3 December 2015

Academy Award® Nominee David O. Russell Set to Receive the Cinematic Imagery Award at the Art Directors Guild Awards

Filmmaker David O. Russell on the set of JOY (PRNewsFoto/Art Directors Guild)

Oscar®-nominated filmmaker David O. Russell, whose films have consistently reflected the highest quality of production design, will receive the prestigious Cinematic Imagery Award, from the Art Directors Guild (ADG) at its 20th Annual Art Directors Guild's Excellence in Production Design Awards, presented by DXV from American Standard, it was announced today by ADG Council Chair Marcia Hinds and Awards Producer Thomas Wilkins.  

Set for January 31, 2016, the ceremony, at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, hosted by Owen Benjamin, will honor the prestigious spectrum of Russell's extraordinary award-winning work.



The ADG's Cinematic Imagery Award is given to those whose body of work in the film industry has richly enhanced the visual aspects of the movie-going experience. 

Previous recipients have been Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, John Lasseter, George Lucas, Frank Oz and Steven Spielberg, among others.

Said ADG Council Chairman Hinds, "Year after year David O. Russell has delivered consistent excellence and creativity in his motion pictures. His films are not genre specific. They are story and character specific and an integral part of those stories is the production design."

Five-time Academy Award nominee David O. Russell co-wrote and directed American Hustle, which earned ten Academy Award nominations – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and acting nominations in all four categories and a Best Production Design nomination for Production Designer Judy Becker and Set Decorator Heather Loeffler. 

The film also won three Golden Globe® Awards including Best Picture, three BAFTA® Awards, including Best Original Screenplay and won the Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress awards from the New York Film Critics Circle. American Hustle is David O. Russell's highest grossing film at over $150 million domestically and over $248 million worldwide. 

Russell's previous film, Silver Linings Playbook (2012), was also a box office success and a major awards contender. It earned eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and acting nominations in all four categories (with a win for lead actress Jennifer Lawrence). 

The film also garnered four Golden Globe nominations, four Independent Spirit Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay, and a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In addition, his film The Fighter (2010), earned seven Oscar® nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress - meaning that Russell has directed actors to a total of eleven Oscar nominations and three Oscar wins in his last three pictures.

Russell's next film Joy is the story of a family across four generations centered on the girl who becomes the woman who founds a business dynasty and becomes a matriarch in her own right. Betrayal, treachery, the loss of innocence and the scars of love, pave the road in this intense emotional and human comedy about becoming a true boss of family and enterprise facing a world of unforgiving commerce.Jennifer Lawrence stars, with Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Edgar Ramirez, Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Elisabeth Rohm and Dascha Polanco. Like David O. Russell's previous films, Joy defies genre to tell a story of family, loyalty, and love.

Producers of this year's ADG Awards (#ADGawards) are Production Designers Tom Wilkins, James Pearse Connelly and Judy Cosgrove. 
For information about the 20th Anniversary of the ADG Awards, please contact Debbie Patton, Manager, Awards & Events, Debbie@artdirectors.org or visit www.adg.org.