Designing Movies - Annotated by Sylvia Townsend & Richard Sylbert & Sharmagne Sylbert (Hardcover)

About the Book

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.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"This intimate portrait is composed of Sylbert's unfinished memoirs augmented by interviews with collaborators and leading directors including Elia Kazan, Mike Nichols, Roman Polanski, and Warren Beatty. Aficionados will enjoy the candid observations about this talented, intellectual, often tempestuous designer and the off-camera stories of the making of these films. The book is at its best when Sylbert discusses his designs in terms of metaphor, stylistic structure, restricted color palettes, and authenticity of details....Extensive collections serving upper-division undergraduates and above." --Choice

"Sylbert was the late (d. 2002) Academy Award-winning production designer for such films as Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?, The Graduate, Rosemary's Baby, and Chinatown. At his wife's request, Hollywood writer/editor Townsend edited his unfinished memoir in the third person. Included are his thoughts on production design and art direction, and her assessment of his contributions which went beyond design, and quirks. The book includes photos and drawings of his film sets, and some character- revealing anecdotes by his wife, Sharmagne Leland-St. John- Sylbert." --Reference & Research Book News

"When director Roman Polanski was looking for the perfect location for Rosemary's Baby, production-designer extraordinaire Richard Sylbert immediately suggested The Dakota, a classy Upper West Side apartment building. In Designing Movies: Portrait of a Hollywood Artist (Praeger), Oscar-winner Sylbert (posthumously co-authored by Sylvia Townsend, who expanded his memoir) neatly answers the question, What does a production designer do? Townsend also interviewed some of his famous collaborators, such as Francis Ford Coppola and Warren Beatty, to garner a behind-the-scenes portrait of a cinematic visionary. Considering the films Sylbert worked on, such as The Graduate, Reds, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the exceptional Chinatown, there isn't a better candidate to explain why design is so critical to a films success." --Encore: The Performing Arts Magazine

"[A] finely written history and an elegant tribute to a great man....[a] fascinating ride through the Hollywood glory days of the ''60s, '70s and early '80s--a candid, pungent, wonderfully detailed tour." --Hollywood Elsewhere

About the Author

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.