# Arthur Max

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American production designer (born 1946)

Arthur Max Born (1946-05-01) May 1, 1946 (age 80) Manhattan, New York Occupations Production designer, Art Director Years active 1984-present

**Arthur Max** (born May 1, 1946) is an American production designer.[1]

## Biography

The native New Yorker began his career as a stage [lighting designer](/source/Lighting_designer) in the music industry following graduation from New York University in the late 1960s. Those assignments included work at Bill Graham's famous music venue The Fillmore East in [New York's East Village](/source/New_York's_East_Village), and the historic [Woodstock](/source/Woodstock) Festival of 1969. During the following decade, he designed concert lighting and festival stages for many rock and jazz artists. He was [Pink Floyd](/source/Pink_Floyd)'s lighting designer during the bands' tours in the US and worldwide in the early-1970s. After studying architecture in England (earning degrees in the early-1980s from the [Polytechnic of Central London](/source/University_of_Westminster) and the [Royal College of Art](/source/Royal_College_of_Art)), Max went on to do several architectural design projects in London including an award-winning lighting design for the stage of St John's Concert Hall, a former 18th Century church in the centre of Smith Square, Westminster, London.[2]

He entered the British film industry as an assistant to several English production designers. First for [Stuart Craig](/source/Stuart_Craig) on Hugh Hudson's *Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes* and *Cal* (both 1984), then for Ashetton Gorton on Hudson's *Revolution* the following year. He commenced his own production design career in TV commercials for ten years from 1985 to 1995 (for such clients as [Pepsi](/source/Pepsi), [Nike](/source/Nike%2C_Inc.), [Jeep](/source/Jeep), [Coke](/source/Coca-Cola) and [Levi's](/source/Levi's)), which led to his ongoing associations with directors Scott and Fincher.

## Awards

Max has been nominated for four [Academy Awards](/source/Academy_Awards): once each for his Production Design work on *[Gladiator](/source/Gladiator_(2000_film))* (2000), *[American Gangster](/source/American_Gangster_(film))* (2007), *[The Martian](/source/The_Martian_(film))* (2015) and *[Napoleon](/source/Napoleon_(2023_film))* (2023). In addition to his Oscar nominations, Max won several other honors for his production design on the film, including the BAFTA, the National Board of Review prize and the Broadcast Film Critics honor. He also collected two "Excellence in Production Design" Awards from the [Art Directors Guild](/source/Art_Directors_Guild), the first for *Gladiator* and the second for *The Martian*. He was previously nominated for *[Black Hawk Down](/source/Black_Hawk_Down_(film))*, *[Robin Hood](/source/Robin_Hood_(2010_film))*, *[American Gangster](/source/American_Gangster_(film))*, *[Prometheus](/source/Prometheus_(2012_film))* and *[Panic Room](/source/Panic_Room_(film))*. After *[The Martian](/source/The_Martian_(film))*, Max worked on *[All the Money in the World](/source/All_the_Money_in_the_World)* (2017) *[Exodus: Gods and Kings](/source/Exodus%3A_Gods_and_Kings)*, *[The Counselor](/source/The_Counselor)*, *[Kingdom of Heaven](/source/Kingdom_of_Heaven_(film))*, *Robin Hood*, *Black Hawk Down* and *[Body of Lies](/source/Body_of_Lies_(film))*. His first job as a production designer was Fincher's 1995 thriller, *[Seven](/source/Seven_(1995_film))*. More recently, he completed *[The Last Vermeer](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Last_Vermeer_(2019_film)&action=edit&redlink=1)*, which was based on a true story of art forgery, set in Holland just after World War II, and *[The Last Duel](/source/The_Last_Duel_(2021_film))*, a medieval drama made in France and Ireland. Subsequently, he worked on *[House of Gucci](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=House_of_Gucci_(2022_film)&action=edit&redlink=1)*, filmed on location in Italy, and *[Napoleon](/source/Napoleon_(2023_film))*, an historical epic about the rise and fall of Napoleon Buonaparte, made in Malta and the UK. His most recent project was *[Gladiator II](/source/Gladiator_II)*, shot in Morocco and Malta, marking his 16th project with director Ridley Scott.

## Filmography

Year Title Director Notes 1995 Seven David Fincher 1997 G.I. Jane Ridley Scott 2000 Gladiator Won - Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Period or Fantasy Film Nominated - Academy Award for Best Production Design Won - BAFTA Award for Best Production Design Won - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Production Design 2001 Black Hawk Down Nominated - Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Contemporary Film 2002 Panic Room David Fincher Nominated - Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Contemporary Film 2005 Kingdom of Heaven Ridley Scott Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Art Direction and Production Design 2007 American Gangster Nominated - Academy Award for Best Art Direction Nominated - Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Period Film 2008 Body of Lies 2010 Robin Hood Nominated - Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Period Film 2012 Prometheus Nominated - Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Fantasy Film 2013 The Counselor 2014 Exodus: Gods and Kings 2015 The Martian Won - Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Contemporary Film Nominated - Academy Award for Best Production Design Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Production Design 2017 All the Money in the World 2019 The Last Vermeer Dan Friedkin 2021 The Last Duel Ridley Scott House of Gucci Nominated - Set Decorators Society of America Award for Best Achievement in Decor/Design of a Period Feature Film 2023 Napoleon Nominated - Academy Award for Best Production Design Nominated - Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Period Film Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Art Direction and Production Design Nominated - Set Decorators Society of America Award for Best Achievement in Decor/Design of a Period Feature Film. 2024 Gladiator II Won - British Film Designers Guild Award - Major Motion Picture - Period Won - 29th Satellite Awards - Best Art Direction and Production Design

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Bloom, Nate](/source/Nate_Bloom) (February 25, 2016). ["The tribe at the Oscars, 2016"](https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/the-tribe-at-the-oscars-2016/). *[Times of Israel](/source/Times_of_Israel)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-rubin_2-0)** Rubin, Steven Jay (2011). "Black Hawk Down". *Combat Films: American Realism, 1945-2010* (2 ed.). McFarland. pp. 257–258. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7864-5892-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7864-5892-9).

## External links

- [Arthur Max](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0561480/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

- [Arthur Max papers](http://catalog.oscars.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=65810), Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Awards for Arthur Max v t e Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film Feature Film (1996–1999) Stuart Craig (1996) Peter Lamont (1997) Eugenio Zanetti (1998) Rick Heinrichs (1999) Period or Fantasy (2000–2005) Arthur Max (2000) Catherine Martin (2001) Grant Major (2002) Grant Major (2003) Rick Heinrichs (2004) John Myhre (2005) Contemporary (2000–present) David Gropman (2000) Aline Bonetto (2001) Jeannine Oppewall (2002) Henry Bumstead (2003) Alex McDowell (2004) David J. Bomba (2005) Peter Lamont (2006) Jess Gonchor (2007) Mark Digby (2008) Karl Júlíusson (2009) Thérèse DePrez (2010) Donald Graham Burt (2011) Dennis Gassner (2012) K. K. Barrett (2013) Kevin Thompson (2014) Arthur Max (2015) David Wasco (2016) François Audouy (2017) Nelson Coates (2018) Lee Ha-jun (2019) Wynn Thomas (2020) Mark Tildesley (2021) Rick Heinrichs (2022) Suzie Davies (2023) Suzie Davies (2024) Florencia Martin (2025) Fantasy (2006–present) Eugenio Caballero (2006) Dennis Gassner (2007) Nathan Crowley (2008) Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg (2009) Guy Hendrix Dyas (2010) Stuart Craig (2011) David Gropman (2012) Andy Nicholson (2013) Charles Wood (2014) Colin Gibson (2015) Guy Hendrix Dyas (2016) Dennis Gassner (2017) Hannah Beachler (2018) Charles Wood (2019) Nathan Crowley (2020) Patrice Vermette (2021) Jason Kisvarday (2022) James Price and Shona Heath (2023) Nathan Crowley (2024) Kasra Farahani (2025) Period (2006–present) Tingxiao Huo (2006) Jack Fisk (2007) Donald Graham Burt (2008) Sarah Greenwood (2009) Eve Stewart (2010) Dante Ferretti (2011) Sarah Greenwood (2012) Catherine Martin (2013) Adam Stockhausen (2014) Jack Fisk (2015) Wynn Thomas (2016) Paul Denham Austerberry (2017) Fiona Crombie (2018) Barbara Ling (2019) Donald Graham Burt (2020) Tamara Deverell (2021) Florencia Martin (2022) Ruth De Jong (2023) Craig Lathrop (2024) Tamara Deverell (2025) Animated (2017–present) Harley Jessup (2017) Adam Stockhausen and Paul Harrod (2018) Bob Pauley (2019) Steve Pilcher (2020) Ian Gooding and Lorelay Bové (2021) Guy Davis and Curt Enderle (2022) Patrick O'Keefe (2023) Raymond Zibach (2024) Mingjue Helen Chen and Dave Bleich (2025) v t e BAFTA Award for Best Production Design 1964–1967 Black and White Ken Adam (1964) Ray Simm (1965) Tambi Larsen (1966) No Award (1967) Colour John Bryan (1964) Ken Adam (1965) Wilfred Shingleton (1966) John Box (1967) 1968–present Ernest Archer, Harry Lange, and Anthony Masters (1968) Donald M. Ashton (1969) Mario Garbuglia (1970) Ferdinando Scarfiotti (1971) Rolf Zehetbauer (1972) Natasha Kroll (1973) John Box (1974) John Box (1975) Geoffrey Kirkland (1976) Danilo Donati and Federico Fellini (1977) Joe Alves (1978) Michael Seymour (1979) Stuart Craig (1980) Norman Reynolds (1981) Lawrence G. Paull (1982) Gianni Quaranta and Franco Zeffirelli (1983) Roy Walker (1984) Norman Garwood (1985) Brian Ackland-Snow and Gianni Quaranta (1986) Santo Loquasto (1987) Dean Tavoularis (1988) Dante Ferretti (1989) Richard Sylbert (1990) Bo Welch (1991) Catherine Martin (1992) Andrew McAlpine (1993) Dante Ferretti (1994) Michael Corenblith (1995) Tony Burrough (1996) Catherine Martin (1997) Dennis Gassner (1998) Rick Heinrichs (1999) Arthur Max (2000) Aline Bonetto (2001) Dennis Gassner (2002) William Sandell (2003) Dante Ferretti (2004) Stuart Craig (2005) Jim Clay, Geoffrey Kirkland, and Jennifer Williams (2006) Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer (2007) Donald Graham Burt and Victor J. Zolfo (2008) Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, and Kim Sinclair (2009) Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, and Doug Mowat (2010) Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo (2011) Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson (2012) Catherine Martin and Beverly Dunn (2013) Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock (2014) Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson (2015) Stuart Craig and Anna Pinnock (2016) Paul D. Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, and Shane Vieau (2017) Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton (2018) Dennis Gassner and Lee Sandales (2019) Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale (2020) Patrice Vermette and Zsuzsanna Sipos (2021) Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino (2022) Shona Heath, James Price, and Zsuzsa Mihalek (2023) Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales (2024) Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau (2025) v t e Satellite Award for Best Production Design Catherine Martin (1996) Peter Lamont (1997) Dennis Gassner (1998) Rick Heinrichs, Ken Court, John Dexter, Andy Nicholson, and Leslie Tomkins (1999) Don Taylor (2000) Catherine Martin, Ian Gracie, and Annie Beauchamp (2001) Dante Ferretti (2002) Grant Major, Dan Hennah, and Alan Lee (2003) Eve Stewart, John Bush, and John Hill (2004) James D. Bissell (2005) Henry Bumstead, Jack G. Taylor Jr., and Richard C. Goddard (2006) Guy Hendrix Dyas and David Allday (2007) Catherine Martin, Ian Gracie, and Karen Murphy (2008) Dan Bishop and Ian Phillips (2009) Guy Hendrix Dyas, Luke Freeborn, Brad Ricker, and Dean Wolcott (2010) Laurence Bennett and Gregory S. Hooper (2011) Rick Carter, Curt Beech, David Crank, and Leslie McDonald (2012) Beverly Dunn and Catherine Martin (2013) Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock, and Stephan O. Gessler (2014) Adam Stockhausen (2015) David Wasco (2016) Paul Denham Austerberry (2017) John Myhre (2018) Beth Mickle and Michael Ahern (2019) Donald Graham Burt, Chris Craine, Jan Pascale, and Dan Webster (2020) Stefan Dechant (2021) Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino (2022) Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer (2023) Arthur Max, Jille Azis, and Elli Griff (2024) Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau (2025)

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND WorldCat National Poland People Deutsche Biographie

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Arthur Max](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Max) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Max?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.