Rob Marshall, Oscar nominee, DGA and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, producer, theater director and choreographer whose films have consistently reflected the highest quality of production design, will receive the prestigious Cinematic Imagery Award from the Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE, Local 800) at its 23rd Annual Art Directors Guild’s Excellence in Production Design Awards. The 2019 Awards, themed “Production Design: Landscape of the Imagination,” will be held Saturday, February 2, 2019 at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown and will honor the prestigious spectrum of Marshall’s extraordinary award-winning work. The announcement was made today by ADG Council Chairman Mark Worthington ADG and Awards Producers Scott Moses ADG and Marco Miehe ADG.
Marshall’s films have been honored with a total of 23 Academy Award nominations–winning nine, including Best Picture. His most recent film Mary Poppins Returns, which he directed and produced, stars Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Said ADG president Nelson Coates, “We are excited to recognize the amazing talents and creative contributions Rob Marshall has made to narrative design and imaginative storytelling, while so beautifully creating an incredible cinematic legacy as which includes some of the most successful movies of our time. The breadth of his impact on the visual lexicon spans the worlds of film, television, theater and dance.”
Marshall’s directorial efforts include the Oscar -winning films Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha. For his work on Chicago, winner of six Oscars including Best Picture, Marshall received the Directors Guild Award, Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations, the National Board of Review Award and the New York Film Critics Online Award, both for best directorial debut, as well as the American Choreography Award. His epic film Memoirs of a Geisha was the winner of three Oscars, three BAFTA Awards and a Golden Globe. Marshall’s film version of the musical Nine was nominated for four Oscars, five Golden Globes, 10 Critics Choice awards, and a SAG award for best cast. His film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz, went on to gross over one billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Marshall’s screen adaption of the Sondheim musical Into the Woods, starring Meryl Streep, was nominated for three Oscars, three Golden Globes (including Best Picture), and was chosen as one of AFI’s best films of the year.
Marshall executive produced, directed and choreographed the NBC television event Tony Bennett: An American Classic, winning his second Directors Guild Award as well as three Emmy Awards for Direction, Choreography and Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special. He directed and choreographed Disney/ABC’s movie musical Annie, which received 12 Emmy nominations and won the prestigious Peabody Award. For his work he received an Emmy and an American Choreography Award. He is the recipient of the Cinema Audio Society Filmmaker Award, as well as the Distinguished Collaborator Award for the Costume Designers Guild and the Hamilton Award.
In addition to his film and television achievements, Marshall is a six-time Tony Award nominee and George Abbott Award winner. His stage work includes Broadway productions of Cabaret, Little Me, Victor/Victoria, Damn Yankees, She Loves Me, Company, and Kiss of the Spiderwoman.
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 Kathleen Kennedy, Brad Bird, David O. Russell, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, John Lasseter, George Lucas, Frank Oz, the team behind the James Bond franchise and behind the Harry Potter films, Bill Taylor, Syd Dutton, Warren Beatty, Allen Daviau, Clint Eastwood, Blake Edwards, Terry Gilliam, Ray Harryhausen, Norman Jewison, Robert S. Wise and Zhang Yimou.
Producers of this year’s ADG Awards (#ADGawards) are Scott Moses ADG and Marco Miehe ADG. Award submissions open online on October 4 and run through November 8, 2018. Online nomination voting will be held December 5, 2018-January 4, 2019 and nominees announced on January 7, 2019. Final online balloting will be held January 8-31, 2019 and winners will be announced at the dinner ceremony on Saturday, February 2, 2019. ADG Awards are open only to productions when made within the U.S. by producer’s signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.
The Grammys’ voting body is more diverse, with 66% new members. What does it mean for the awards?
For years, the Grammy Awards have been criticized over a lack of diversity — artists of color and women left out of top prizes; rap and contemporary R&B stars ignored — a reflection of the Recording Academy's electorate. An evolving voting body, 66% of whom have joined in the last five years, is working to remedy that.
At last year's awards, women dominated the major categories; every televised competitive Grammy went to at least one woman. It stems from a commitment the Recording Academy made five years ago: In 2019, the Academy announced it would add 2,500 women to its voting body by 2025. Under the Grammys' new membership model, the Recording Academy has surpassed that figure ahead of the deadline: More than 3,000 female voting members have been added, it announced Thursday.
"It's definitely something that we're all very proud of," Harvey Mason jr., academy president and CEO, told The Associated Press. "It tells me that we were severely underrepresented in that area."
Reform at the Record Academy dates back to the creation of a task force focused on inclusion and diversity after a previous CEO, Neil Portnow, made comments belittling women at the height of the #MeToo movement.
Since 2019, approximately 8,700 new members have been added to the voting body. In total, there are now more than 16,000 members and more than 13,000 of them are voting members, up from about 14,000 in 2023 (11,000 of which were voting members). In that time, the academy has increased its number of members who identify as people of color by 63%.
"It's not an all-new voting body," Mason assures. "We're very specific and intentional in who we asked to be a part of our academy by listening and learning from different genres and different groups that... Read More