Production Designer Rick Carter Donates Major Archive to the USC School of Cinema-Television
Rick Carter, one of Hollywood’s pre-eminent production designers responsible for the look of such major commercial and critical successes as Back to the Future II and III and Munich, has donated a rich array of his production records concerning the films of Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis to the USC School of Cinema-Television, Dean Elizabeth M. Daley announced today.
“This collection is simply incredible,” said Daley. “We’re honored to accept this trove of photographs, scripts, set designs and more that will enable scholars, students and researchers to see the creative vision behind stories that have taken on nearly an iconic status in our culture.”
Archivists in the cinema-television library are currently cataloguing and preparing the items, formally called the “Rick Carter Collection,” for a major installation to take place this fall in the David L. Wolper Center, based in USC’s Doheny Memorial Library.
A Los Angeles native, Carter landed his first industry job as an assistant art director on Hal Ashby’s Bound For Glory (1976). Among the films covered in the collection are Jurassic Park (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), Amistad (1997), Jurassic Park: The Lost World (1997), Cast Away (2000), The Polar Express (2004) and War Of The Worlds (2005).
“When anyone looks at the collection—from the notes, to the photographs, to the storyboards—they’ll get a glimpse of what went on to make these movies possible,” Carter said. “I take a lot of happiness in the process it took to create everything in this collection, and I want to help preserve some of that feeling and inspire future filmmakers.”
Carter’s work has led to nominations for the AFI Production Designer of the Year (A.I.: Artificial Intelligence), the Art Directors Guild Award (A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Amistad) and the Academy Award (Forrest Gump).
“Rick has been a part of my core filmmaking team for many years,” Spielberg said. “He’s such an incredible creative partner, and this compilation of his work will surely spark the imagination of anyone interested in movie magic.”
About the USC School of Cinema-Television
Since 1929, the USC School of Cinema-Television has fueled and mirrored the growth of entertainment as an industry and an art form. The school offers comprehensive programs in directing, producing, writing, critical studies, animation and digital arts, production, and interactive media, all backed by a broad liberal arts education and taught by leading practitioners in each field. Its more than 8,000 graduates are among the world’s most distinguished animators, scholars, teachers, writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, sound experts and industry executives. Since 1973 not a year has passed without an alumnus or alumna being nominated for an Academy Award.
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Contact: Danni Pearlberg, 818-506-7887
