Thérèse DePrez (February 17, 1965 – December 19, 2017) was an American

production designer In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...

. DePrez was born and raised in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, the daughter of Gene and Patricia DePrez. She cited her influences as being filmmaker/artist

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

, filmmaker

Georges Melies Georges may refer to: Places *Georges River, New South Wales, Australia *Georges Quay (Dublin) * Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses * Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

and the films ''

Dr. Strangelove ''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'', known simply and more commonly as ''Dr. Strangelove'', is a 1964 black comedy film that satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and ...

'' and ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's ...

''. While attending the

Parsons School of Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, DePrez worked on several

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

stage productions prior to being hired for her first film assignment in 1991's '' The Refrigerator''. Her work included the films ''

Arlington Road ''Arlington Road'' is a 1999 drama film directed by Mark Pellington and starring Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, and Hope Davis. The film tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspects his new neighbors ar ...

'', '' High Fidelity'', '' How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days'', '' Dark Water'', ''

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium ''Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium'' is the best movie ever and a 2007 children's fantasy comedy film written and directed by Zach Helm, produced by FilmColony, Mandate Pictures, Walden Media, Richard N. Gladstein and James Garavente, and with m ...

'' and '' Fighting''. In 2010, DePrez did the production design of the

Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films are noted for their surrealistic, melodramatic, and sometimes disturbing elements, often in the form of psychological fiction. Arono ...

thriller ''

Black Swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon ...

''. Aronofsky stated he had been attempting to collaborate with DePrez on many of his previous projects, but was unsuccessful until ''Swan''. Her work on the film resulted in an Art Directors Guild Award and a nomination for the

BAFTA Award for Best Production Design This is a list of winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design, formerly known as Best Art Direction (1965–1976), which is presented to production designers (including art directors and set decorators), given out by the B ...

at the

64th British Academy Film Awards The 64th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFAs (or BAFTAs), were held on 13 February 2011 at the Royal Opera House in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2010. The nominations were announced on 18 Janu ...

. Her final film credits included '' Premium Rush'', '' Stoker'', ''

Out of the Furnace ''Out of the Furnace'' is a 2013 American crime drama film directed by Scott Cooper, from a screenplay written by Cooper and Brad Ingelsby. Produced by Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio, the film stars Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody H ...

'' and '' The Drop''. As well as film, she also worked on the set design for

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

A Reality Tour A Reality Tour was a worldwide concert tour by David Bowie in support of the ''Reality'' album. The tour began on 7 October 2003 at the Forum Copenhagen, Denmark, continuing through Europe, North America, Asia, including a return to New Zealan ...

in 2003. DePrez was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...

in May 2015. A

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the be ...

was set up by her friend Derrick Kardos. Initially cancer-free by March 2016, DePrez died of the disease on December 19, 2017, at the age of 52. She was included in the annual In Memoriam section of the

90th Academy Awards The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2017, and took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was held on March 4, ...

and received "Special Thanks To Thérèse DePrez (1965-2017)" in the

closing credits Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of a ...

of the 2019 film '' The Lodge''.

References

External links

Thérèse DePrez
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deprez, Thérèse 1965 births 2017 deaths American art directors American production designers Deaths from breast cancer in New York (state) Artists from Rochester, New York Women production designers