Academy Conversations: Production Design

In partnership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, TCM is proud to present another installment of the "Academy Conversations" series, this one co-hosted by Oscar-nominated production designers Guy Hendrix Dyas (Inception, 2010) and Lilly Kilvert (Legends of the Fall, 1994; The Last Samurai, 2003). Among Dyas' many other impressive credits are Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and The Brothers Grimm (2005). Kilvert's include Valkyrie (2008) and City of Angels (1998).

Dyas will discuss Grand Hotel (1932), with its consummate "studio look" and MGM art director Cedric Gibbons' "groundbreaking circular sets and exquisite showcase of Art Deco and Art Moderne style"; and My Fair Lady (1964), with a "fanciful Edwardian London" created by production designer Cecil Beaton and art director Gene Allen in a style "profoundly influenced by Beaton's many years working for British Vogue."

Kilvert will comment on the work of art directors Richard Day and Mark-Lee Kirk on The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and Mario Garbuglia's production design for The Leopard (1963), films that are both "politically charged" and "romantically charged." Whether working in gritty black and white or lushly expressive color, in each case the visual artists employ powerful images to create a world in which "you never lose touch with the landscape, where the film is living."