The 2018 Art Directors Guild Film Society Screening Series schedule is as follows:
GRAND HOTEL (1932) – A TRIBUTE TO MGM’s LEGENDARY OSCAR© WINNING SUPERVISING ART DIRECTOR CEDRIC GIBBONS (1892-1960)
GRAND HOTEL will launch the ADG Film Society’s 2018 screening series with a spotlight on CEDRIC GIBBONS, whose record 11 Academy Awards® and 39 nominations include honors for SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, THE WIZARD OF OZ and THE GREAT ZIEGFELD. Gibbons was clearly the most influential Supervising Art Director of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Regarded by those who knew him best as the “Mercury of Hollywood,” he was the design trendsetter most responsible for bringing glamour and sophistication with a touch of surrealism to Depression-era audiences. His four-decade tenure as Supervising Art Director at MGM from 1924-1956 saw his stamp of approval on a record 1,500 films. Dark and handsome, and always elegantly dressed, he was seen as an arbiter of taste and fashion and his career was closely followed in the 1930s by gossip columnists — particularly when he was married to actress Dolores Del Rio.
The star-studded GRAND HOTEL takes place at a luxurious Berlin hotel between the wars where the once-wealthy Baron Felix von Gaigern (John Barrymore) supports himself as a thief and gambler. In this lavish adaptation of the successful Broadway play, the baron romances one of his marks, the aging ballerina Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo), and teams with dying accountant Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore) against his former boss, crooked industrialist Preysing (Wallace Beery), and his ambitious stenographer, Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford).
Production Designer and Film Society co-chair THOMAS WALSH will moderate a discussion with MARIA COOPER JANIS, daughter of Gary Cooper and great niece of Cedric Gibbons. They will explore the legacy of Gibbons’ work and spotlight in the Golden Age of Hollywood socialites.
As we look up toward the designers that inspire us as filmmakers and designers, we ask them what inspired them. This year, Production Designer HANNAH BEACHLER (Black Panther, Moonlight, Creed, Lemonade) is in the spotlight and chose THE CONFORMIST as one of the films that inspired her to become a designer. The film was directed by Oscar-winning Writer/Director/Producer Bernardo Bertolucci, and designed by Oscar-winning Production Designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti, best known for The Last Emperor, Toys and Last Tango in Paris.
In THE CONFORMIST, Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a member of the secret police in Mussolini's Fascist Italy. He and his new bride, Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli), travel to Paris for their honeymoon, where Marcello also plans to assassinate his former college professor Luca Quadri (Enzo Tarascio), an outspoken anti-Fascist living in exile. But when Marcello meets the professor's young wife, Anna (Dominique Sanda), both his romantic and his political loyalties are tested.
Moderating the discussion with Production Designer HANNAH BEACHLER will be Art Director MICHAEL ALLEN GLOVER.
Production Designer WILLIAM CREBER, nominated for three Oscars, is virtually the last of the Golden Age Production Designers. He is best known for his designs for THE PLANET OF THE APES as well as THE POSEIDEN ADVENTURE and THE TOWERING INFERNO, among many others. Celebrating its 50th Anniversary as a science-fiction classic, THE PLANET OF THE APES garnered two Oscar® nominations and combines sensational high adventure, "thinking man's" science fiction, and social commentary. The film became a critical and commercial hit, and has spawned three sequels, a television show, a 90s remake, three acclaimed re-imaginings and a myriad of product tie-ins. WILLIAM CREBER's sets for the original film, principally Ape City, set a high bar and have not aged a day in fifty years. PLANET OF THE APES was scripted by Rod Serling, famed creator of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, and directed by Oscar-winner Franklin J. Schaffner (Lionheart, Papillon, Patton).
THE PLANET OF THE APES maroons three astronauts on a desolate wasteland planet. Finding their way to a lush valley they encounter a tribe of mute, backward humans just as they are suddenly attacked by fierce, rifle-carrying gorillas on horseback — a human hunting expedition. Taylor (Charlton Heston), the lead astronaut, is injured in the attack; now rendered mute, he is taken to a nightmarish Ape City and thrown into a human zoo. Surrounded by apes walking upright and speaking English, Taylor is befriended by a sympathetic chimpanzee scientist — whom he hopes might help him escape.
Moderating the discussion on Production Designer WILLIAM CREBER will be Production Designer and Film Society founder JOHN MUTO.
In the wake of the STAR WARS phenomenon of the 70s, SPACE HUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE became part of the 3-D film revival craze of the early 1980s but was something unique. It boasts particularly imaginative sets by JACKSON DE GOVIA (DIE HARD, SPEED, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL), visual effects by GENE WARREN JR. (TERMINATOR 2, EXPENDABLES, MOONRISE KINGDOM), and costumes by Julie Weiss (12 MONKEYS, FRIDA, AMERICAN BEAUTY). This interstellar adventurer film is directed by Lamont Johnson and stars Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald and Ernie Hudson. The classic film will be presented in 3D on a silver screen specially installed for the occasion.
SPACE HUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE is about three women who make an emergency landing on a planet plagued with a fatal disease but are captured by dictator Overdog. Adventurer Wolff goes there to rescue them and meets Niki, the only Earthling left from a medical expedition. Combining their talents, they try to rescue the women.
JOHN MUTO, Production Designer and Film Society founder, will moderate the discussion with SPACEHUNTER's Emmy-winning Production Designer JACKSON DE GOVIA and visual effects legendGENE WARREN JR. to discuss their adventures in bringing the film to the 3D screen.
*Film Schedule subject to change
FOR FLYER AND ARTWORK, CLICK HERE: https://www.dropbox.com/home/2018%20ADG%20Screening%20Series
Representing the Art Directors Guild is Debbie Patton, ADG Awards and Events Director, debbie@artdirectors.org 818.762.9995. Working with Patton are the American Cinematheque’s Gwen Deglise, Margot Gerber and Grant Moninger Margot@americancinematheque.com, 323-461-2020 x 115.
General admission: $12. American Cinematheque members: $8. Students/Seniors with valid ID: $10. All screenings start at 5:30 p.m. 24-hour ticket information is available at 323-466-FILM (3456). Advance tickets can be purchased on Fandango.com. Search by zip code (Egyptian Theatre 90028, Aero Theatre 90403) to locate respective theatre listings. Tickets are also available at the Box Office at both theaters.
About THE ART DIRECTORS GUILD
The Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800) represents 2,400 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. Connect with the Art Directors Guild on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
