Graphic Journey Blog

Ken Adam: Screen idol

London March 2010

I paused for a moment to look at a vintage Rolls Royce Silver Cloud convertible. It was parked outside an elegant three story Georgian town house in London’s fashionable Knightsbridge. This is the home of Ken, now Sir Ken Adam, one of cinema’s most celebrated set designers. I was welcomed by his housekeeper and shown into the ‘den’ were Ken was ready for our interview.

 
 Sir Ken Adam

Adam has been the creative force behind the sets for 75 films, including seven of the classic James Bond films, which became increasingly ambitious, culminating in the astonishing set for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) with its massive supertanker set containing two full-size submarines. 

Ken Adam's original concept sketch for the giant supertanker set for The Spy Who Loved Me 

 

The finished set
It was the latter creation that inspired Norman Forster when designing London’s Canary Warf underground station. But for me it was Adam’s set for Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove (1964) that has had a lasting impact. The vast, constructivist influenced war room set, with its extreme triangular shape and centerpiece oval table illuminated by an elegantly suspended light ring - described by Steven Spielberg as, ‘The greatest set in cinema history.’ - is masterful.

The war room set for Dr Strangelove 

Adam’s own epiphany came as a boy when he saw the dramatic sets for two films; The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) designed by Hermann Warm and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) with its futuristic vision designed by Erich Kettelhut. 

 

TheCabinet of Dr. Caligari 1919

Metropolis 1927 

They were the catalyst for a film career that has spanned five decades. During that time Adam has been lauded with copious awards, including two Oscars for Barry Lyndon (1975)

Barry Lyndon 1975 

The Madness of King George 1994 

and The Madness of King George (1994) - both ironically period films - and two BAFTA’s for, The Ipcress File (1965) and Dr Strangelove. This was topped off with Knighthood in 2003 and last year he was made a Royal Designer for Industry.

Adam has inhabited the world of film production where everything was built for real. There was no computer-generated imagery. Our meeting coincided with the recent Oscars, at which the set designers Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg received the golden statue for the ultimate fusion of live action and CGI in James Cameron’s 2009 three-dimensional extravaganza, Avatar.

Concept sketch for Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg's Avitar 2009 

I asked Adam if he had embraced CGI? ‘Not so much in film, but a few years ago I was asked to design the sets for the computer game Goldeneye:Rogue Agent. He did this in his normal way, producing masses of drawings and notes. All were quaintly faxed to the digital artists in LA to render. Adam was alarmed to receive a message back asking him to produce far more sets than on a conventional film, because in gaming the player can go everywhere and anywhere in pursuit of their prey and so the designer needs to create a whole world in which to play.

Digital screen render for the Goldeneye:Rogue Agent game 

Adam found it an eye-opening experience, but wasn’t overly impressed with the results. However, he is contemplating working on another Bond game now that the quality of rendering has improved dramatically.

Some of the most inspiring set designs in recent years have come from the digital animated world, most notably from Pixar with films such as Cars, Up, Ratatouille and Toy Story 3.  But an interesting point that Adam made was the significance of how a real set made the actors feel. When the actors gathered on the Dr Strangelove war room set its scale overwhelmed them, adding a further dimension to their performances. That is what a well-conceived film set can do to elevate the atmosphere.

The brilliant Peter Sellars as Dr Strangelove 

We live in an age where anything is now possible in cinema. We have become complacent about the surprise of the spectacle trail blazed by Spielberg and George Lucas, and later Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter franchises, the latter created by the brilliant set designer Stuart Craig who has successfully married the real and digital worlds of set design seamlessly. Production designer Alex McDowell also embraces both with ease. He was responsible for the massive set in Spielberg’s Terminal and Tim Burton’s surreal Charlie and The Chocolate Factory...

 

Original film set design is truly alive and well in the 21^st century.

Artical by Mike Dempsey Copyright 2010 Centaur Communication 

You can also hear an hour-long audio interview between Mike Dempsey and Ken Adam by clicking this link

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A night at the movies nestled in a concrete bunker..

My local cinema is the Renoir in London’s Bloomsbury. I like supporting it, as it’s one of the few cinemas that takes film seriously. Originally built as part of the Brunswick Centre; one of the last, late 60’s, exercises in brutalism (architect Patrick Hodgkinson) and was to compliment that other 60s icon the Barbican in the City. But it was dogged by compromise and its ambition dramatically scaled down. It was eventually sold to Camden Council who promptly turned it into a slum . By the 90s the Centre was in a very sorry state with empty shops, vandalism and a general lack of investment. But the recent major renovation has seen it rise from the ashes to become a thriving part of Bloomsbury. It is now a desirable residence for many design conscious individuals – a very well known design/architectural magazine editor lives there (guess who?). But throughout the Brunswick’s shabby period I, along with a close friend, continued to pay our weekly visit to the dear old Renoir cinema. It still brandishes it’s 70s graphics and the friendly staff sport the familiar back T-shirts. I have come to think of it it as 'my' cinema - if there are more than a half dozen others in the auditorium I get quite affronted – ‘ Wow it’s pretty crowded tonight’, I would mutter to my companion. Over the years I have seen some astonishing films there and still do. More often that not I take pot luck. I did just that last week. Sergei Bodrov’s ‘Mogol’ is magnificent. For the ciematography alone it’s worth the 125 minutes. But it’s much more that that. It tells the epic story of Temadujin, better know as Genghis Khan (c 1162 – 1227) whose empire, at its height, covered one fifth of the planet. The dialog is in Mongolian – which is probably why this film is not getting the distribution it deserves. In my view the language is all the better for it, as transports you right to the heart of these people and their customs. The ever-changing landscapes are breathtaking and the stunning battle scenes give Ridley Scott a run for his money. So if you want to avoid sitting next to people munching through a smelly, three course meal, whilst guzzling down a bucketful of Coca Cola, texting their friends or verging on a passionate orgasm, make your next cinema visit to the Renior. Staying with film for the moment I had been trying for a long time to get a DVD of ‘The Pumpkin Eater’ 1964, directed by Jack Clayton. Based on Penelope Mortimer’s book it tells the story of a woman on the brink of a breakdown due to the philandering of her screenwriter husband. What makes it special – in addition to Clayton's beautifully sensitive direction – is Harold Pinter's rapier screenplay. It’s riddled with the physiological cruelty present in many marriages. Wonderfully acted by Ann Bancroft – at her most beautiful - and Peter Finch. Plus the added bonus of George Delarue’s haunting music score. A beautiful piece of 60’s British cinema, and a perfect complement to the Renoir.

The Renoir

The Brunswick Centre in the 1970s.

Mongol 2007 Directed by Sergei Bodrov

Peter Finch and Ann Bancroft in 'The Pumpkin Eater' 1964 Directed by Jack Clayton