Entertainment Weekly - Derek McLane Sets the Stage for This Years Oscars

Scenic designer Derek McLane on setting the stage for this year's Oscars

by Nakisha WilliamsFebruary 20, 2013

The theme of the 85th Academy Awards is music in the movies, so to create the stage, Tony-winning set designer Derek McLane went back to his theater roots.

“[Producers] Neil Meron and Craig Zadan mentioned a number of my more adventurous Broadway designs when they asked me to design the Oscars, and suggested that I might find a way to riff on some those motifs,” says McLane, who met Meron and Zadan when he worked on their 2011 revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. “They were interested in my coming up with something new, something that did not look like previous Oscar shows. They encouraged me to think boldly and explore previously untried ideas.”

Tasked with boldly going where no Academy Awards scenic designer has gone before, McLane, whose Broadway credits include 33 Variations–for which he won the Tony Award win for best set design in 2009–The Heiress, and the soon-to-open Breakfast at Tiffany’s, referenced old movie musicals, the geometric big screen dance routines dreamed up by Hollywood choreographer Busby Berkley, and a variety of musical instruments.

“Neil and Craig stressed the importance of making the Oscars a ‘show,’ not only for the audience watching on television, but also for the folks sitting in the Dolby,” McLane explains. “It is our hope that if we can create a stage show that is really exciting for the live audience, the television viewers will feel that excitement.”

Though he’s not allowed to share specifics before the stage is unveiled on Oscar night, McLane promises that there are “a couple of great surprises in store, some of which make clever use of antique movie equipment.” Visual effects will also come into play. “Ted, the bear from the movie Ted will be presenting an award.  We tried training a live bear to do the sequence, but it just didn’t look right, so you are in for some cool special effects.”

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Live Design Magazine - 5 Questions With Derek McLane

5 Questions With Derek McLane, Scenic Designer

Mar. 6, 2013

Ellen Lampert-Greaux | livedesignonline

1. As a contemporary scenic designer, how do you approach a period play such as The Heiress, which you recently designed for a revival on Broadway at The Walter Kerr?
I had seen the Lincoln Center production, starring Cherry Jones, and thought it was extraordinary. Naturally, I read the play several times. I always start with a lot of research on a period, and as I work on the design as a contemporary designer, I know that I will be attracted to certain parts of the research and not others. Contemporary period and tastes influence and color every so-called “period” design, whether by conscious choice or not. As evidence, you need only look at some of the big period movies made in the 1970s and check out the hair and lipstick, or the type fonts on the building signs, or the color palettes, and you will see the style of the ‘70s everywhere. All of those features helped those movies feel alive and immediate to their audiences.Photos Derek McLane Studio

2. I understand you visited historic homes on Washington Square here in New York.

The director, Moises Kaufman, and I visited several period homes on Washington Square, some by invitation and some spontaneously. We went to the Merchant House, which, though not actually on Washington Square, is only a few blocks away, and has been preserved in its original state since the 1850s. I was struck by how plain much of it was. We also went on pre-arranged tours of a number of houses on the north side of Washington Square where the Sloper family would have lived. Those houses are now owned by NYU and are mostly used as offices. The detail in a few of those is quite luxurious, with really wonderful period, neo-classical features.
We did have one curious experience. There are a few NYU-owned buildings still used as residences, and we saw a man emerge from his home. We introduced ourselves and asked if we might take a look at his house. He warned us that the house had been altered and would not represent what would have been true in the 1850s. In fact, the tall-ceilinged living room was only about 10' deep, which felt odd, and there was a tiny kitchen off to the side. He explained that NYU had built dorms on the site, but because they were landmarked, and the designation only applied to the first 10', the building had been chopped off at that depth. He opened a steel door in the back, and sure enough, there was a low-ceilinged, fluorescent lit hallway with dozens of doors coming off it, that ran the entire length of the block to the right and the left.One of McLane's sketches

3. How true to period is the set in reality?

It is, and it isn’t. Everything in it is based in the reality of the period, and yet virtually everything has been molded or altered or pushed to fit the mood I was trying to create, which was one of both great wealth and grandeur combined with great restraint. The Sloper family has an almost puritanical distaste for vulgarity, so conveying the wealth without offending their sensibilities is a challenge.

4. What shop did you work with, and how are the set pieces fabricated?

Global Scenic in Bridgeport, CT built the set. It is made out of many different materials. With the exception of the lace we used for the walls, I was not particularly concerned with the type of materials they used, rather that they created the shapes I had drawn and painted it as I had the model, something they did very beautifully.

5. What about working with the LD?

I worked very closely with the lighting designer, David Lander. He and I have collaborated several times before, and he was very active in helping figure out how to light it most effectively. In particular, I wanted an effect of the lace walls dissolving into sky at the end as Catherine ascends the stairs for the final time.

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BroadwayWorld.com - Derek McLane Discusses 2013 Academy Awards Set Design

Derek McLane Discusses 2013 Academy Awards Set Design
Tuesday, February 19, 2013; 02:02 PM - by Pat Cerasaro

Tony Award-winning scenic designer Derek McLane has discussed the inspiration behind his remarkable set design for the 2013 Academy Awards in an interview with the LA Times.

McLane related that the main inspiration for the half-moon shaped caged lighting sculpture that frames the gigantic stage of the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles came from an object d'art in his own home - a wall installation featuring dozens of antique lamps in cubbyholes backed by iodizing mirrors.

Old meets new, indeed!

McLane states of the wall structure in his own home, "They're all slightly different and they're objects you wouldn't think of as warm or romantic, but in a pattern they create an almost lush backdrop to the room."

He continues, "That kind of tension between an ordinary object and the patterns you can create with them is interesting."

In speaking of executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and their influence, McLane says, "[Meron and Zadan] said, 'We don't want you to try to make this look like another Oscar show. Make this look like your own work.' And they singled out some of the more abstract, interesting Broadway sets I'd designed. It really freed me up."

Busby Berkeley movies and the great movie musicals all have played a part in the design, as well. "I'm exploring things I think suit the majesty of the event, the glamour of the event. But some of them are unadorned."

Check out the LA Times article here.

Be sure to stay tuned to BroadwayWorld for an interview with Derek McLane later this week as well as exclusive images of the design!

Also, 2013 Academy Awards executive producer Neil Meron Tweeted a picture of the set earlier this week, as well. Follow him on Twitter here.

View the enticing preview image from Neil Meron's Twitter yesterday below.



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Vanity Fair - A Q&A with the 2013 Oscars’ Set Designer

Making Sure Julia Roberts Doesn’t Slip and Hollywood's Shortest Actors Look Tall: A Q&A with the 2013 Oscars’ Set Designer

by Julie Miller

1:30 PM, FEBRUARY 19 2013

     Derek McLane. BY JOAN MARCUS. 

Tony Award winner Derek McLane has designed the sets of many a Broadway musical—including Grease, Ragtime, andThe Pajama Game—so it makes sense that the Harvard- and Yale-educated theater designer should bring his expertise to this year’s Academy Awards, which will pay homage to music, specifically movie musicals. Already it has been announced that Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Queen Latifah, and Richard Gere will reunite for a special Chicago number. Barbra Streisand will return to the stage for her first performance at the Academy Awards in 36 years. Dreamgirls and Les Misérables are expected to be represented in a music-number capacity. And Adele, as part of a 50th-anniversary tribute to the James Bond film franchise, will perform “Skyfall” live for the first time ever. In preparation for the event, which will take place this Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, McLane has been working on the sets since October—consulting with host Seth MacFarlane, drawing inspiration from 30s- and 40s-era musicals, and secretly tweaking the venue’s seating to quicken up the ceremony’s historically slow pace.

Between last-minute meetings a few days ago, McLane phoned the Hollywood Blog and told us about slip-proofing the Dolby Theatre’s stage, whether Jack Nicholson’s seat has special reclining capabilities, and the top-secret James Bond tribute.

Julie Miller: How does set-designing for the Oscars differ from set- designing for a Broadway show?

Derek McLane: On a Broadway show, we start with a set story or set script. For the Oscars, we are creating our own narrative, a much looser narrative than you would have for a Broadway show. Another difference is that a Broadway audience sits a fixed distance from the stage. At the Oscars, because we have a lot of close-ups, you see the scenery from a distance, so it has to look great from both a distance and up close.

What is the narrative for this year’s show, and how much was it informed by the host, Seth MacFarlane?

Seth has been involved in a lot of the design meetings. He’s really been amazing. One of the main themes of the show is the music of the movies. That encompasses movie scores, songs written for movies, and, of course, Broadway musicals. The design riffs on a couple of those ideas throughout. Some in specific ways but mostly in very abstract ways. One of the things I looked at a lot was Busby Berkeley movies and movie musicals of the 30s and 40s. That seems like the golden age of movie musicals.

What specifically about Berkeley’s movies inspired you?

His movies created these amazing patterns, usually with dancers, but the patterns were usually kaleidoscope-shaped. I thought they were really beautiful. And [producers] Craig [Zadan] and Neil [Meron]were really enamored with those. Those inspire a lot of visuals for the eyes, both the kaleidoscope aspect and the repeated patterns.

COURTESY OF DEREK MCLANE.

A rendering of McLane's set design for this Sunday's Academy Awards.

On that note, are those tiny Oscar statuettes that you put in the Swarovski- crystal curtain? (Blogger’s note: If you look closely at the sketch above, you can spot them.)

They are! But they are not actually tiny, although you would not be able to tell from the sketch. They are actually slightly bigger than the real Oscar. That’s a perfect example of what we were talking about, because in close-up, you can see that they are Oscars, but from a distance, they just form a kind of beautiful pattern. That feels both Busby Berkeley and very contemporary to me.

What’s the most difficult aspect of design, aside from the spatial concerns you mentioned?

It’s an intensely quick process. I really started working on this in earnest in October. It’s a lot of stuff to figure out in a really short period of time. Also, it takes a certain number of people to put on an Oscar show, the various departments that are involved—like the people who create video content to figuring out candle locations to figuring out the entrances of presenters, stars, and various musical acts. It’s an enormously complicated process which involves collaboration with a huge number of people to make it happen.

You mentioned presenters’ entrances. How come it seems like no one ever has any idea how to exit the stage?

[Laughs.] I think it’s because there are so many different exit options. Often, I think it is the people who have won, and they are in such a state of shock from having won that they don’t really know what is happening. That’s why we have people up there to help guide them offstage afterward.

Barbra Streisand is performing this year. She is famously particular about what angles she is filmed from and other performance details . . . Has she given you any feedback about the sets for her number?

We showed her the design for the [number] that she is doing, and she was enormously enthusiastic. I’ve only heard positive things from her and am absolutely looking forward to seeing her onstage.

There has been some secrecy about the James Bond–tribute portion of the show, specifically about whether the actors who have played James Bond will appear together.

Uh huh . . .

I know you can’t discuss that, but can you please discuss the most James Bond–ian tricks of your set design?

I think the design we have for that segment really captures the feeling of those title sequences of those great Bond films from the 60s and 70s. They had some of the most spectacular title sequences and songs associated with them. It’s so much fun to be able to just watch those clips and listen to the songs. They are amazing.

Did you have to get approval for those sets from the James Bond estate?

Yes, they’ve been involved and extremely helpful.

On another note, Hollywood actors are notoriously shorter than they seem in films. Did you consider how to make them seem taller when designing the stage? Do you put as much thought behind designing the podium as presidential-debate coordinators do?

We actually won’t have a podium this year! That’s one thing that we don’t have to worry about. I would love to say that we surround [the short actors] with tiny furniture, but we don’t really have any furniture on set. It’s really just a question of camera angle and shooting them in such a way that is complimentary to them.

I was surprised to find out that you also design the audience seating. What kind of changes did you make in the Dolby Theatre?

We’ve done one little minor adjustment to facilitate the speed of some of the awards. I don’t think it is anything that the audience will be aware of. We were just trying to figure out ways to get winners to the stage more quickly and make the pace of the show as exciting as possible.

Did you insert more aisles or those moving airport walkways? Or is it top secret?

It’s kind of top secret. I will say that [producers] Craig [Zadan] and Neil [Meron] and I did spend a lot of time looking at past shows and looking at places where we thought we might be able to trim 2 seconds here or 20 seconds there so that the pace of the show is as tight as we can make it.

Jack Nicholson always has the best seat in the house. We’d like to imagine that over the years, he’s made some special modifications to his chair. Maybe a cup or flask holder. A special compartment to hold his wrap- around sunglasses. Reclining capabilities and better armrests. Can you confirm this . . . or does he sit in the same type of seat as everyone else?

[Laughs.] As far as I know, he gets the same seat as everyone else . . . the ones that are here all year round.

Disappointing! From home, the stage always appears so slick and shiny. How do you ensure that Julia Roberts and the other actresses in six-inch heels don’t wipe out on their way to the microphone?

Well, we make the surface of the floor shiny because it looks better that way, no question about it. The major thing that I’ve done is avoid putting staircases in the set. So really the only steps are the ones that get the winner onstage, but we won’t have any staircases on set, because I’ve heard from so many people that big, long staircases are the enemies of women in gowns and high heels.

Will you be watching in house on Sunday, and if so, will you be able to relax and enjoy yourself at all?

I’ll probably just be tense and nervous, but I will be sitting in the house. At the moment, I am really looking forward to watching the show, though, and seeing who will win. It’s an amazing crop of movies and talent this year. But I will probably be nervous the entire time.

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NY Daily News - Tony Winning Scenic Designer Derek McLane Sets the Stage for the Oscars Ceremony

Tony winning scenic designer Derek McLane sets the stage for the Oscars ceremony

BY JOE DZIEMIANOWICZ
FEBRUARY 19, 2013 6:21 PM

BY JOE DZIEMIANOWICZ
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
In-demand Broadway set designer Derek McLane, pictured in his midtown studio, has gone Hollywood.
At least until the 85th Academy Awards telecast airs on Feb. 24.
McLane, who won a Tony for the play "33 Variations," is designing the scenery for the Oscarcast, which revolves around music of the movies.
"In terms of visibility, this is by far my biggest moment," he says, adding that Oscarcast producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan wanted a show "that doesn't look like any other Oscar show."
He adds that Meron and Zadan encouraged him to think out-of-the-box -- or inside-the-box if that made for a fabulous effect.
Hence, McLane's glittery proscenium framing the stage. He's
tucked replicas of Oscars -- 1,051 of them -- into it. Talk about a golden arch.

For a full story on McLane's work, plus scoop from the Academy Awards show producers and choreographer Rob Ashford,

Read the full story at NYDailyNews.com.

Broadway.com - Oscars Set Designer Derek McLane Reveals Five Inspirations for Creating Hollywood's Big Night

Oscars Set Designer Derek McLane Reveals Five Inspirations for Creating Hollywood's Big Night

By Marc Snetiker February 20, 2013

Tony-winning scenic designer Derek McLane has a glitzy new gig creating sets for the 2013 Academy Awards, which will be presented at the newly renamed Dolby Theatre on Sunday, February 24. Mega-producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan gave McLane the assignment to design Hollywood’s biggest night after the duo worked with him on Broadway’s How to Succeed in Business Without Reallly Trying. Now McLane is primed to give Hollywood a taste of his Broadway-honed aesthetic when his work takes center stage (quite literally) at the 85th annual ceremony. We asked McLane to share his inspiration for designing the starry telecast.

1. Past Ceremonies: “One of the first things we did was sit down and watch all the Oscar shows from the last 12 years. We looked at what was successful, and I learned things about scale and size and colors that worked well. The floor plan—the actual layout of the Oscars—has a lot to do with how to make the show flow well. That was really a preamble to actually getting started on the design.”

2. McLane's Broadway History: “Neil and Craig wanted this to look like my work, and they cited a couple of shows I had designed on Broadway—33 Variations, I Am My Own Wife and How to Succeed. They wanted me to riff on those and make them appropriate to the Oscars, but they were very clear: We don’t want this to be a Broadway musical. It is a stage show and needs to work as a stage show, not only for television but for the people in the room. The more we can make this a great show for them, that energy will translate onto television.”

3. Oscar Statues: “I’ve had a fascination with repeating objects and the patterns they make, and in a way I think the proscenium [with repeating Oscar statues, pictured above] evokes the history of all the great Oscar winners who have gone up on stage in the last 85 years. They’re a little larger than real Oscars, but they’re small enough to become a pattern and a beautiful backdrop without necessarily over-focusing on the individual objects.”

4. Movie Musicals: “One of the themes of this year’s show is music in the movies, and that encompasses movie musicals, scores and songs created just for the movies. That was a motif I started to riff on, and elements of that appear on the show in very abstract ways. There were a few [design elements] more specific to music than to movies that I think people will fully understand. Most of the design is more abstract than specific.”

5. Busby Berkeley: “The proscenium arch/show curtain is inspired by [director/choreographer] Busby Berkeley and speaks to the golden era of musicals in the ‘30s and ‘40s, what I consider great, beautiful, giant soundstages where movie musicals are created. Busby Berkeley is an inspiration for a lot of imagery in the design. I don’t know if the audience will consciously make that association, but I think they’ll feel it.”

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BBC News - Oscar Sets the Stage for Big Night

Oscar sets the stage for big night

By Emma Saunders

Entertainment reporter, BBC News22 February 2013

Award-winning set designer Derek McLane tells BBC News about the challenge of creating the Oscars stage set.

The name Derek McLane may not be familiar to many outside Broadway but this award-winning set designer is about to showcase the biggest project of his career in Hollywood on Sunday.

Having worked with Oscar producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron on the Broadway show How to Succeed in Business starring Daniel Radcliffe in 2011 - he got the call from the duo offering him the Oscars job.

"It's quite humbling and terrifying at times as well as completely exciting. It's a show with such an enormous tradition... that I want to honour," he says.

McLane usually watches the Oscars ceremony with friends at home where they do a ballot to predict the winners.

"I'm aware people enjoy critiquing the Oscars, that's a bit of sport for the audiences… I know that I'm on the chopping block just like everyone else involved in the show. It's an exciting place to be."

McLane's previous work includes Follies, Anything Goes and Variations 33, which won him a prestigious Tony award in 2009.

But it's a whole different ball game designing a theatre set than it is creating the Academy Awards stage.

"It's different in a number of ways - one difference is  we're not telling a narrative story in the way that you would be for a play, musical or an opera. That's what I'm most familiar with.

"And we just get one shot at it, there's only one performance. With a play, you do sometimes hundreds, even thousands (of performances). You get more chances to adjust. We don't get that luxury here," he adds.

"That's part of the thrill the audience feels - it is live and spontaneous.

McLane studied previous Oscar sets before beginning work on his own design.

"I actually spent some time with Neil and Craig looking at what we thought was successful in previous Oscars shows, not with an eye to copying them but try to learn as much as we could about how they work."

So can we expect anything radical this year?

"One of the mandates Neil and Craig gave me is that they wanted this to look completely different to any other Oscar show, they did not want this to look like what people are familiar with," he says.

"They wanted me to think boldly, they referenced some of the more adventurous theatre designs that I had done and said they would love it if I riffed on some of those design ideas and found a way to make them relevant to an Oscars performance."

33 Variations, a play inspired by Beethoven's work which starred Jane Fonda on Broadway in 2009, is one of the plays the Oscar producers cited: "Obviously it couldn't look like 33 Variations but the kind of design style of that... you will see in a very subtle way."

Another inspiration for McLane is closer to home.

"In my New York apartment, I have an architectural installation which is a wall of lamps. I've got about 35 - 40 small industrial lamps from sometime during the last century, they all have articulated arms like task lamps... and they're all aiming in the same direction.          

"They're all on dimmer switches... and then I put antique mirrors behind them so they are the major light source for the room. The objects themselves are plain and they're made out of rusty metal but together, what they do as a pattern, creates a warmth and romance."

His most recent stage production was Broadway's The Heiress, starring Oscar-nominated actress Jessica Chastain.McLane says he won't be using industrial lamps as part of his Oscar set "but there are a number of pieces that riff on this idea in ways, some more related to the movies".

"She is amazing in Zero Dark Thirty and I'm so excited that I'll get to see her at the Oscars. What she does in The Heiress is so completely and utterly different than what she does in Zero Dark Thirty, it makes you really admire her range as an actress."

Now he has entered the movie world, is film design now on the agenda?

"Yes, that is absolutely something that I would like to do, especially a high concept film or a period film," he says.

"From a design point of view, I think Life of Pi is extraordinary, as is Lincoln and Anna Karenina - what they did with Lincoln was gorgeous, capturing the clutter and smoky claustrophobia in the White House. It was a visual surprise.

"It's an unusually strong crop of films this year from the Oscars."

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Recessionista - Behind the Scenes for Oscars 2013: Swarovski Crystals on Stage

Behind the Scenes for Oscars 2013: Swarovski Crystals on Stage

Published by Mary Hall on February 22, 2013

Take a tour behind the scenes at the upcoming stage and set design for the Oscars. This year, Tony Award-winning Production Designer Derek McLane addes a fresh perspective to the set of the Dolby Theater, incorporating over 100,000 Swarovski crystals into the Oscar’s stage design and theater decor.  Talk about old time Hollywood glamour!  We love the fantasy of the Oscars here at The Recessionista.

Watch this video to see how designer McLane incorporated over 1,500 pounds of Swarovski crystal into the stage and auditorium design. It took over one month to realize his vision of a spectacular 80 feet wide and 40 feet high crystal curtain among other dazzling elements. This set delivers real Hollywood glamour. The full design concept and visuals of the Oscars set will remain a closely guarded secret until the live telecast on Sunday, February 24 th, when the Oscars will be broadcast across the globe on ABC at 7 pm EST.

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LA Times - Oscar Set Designer Derek McLane Draws On His Theatrical Expertise

OSCARS 2013

Oscar set designer Derek McLane draws on his theatrical expertise

A Tony-winning set designer, Derek McLane's plans for the Oscars include visuals that will engage both the theater audience and the TV public.

By Rebecca Keegan, Los Angeles Times

February 16, 2013

When it came to designing this year's Oscar sets, Derek McLane didn't have to look far for inspiration.

McLane, a Tony Award-winning set designer who has crafted the scenery for such Broadway shows as "33 Variations," "I Am My Own Wife," "The Heiress" and the upcoming "Breakfast at Tiffany's," stole an idea from his own New York apartment — an installation of 35 industrial lamps on a wall, each in its own cubbyhole, backed by an antique mirror.

"They're all slightly different and they're objects you wouldn't think of as warm or romantic, but in a pattern they create an almost lush backdrop to the room," said McLane in an interview on the day his sets were being loaded into the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center in preparation for the 85th Academy Awards telecast next Sunday. "That kind of tension between an ordinary object and the patterns you can create with them is interesting."

Oscar producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who worked with McLane on their Broadway revival of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," plan to pay tribute to movie musicals in this year's telecast, which will showcase "Les Misérables," "Chicago" and "Dreamgirls," and include performances by Barbra Streisand and Adele.

In keeping with the musical theme — and his own lamp muses — McLane said he looked to the style of repeating geometric patterns common to 1930s Busby Berkeley musicals. In Berkeley's case, those patterns were often made up of dancers' gyrating bodies. In McLane's, they are composed of objects connected in some fashion to movies, including Oscar statuettes.

"I'm exploring things I think suit the majesty of the event, the glamour of the event," McLane said. "But some of them are unadorned."

The designer also built multiple movable screens into the sets to incorporate film imagery, and relied on materials such as aluminum and light bulbs to create looks for the show's 12 acts.

"[Meron and Zadan] said, 'We don't want you to try to make this look like another Oscar show,'" he said. "'Make this look like your own work.' And they singled out some of the more abstract, interesting Broadway sets I'd designed. It really freed me up."

Coming from live theater and set designing his first Academy Awards, McLane said he was conscious of the show's twin aims — engaging the 3,400 people in the theater and entertaining the wider public watching at home.

In terms of set design, that meant thinking of visuals that would be beautiful both in camera close-ups and from the last row of the theater.

"We really want the show to play well in the house," McLane said. "This is a TV show watched by millions of people, but it's also really important that it's a good show for the people in the theater. It's their night. The better job we do for the people in the room, the more I think the people at home will feel it."

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