Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521244
3 4 P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 4 Rusty Smith Rusty Smith is a veteran Production Designer with a diverse roster of film and television titles. His most recent credits include the feature films Get Out for director Jordan Peele, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween and Life of the Party, starring Melissa McCarthy. Rusty has served as Production Designer on the films After, The Boss, Won't Back Down, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, Soul Surfer, Beastly, The Jane Austen Book Club, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Pink Panther 2, Accepted, Meet the Fockers, Elf, Agent Cody Banks, Austin Powers in Goldmember, Serving Sara, Meet the Parents, Austin Powers in the Spy Who Shagged Me, Mystery Alaska, The Beautician and the Beast and Dunston Checks In. His television credits include Billy Crystal's Emmy-nominated *61, The Comedians, Claws, Teen Wolf and recently, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist for NBC. His first feature film design was for producer Roger Corman and director Talia Shire's One Night Stand. He served as Art Director on the films The Good Son, Diggstown, and The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom, and as Assistant Art Director on A League of Their Own. He is married to singer/actress Connie Smith, and has two children. THE WOG IS BASED ON A MUSCOGEE CREEK LEGEND FROM MY HOMETOWN, WINDER, GEORGIA. THE LEGEND IS A MONSTER STORY I GREW UP WITH, PASSED DOWN IN MY FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS. I MADE IT A TRANSFORMATION STORY, WHERE THE BEAST IS SUMMONED FROM ANOTHER LOCAL PHENOMENON, A MYSTICAL MUD VOLCANO, THAT THE LOCAL CREEK NATION THOUGHT WAS HELL. THEY NAMED IT NODOROC. IN MY STORY, A FEMALE SHAMAN SUMMONS THE MONSTER TO RESCUE A NATIVE GIRL FROM BEING RAPED BY A BRITISH SOLDIER. THE SOLDIER IS DRAGGED INTO THE DARKNESS, HIS SCREAMS ABRUPTLY SILENCED BY THE WOG.