Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/629850
P E R S P E C T I V E | M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 1 6 9 contributors JOHN DeCUIR was born in San Francisco in 1918 and studied drawing at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. Like many artists who came of age during the Depression, he found work in the film industry, hired in 1938 by Universal as a 20-year-old "draftsman," although much of the work expected of him would today be called illustration. From hard-boiled crime dramas like The Naked City (1948) to massive and fanciful musicals including The King and I (1956) and South Pacific (1958), he designed nearly seventy films. The sets for Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra (1963), including its lavish and striking procession into Rome, have been called "among the finest ever created for the screen," and earned him one of his three Oscars® and eleven nominations. Mr. DeCuir was the preeminent designer of his generation and his expansive designs, bathed in rich color and opulent detail, helped define the era of the Cinemascope spectacular. Production Designer/educator JOSEPH GARRITY holds a BA degree from Temple University's School of Communications and Theater and an MFA in Production Design from the American Film Institute. Over twenty-five years, Mr. Garrity has designed many feature films including Weeds, My Girl, Drop Dead Fred, Son-in-Law and Imaginary Crimes. He met Christopher Guest in 1988, was selected to design Guest's directorial debut feature film The Big Picture, and has designed all his films since, including Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration. Mr. Garrity's latest project is Mr. Church, directed by Bruce Beresford. He also teaches and is the Department Head and Filmmaker in Residence for Production Design at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles. One of Israel's leading Production Designers, ARAD SAWAT was born in Tzfat, Israel, to Jewish parents. In 1993, he was inducted into the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and served in the Intelligence Corps. On completion of his military service in 1996, he moved to Tel Aviv and began work as a props man and stylist for Israeli Educational Television. In the late 1990s, he began working as a Set Designer on television productions and commercial advertising, and in 2011, he moved into Production Design for companies such as FOX Sport, Star TV, the Israel Sports Channel, Keshet, Reshet and others. He has twice won the Ophir Award from the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, for Footnote (2011) and Big Bad Wolves (2013). Mr. Sawat works in collaboration with his partner, the product and Set Designer, Gali Rosenbaum-Prat. They live together with their two children in Tel Aviv. STEPHEN MARSH was born in the UK in 1948. At age 15, he was apprenticed to become a sign writer and gilder. As part of his training, he attended Bournemouth College where he studied photography, life drawing, painting, layout and design. He became infatuated with the theater and at the end of his apprenticeship, moved to London where he became an actor, truck driver and backstage worker. He made several stop-motion films as a hobby and when he moved to Hollywood in the 1970s, he became an animator, model builder and worked in what was then known as special photographic effects. Gradually, he moved up the ranks, drawing storyboards, designing sets, becoming an Art Director and finally, an Emmy ® -nominated Production Designer. Mr. Marsh had retired and "downsized" to a lovely spot in the mountains of North Carolina when he was sent the script for Mercy Street. He couldn't resist coming back, just for this special project.