Arthur Max: An American Cinematheque Retrospective

The American Cinematheque is thrilled to honor legendary production designer Arthur Max with a curated retrospective featuring five films in which he contributed to creating some of the most iconic filmic worlds in contemporary cinema. Over the course of two films across 25 years, Max transports us to ancient Rome in the brutal and anarchic GLADIATOR and this year’s GLADIATOR II, shortlisted for the Academy Award in three categories.

Arthur Max’s contribution to cinema is found in his construction of the environments and atmospheres he creates to support the otherworldly narratives he’s tasked in bringing to life, resulting in a timeless quality in every film he’s been a part of, as he plays the role of a transcendental architect, bridging the gap between the real world and the world of the film. In THE MARTIAN, the story of a lone astronaut who is unwittingly left to his own devices and compelled to find a way to survive on a deserted, hostile planet, Max offers the film a wholly believable rendition of the planet Mars, without which the astronaut’s desperation and struggle would be futile in connecting with audiences, none of whom have ever stepped foot on Mars. Similarly, in PROMETHEUS—the prequel and the 5th installment of the ALIEN franchise—Max delicately constructs an unparalleled atmosphere in his presentation of yet another world beyond our own, breathing life into director Ridley Scott’s vision of the horrific depths of our universe; a world beyond human understanding that effortlessly resonates with modern audiences.

Max’s genius is not only observable in his construction of ancient or alien worlds, but in his vision of the world we reside in as well. With AMERICAN GANGSTER, Max communicates a dark vision of New York City’s criminal underground in the 1970s—a setting as barbaric and unforgiving as the ancient one he shows us in the GLADIATOR films. In his design of the unnamed city of SE7EN, Arthur Max contributes to creating one of the most absorbing atmospheres in the history of cinema, communicating a singularly bleak and nihilist vision of the world through physical representations of urban decay and emotional exhaustion from the individuals who are tasked to face the hopelessness of their reality, and thus our own.