Celebrating its 50th Anniversary as a science-fiction classic, Planet of the Apes will headline the next Art Directors Guild (ADG) Film Society’s 2018 screening series at the Egyptian Theater on Sunday, June 24 at 5:30 pm. A conversation with Planet of the Apes Oscar®-nominated Production Designer William J. Creber, ADG (The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno) will follow the movie exploring the making of the cult film and its timeless designs, moderated by Film Society Founder John Muto, ADG. The annual ADG Screening Series “Production Design: Designers on Design,” highlighting the work of renowned Production Designers and their creative collaborations, is in association with American Cinematheque and sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter.
“It's truly an amazing achievement for a fantasy/sci fi film that is a half century old to seem so current,” said Muto. “Creber's design for the original Ape City is timeless and his cinematic contributions fascinating; the makeup remains remarkably believable, the script seems strangely contemporary, and the entire production still allows for the total suspension of disbelief that the story requires. We look forward to hearing William’s perspective, both on the film’s artistry and how it has influenced the design for subsequent fantasy and sci-fi films.”
Creber is virtually the last of the Golden Age Production Designers, trained and nurtured by the famed Hollywood Studio system. He was honored with the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 and received Oscar®-nominations for his designs for The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure and The Greatest Story Ever Told. Other film credits include Islands In The Stream, Flight of the Navigator, The Detective, Justine, and Street Fighter, among many others in a myriad of genres. He received an Emmy®-nomination for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and his additional television credits includeLost In Space, The Mod Squad and The Time Tunnel. He is often credited with pioneering the genre of “disaster films” with legendary showman Irwin Allen and has served as Production Designer for such illustrious directors as Franklin Schaffner, Stanley Kramer, George Stevens, George Cukor, Ronald Neame and Robert Towne.
A native of Los Angeles, Creber is a second-generation Art Director. He was preceded in the industry by his father, Lewis (a founder of the “Society of Motion Picture and Television Art Directors” now known as the Art Directors Guild) and is now joined by his son Kenneth, also an Art Director.
Planet of the Apes garnered two Oscar®-nominations and is one of the greatest modern sci-fi films, a combination of apocalyptic action and evolutionary parable. It became a critical and commercial hit, and has spawned three sequels, a television show, a 90’s remake, three acclaimed re-imaginings and a myriad of product tie-ins. The film was scripted by Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone), directed by Oscar-winner Franklin J. Schaffner (Lionheart, Papillon, Patton), and stars Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter, Roddy McDowall, and Maurice Evans.
In Planet of the Apes, Astronaut Charlton Heston finds himself and his team stranded on a strangely familiar planet dominated by highly intelligent gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans. Finding their way to a lush valley, they encounter a tribe of mute, backward humans, but are suddenly attacked by a human hunting party of fierce, rifle-carrying gorillas. Heston is injured in the attack and rendered mute. He is taken to a nightmarish Ape City and thrown into a human zoo. Surrounded by apes walking upright and speaking English, he is befriended by a sympathetic chimpanzee scientist, whom he hopes might help him escape.
Representing the Art Directors Guild are Film Society Founder and Co-Chair John Muto ADG, Co-Chair Thomas A. Walsh ADG, John Iacovelli ADG, Michael Allen Glover ADG, and Debbie Patton, ADG Director of Awards and Events. Working with them are the American Cinematheque’s Gwen Deglise, Margot Gerber and Grant Moninger. General admission: $12. American Cinematheque members: $8. Students/Seniors with valid ID: $10. All screenings start at 5:30 PM; 24-hour information is available at 323-466-FILM (3456).
For Information about the 2018 ADG Film Series click here.
For ticket information, go to American Cinematheque.
ADG Film Society 2018 Final Screening: Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone 3D (1983)
A Tribute to Production Designer Jackson De Govia, Moderated by John Muto, ADG
August 5 at the Egyptian Theatre
