Anthony Francis "Anton" Furst (6 May 1944 – 24 November 1991) was an English

production designer In film and television, a 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. Work ...

who won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for overseeing design of

Gotham City Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city in the Northeastern United States that serves as the primary city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his List ...

and the Batmobile in

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and producer. Known for popularizing Goth subculture, Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his Gothic film, gothic horror and dark fantasy films. ...

's ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

'' (

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

).Anton Furst, 47, Dies; Designer of 'Batman'
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', November 26, 1991

Life and career

Furst was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England and trained at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, London."Anton Furst, 47, the Set Designer For 'Batman' and 'Awakenings'"
''The New York Times'', November 27, 1991. Retrieved 2012-11-16. He designed two award-winning television films, ''Just One Kid'' and ''It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow'', for director/producer John Goldschmidt. Furst also worked as a special effects technician on ''Alien''.

Paul Mayersberg Paul Mayersberg (born 18 June 1941) is an English writer and director and was the film critic for ''Movie magazine'' in the early 1960s and author of 1968 film book ''Hollywood, The Haunted House''. Awards He received a nomination for Best Motio ...

introduced him to a Nigel Phelps, whom Furst quickly hired after seeing his portfolio. Phelps would become Furst's primary draftsman that he would verbally dictate to, after the initial drawing was completed Furst would add only details and accents on occasion. The debut of this partnership was for

Neil Jordan Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish filmmaker and writer. He first achieved recognition for his short story collection, ''Night in Tunisia (short story collection), Night in Tunisia,'' which won the Guardian Fiction Prize in ...

's '' The Company of Wolves'' (

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

), the charcoal illustrations of the sets caught the attention of

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

and a young

. Kubrick hired Furst's company to create convincing

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

settings, without leaving England, for ''

Full Metal Jacket ''Full Metal Jacket'' is a 1987 war film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick from a screenplay he co-wrote with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 autobiographical novel '' The Short-Timers''. It stars ...

'' (1987). Burton tried to convince Furst to work on ''

Beetlejuice ''Beetlejuice'' is a 1988 American Gothic film, gothic dark fantasy comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by Michael McDowell (author), Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren based on a story by McDowell and Larry Wilson (sc ...

'' at this time, but decided to do ''High Spirits'' instead, which was being shot in England. In 1990, Jon Peters convinced Furst to sign an exclusive contract with

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

, promising him work as a director. Furst's directorial debut was to be ''MidKnight'', a medieval musical fantasy starring

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

, but after extensive design work and planning the film never materialised. Furst's Columbia contract also prevented him and his employees from working on ''

Batman Returns ''Batman Returns'' is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton and written by Daniel Waters (screenwriter), Daniel Waters. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the sequel to ''Batman (1989 film), Batman'' (1989) and th ...

'' (1992). His final credited film was ''

Awakenings ''Awakenings'' is a 1990 American biographical drama film written by Steven Zaillian, directed by Penny Marshall, and starring Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson, John Heard, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Stormare and Max ...

'' (1990).

Death

Furst killed himself on 24 November 1991. He had separated from his wife and begun taking Halcion, a sleeping drug that had been banned in Britain due to its possible side effects of amnesia, paranoia, and depression. His drinking also became more of a problem. He was scheduled to check into rehab in 1992. On the night of November 24, 1991, he told his friends he was going to the car to fetch his cigarettes. Instead, he jumped off an eight-story building. He was survived by a daughter, Vanessa King; a son, Nicholas Sergei Furst; his mother, Pamela Furst; and a sister, Jane Wearne.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Furst, Anton 1944 births 1991 deaths 1991 suicides 20th-century English artists 20th-century English Jews Alumni of the Royal College of Art Best Art Direction Academy Award winners British film designers Designers from London Film people from London Suicides by jumping in California