Backstage Interview Transcript | 81st Academy Awards
Achievement in art direction
CATEGORY: Achievement in art direction
INTERVIEW WITH: Donald Graham Burt (Art Direction) Victor J. Zolfo (Set Decoration)
FILM: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
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Q. Hi. Congratulations.
A. Thank you.
Q. I wonder how you feel after so many movies of finally getting an Oscar nomination and an Oscar after such dedication and so many years of work.
A. It's really a thrill. I mean, you never expect it's actually going to happen, and just to be, like everyone says, just to be nominated is amazing and it suddenly feels like your career can you can relax about things.
Q. Hi. There's been a lot of talk about the special effects in this movie, but a lot of what you did was very traditional production design. Can you talk about that and where that time is?
A. Most of what we did was very traditional production design. We only used special effects to enhance sets or to do composites for set extensions, but for the most part we shot real locations or we built sets and we used it where we needed to push things further. So we tried not to rely on the special effects too much. In terms of where production design is headed, there's definitely two schools of thought on that. There's the traditional school that we all know about building sets and shooting locations, and then there's a school that says we can do it all CG.
Q. Hi guys.
A. Hi.
Q. You thanked David Fincher from the podium. We heard a lot about how what a perfectionist he is and how demanding he is. I wonder if you could talk to us a little bit more about what are your feelings about him and what he asks from you and what that means for you working with him.
A. I'm a perfectionist too, so we sort of go hand in hand. What he demands from us is what we demand from ourselves. And I think that's the great thing about our working relationship and working with Victor. We have our bar that's set as well, so it works out to be a very complementary relationship. We know that when we walk away from the set he is going to make it great, whatever we leave him with is good. And the great thing about David is he knows the movie. You go into the film and he knows what the movie is about and he knows how to work it, and I think that's the wonderful thing about him.
A. And he's really funny.
Q. Thank you so much and congratulations.
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