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Arthur Max (born May 1, 1946) is an American production designer.


Biography

The native New Yorker began his career as a stage lighting designer in the music industry following graduation from New York University in the late 1960s. Those assignments included work at Bill Graham's famous music venue The Fillmore East in New York's East Village, and the historic Woodstock Festival of 1969. During the following decade, he designed concert lighting and festival stages for many rock and jazz artists. He was
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
's lighting designer during the bands' tours in the US and around the world in the early-1970s as well as with Marc Bolan’s T-Rex. After studying architecture in England (earning degrees in the early-1980s from the
Polytechnic of Central London , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...
and the Royal College of Art), Max went on to do several architectural design projects in London including an award-winning lighting design for the stage of St John's Concert Hall, a former 18th Century church in the centre of Smith Square, Westminster, London. He entered the British film industry as an assistant to several English production designers. First for
Stuart Craig Norman Stuart Craig (born 14 April 1942) is a noted British production designer. He has also designed the sets, together with his frequent collaborator set decorator, the late Stephenie McMillan, on all of the ''Harry Potter'' films to date. Li ...
on Hugh Hudson's "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes" and "Cal" (both 1984), then for Ashetton Gorton on Hudson's "Revolution" the following year. He commenced his own production design career in TV commercials over a period of ten years from 1985 to 1995 (for such clients as Pepsi, Nike,
Jeep Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Moto ...
, Coke and
Levi's Levi Strauss & Co. () is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's () brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, to o ...
), which led to his ongoing associations with directors Scott and Fincher.


Awards

Max has been nominated for three Academy Awards: once each for his Production Design work on ''
Gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...
'' (2000), '' American Gangster'' (2007), and '' The Martian'' (2015). In addition to his Oscar nominations, Max won several other honors for his production design on the film, including the BAFTA, the National Board of Review prize and the Broadcast Film Critics honor. He also collected two "Excellence in Production Design" Awards from the Art Directors Guild, the first for Gladiator and the second for The Martian. He was previously nominated for '' Black Hawk Down'', '' Robin Hood'', '' American Gangster'', '' Prometheus'' and '' Panic Room''. After '' The Martian (film)'', Max worked on All the Money in the World (2017) '' Exodus: Gods and Kings'', '' The Counselor'', ''
Kingdom of Heaven Kingdom of Heaven may refer to: Religious * Kingdom of Heaven (Gospel of Matthew) **Kingship and kingdom of God, or simply Kingdom of God, the phrase used in the other gospels * Kingdom of Heaven (Daviesite), a schismatic sect, founded by Will ...
'', ''Robin Hood'', ''Black Hawk Down'', and '' Body of Lies''. His first job as a Production Designer was Fincher's 1995 thriller, ''
Seven 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...
''. More recently he completed ''
The Last Vermeer (2019) ''The Last Vermeer'' is a 2019 American drama film directed by Dan Friedkin from a screenplay by John Orloff (under the pen name James McGee), Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby. It is based on the 2008 book ''The Man Who Made Vermeers'' by Jonathan ...
'' which was based on a true story of art forgery, set in Holland just after World War II , and his last project was the soon to be released '' The Last Duel (2020)'' . Subsequently he worked on '' House of Gucci '' on location in Italy marking his 15th project with Director Ridley Scott, and is currently preparing "Kitbag" an historical epic about the rise and fall of Napoleon Buonaparte to be filmed in 2022.


Filmography


References


External links

*
Arthur Max papers
Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences {{DEFAULTSORT:Max, Arthur 1946 births Alumni of the Royal College of Art Alumni of the University of Westminster American art directors 20th-century American Jews American production designers Living people New York University Artists from New York City Best Production Design BAFTA Award winners 21st-century American Jews