Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1495092
The Photoplay cover illustration of Brad Pitt as Jack Conrad was one of the most important props in the story. With his career sliding, Jack goes to see MGM head of production Irving Thalberg. In Thalberg's empty office, he finds the magazine with its taunting headline by Elinor St. John: "Is Jack Conrad Through?" Prior to the photo shoot, I had comped up the cover with several Hollywood portrait poses. The one I felt worked best was of Henry Fonda in Young Mr. Lincoln, another find from The Imagemakers book. Fonda is looking over his shoulder with intensity, his eyes turned sharply right. Director Damien Chazelle wound up selecting the shot, and as he reviewed the various references at the photo shoot, Brad Pitt responded strongly to it. Upon my review of stills from the session, I found one that perfectly matched the Fonda reference, comped it into the cover, and provided that to artist Michael Koelsch. To illustrate Jack's travails following his split with European actress Olga Putti, the script called for a "Conrad and Putti Divorce" tabloid newspaper cover. A high-resolution scan of Richard Hankins' pencil illustration graces half the cover. As with some of the other artwork, a bit of retouching in Photoshop and filtering in Boris Optics brought the piece into the period and helped the image read clearly on newsprint. A New York Evening Graphic shown in two scenes featured the headline "Gal Pals? Nellie LaRoy's Secret Love Notes" with a large photo of Nellie and Lady Fay Zhu holding hands along with glamor A. RED DUST POSTER. ONE OF A SERIES OF COMPS DONE FOR UPCOMING 1932 MGM FILMS BY JULES KMETZKO. BASED ON THE POSTER STYLE OF THE ENEMY (1927) STARRING LILLIAN GISH. B. "IS JACK CONRAD THROUGH?" PHOTOPLAY COVER. BASED ON ONE OF HENRY FONDA IN YOUNG MR. LINCOLN. ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL KOELSCH. C. EVENING GRAPHIC NEWSPAPER COVER. ILLUSTRATED BY RICHARD HANKINS BASED ON MY PHOTO COLLAGE COMP. D. "GAL PALS?" NEWSPAPER COVER. ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT GARFIELD; RETOUCHED IN PHOTOSHOP WITH PERIOD FILM FILTERING IN BORIS OPTICS. E. LADY FAY ZHU PUBLICITY STILL. PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT GARFIELD RETOUCHED AND COMPOSITED IN PHOTOSHOP WITH PERIOD FILM FILTERING IN BORIS OPTICS. F. THE CAPTAIN. ILLUSTRATION BY STEVEN CHORNEY. C A D B