portrait of a hollywood production designer: Charles William Breen

Had an awesome shoot with Production Designer and friend, Charles William Breen. You’ve seen his creative zap in films like The Blues Brothers, Terminator II, Your Friends and Neighbors, The Bridges of Madison County, and Blade Runner. For Blade Runner— he designed the sets. You can see his architectural inspiration in Decker’s apartment in the megalith high-rise— those beautifully timeless, crenelated walls. He actually took plaster casts of the walls of the Ennis House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright to build the set.

Charles is in Chicago again— this time working on another pilot (created by Dennis Leary) that begins filming early September, 2013.

Before working solely as a production designer, Charles studied architecture at Cranbrook— then moved to Hollywood, turned down an offer for work by Charles Eames— and began working as a set designer.

He’s not only the “arbiter of taste” for iconic films, he’s also a curator— he was a partner in an LA art gallery which hosted Richard Avedon and his work— and an inspired photographer himself. You can see some of his photography in his ongoing project “Chicago in perspective” which you can catch by following him on facebook.

Charles’ website     Charles on IMDB     Charles on facebook