Designing Movies: Portrait of a Hollywood Artist - Hardcover

by Sylvia Townsend (Author), Richard Sylbert (Author), Sharmagne Sylbert (Author)

This retrospective on the career of Academy Award-winning production designer Richard Sylbert takes readers behind the scenes of some of the most influential films of the past fifty years.

The Manchurian Candidate, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Graduate, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, Dick Tracy. The common factor behind these diverse, visually ground-breaking cinematic masterpieces is the work of legendary production designer Richard Sylbert. Basing the book in part on the late designer's Hollywood memoirs, writer Sylvia Townsend, with the participation of Sylbert's widow, screenwriter Sharmagne Sylbert, has enhanced the production designer's original manuscript with candid interviews from some of his most famous collaborators, including Warren Beatty, Roman Polanski, and Francis Ford Coppola. The result is a book that takes readers behind the scenes of some of the most influential and highly acclaimed films of the past fifty years.

This is a portrait of a highly driven, sometimes tempestuous visionary who wasn't afraid to fight for the artistic integrity of the worlds he created on screen. Movie lovers will find in-depth discussions of the making of such modern classics as Reds, Carnal Knowledge, Shampoo, and The Cotton Club. More than thirty illustrations capture Sylbert's creative process from early sketches to completed sets and locations.

Author Biography

Richard Sylbert was an Academy Award-winning production designer. His credits include Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Reds, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, The Cotton Club, and Dick Tracy.

Sylvia Townsend is an editor and writer whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times. She developed an interest the film industry in the late 1970s, when she worked as an intern for The Hollywood Reporter.

Sharmagne Leland-St. John-Sylbert is a poet, concert performer, lyricist, artist, and filmmaker. She has worked as an actress, production designer, and screenwriter, and is Editor-in-Chief of the poetry e-zine Quill and Parchment.com. She is author of Unsung Songs and Silver Tears and Time.