Emmy®-winning and Oscar®-nominated Production Designer Jim Bissell will receive the Art Directors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards on January 31, 2015 at a black-tie ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The announcement was made today by John Shaffner, ADG Council Chairman, and ADG Award Producers Dave Blass and James Pearse Connelly.
"Jim Bissell's work as a Production Designer is legendary and we are proud to rank him among the best in the history of our profession. He is an extraordinary artist and accomplished leader in the industry, and it is our pleasure to name him as this year's Lifetime Achievement Award recipient," said Shaffner. A veteran leader of the ADG, Bissell was a past Vice President and a Board member for more than 15 years. He also chaired the Guild's Awards Committee for the first three years of its existence.
Bissell's distinguished work can be seen on such notable films as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), which took home four Oscars® with an additional five Oscar® nominations in 1983; The Rocketeer (1991), Jumanji (1995), 300 (2006), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) and most recently The Monuments Men (2014), directed by and starring George Clooney. Monuments Men is Jim's fourth collaboration with Clooney, which began with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), followed by the Oscar®-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and continuing with Leatherheads (2007).
Bissell has been awarded a Primetime Emmy® for Palmerstown, U.S.A. (shared with Bill Webb, 1980), an Oscar® nomination and Satellite Award win for Good Night, and Good Luck (Oscar® nomination shared with Jan Pascale, 2005) among additional nominations from the ADG, BAFTA and LAFCA Awards.
Bissell was an instructor with the UCLA Extension Program for the "Production Design in Film: The Language of Vision" course from 1989 to 1993. He has also been a guest lecturer for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, AFI, USC, Art Center College of Design and Chapman University. Bissell graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.F.A. in Theater Arts.
His other credits include: Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), Harry and the Hendersons (1987), Someone to Watch Over Me (1987), Twins (1988), Always (1989), Dennis the Menace (1993), Blue Chips (1994), Tin Cup (1996), Cats & Dogs (2001) and The Ring Two (2005). Bissell is currently working on Mission: Impossible 5 (2015) and the recently announced film 1906 (release TBA).
Nominations for this year's ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards will be announced on January 5, 2015. The ADG will present winners in ten competitive categories for theatrical films, television productions, commercials and music videos on January 31, 2015. A recipient for the Guild's Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award and three new inductees into its Hall of Fame will be announced in the near future.
Previous recipients of the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award are Production Designers Ken Adam, Robert Boyle, Albert Brenner, Henry Bumstead, Rick Carter, Roy Christopher, Stuart Craig, Bill Creber, John Mansbridge, Terence Marsh, Harold Michelson, Jan Scott, Paul Sylbert, Dean Tavoularis, Tony Walton, and Herman Zimmerman.
ADG Awards are open only to productions, when made within the U.S., by producers signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.
Media sponsors for the ADG Awards are The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, SHOOTonline.
About the Art Directors Guild
The Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800) represents more than 2,000 members who work throughout the United States, Canada and the rest of the world in film, television and theater as Production Designers, Art Directors, Assistant Art Directors; Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; Set Designers and Model Makers; and Previs Artists. Established in 1937, the ADG's ongoing activities include a Film Society, an annual Awards Banquet, a creative/technology community (5D: The Future of Immersive Design), a bimonthly craft magazine (Perspective); and extensive technology-training programs, figure drawing and other creative workshops and year-round Gallery 800 art exhibitions. (The Guild's Online Directory/Website Resource is at www.adg.org. Follow ADG on Twitter: @ADG800
