eleven Oscar® nominations and three Oscar® wins in his last three pictures.
Prior films include Three Kings (1999) and Flirting with Disaster (1996).
Russell is an ardent supporter of the Glenholme School, a therapeutic boarding school for children and young adults with special educational needs. He was instrumental in raising funds to build a new arts center at Glenholme that opened in 2011.
Russell was recently honored by the renowned McLean Hospital for his efforts to advance public awareness of mental health issues through advocacy and his 2012 film Silver Linings Playbook. The director has been open about his own family’s experiences with mental illness. His advocacy efforts brought him to Washington where he and actor Bradley Cooper supported legislation in Congress and met with Vice President Joe Biden to discuss parity for mental health in all health care.
Russell’s next film Joy, due out on Christmas day, is the story of a family across four generations centered on the girl who becomes the woman who founds a business dynasty and becomes a matriarch in her own right. Betrayal, treachery, the loss of innocence and the scars of love, pave the road in this intense emotional and human comedy about becoming a true boss of family and enterprise facing a world of unforgiving commerce. Jennifer Lawrence stars, with Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Edgar Ramirez, Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Elisabeth Röhm and Dascha Polanco. Like David O. Russell’s previous films, Joy defies genre to tell a story of family, loyalty, and love.
Producers of this year's ADG Awards (#ADGawards) are Production Designers Tom Wilkins, James Pearse Connelly and Judy Cosgrove. Nominations for ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards will be announced on January 5, 2016. The ADG will present winners in 11 competitive categories for theatrical films, television productions, commercials and music videos on January 31.
As previously announced, Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne will be the first to receive ADG’s newly created William Cameron Menzies Award for championing classic motion pictures. Four legendary women – Production Designer Carmen Dillon, Production and Costume Designer Patricia Norris, Production Designer and Illustrator Dorothea Holt Redmond and Art Director and Set Designer Dianne Wager – will be inducted into the Art Directors Guild (ADG) Hall of Fame. Also announced, Scenic Artist Bill Anderson, Oscar®-nominated Matte Artist Harrison Ellenshaw and Set Designer William J. Newmon, II join Emmy®-winning and Oscar®-winner Production Designer Patrizia von Brandenstein to be honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards.
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. For information about the 20th Anniversary of the ADG Awards, please contact Debbie Patton, Manager, Awards & Events, Debbie@artdirectors.org or visit www.adg.org.
The presenting sponsor for the 20th Annual Awards is DXV by American Standard. Media sponsors are The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and SHOOT.
About THE ART DIRECTORS GUILD
The Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800) represents 2,300 members who work throughout the United States, Canada and the rest of the world in film, television and theater as Production Designers, Art Directors, Assistant Art Directors; Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; Set Designers and Model Makers; and Previs Artists. Established in 1937, the ADG's ongoing activities include a Film Society, an annual Awards Banquet, a creative/technology community (5D: The Future of Immersive Design), a bimonthly craft magazine (Perspective); and extensive technology-training programs, figure drawing and other creative workshops and year-round Gallery 800 art exhibitions. The Guild's Online Directory/Website Resource is at www.adg.org.
