Alex McDowell

Alex McDowell
Alex McDowell at FMX 2012
Born	(1955-04-01) April 1, 1955 Borneo, Malaysia
Occupation	production designer, producer
Years active	1992 – present
Spouse(s)	Kirsten Everberg 2 children

Alex McDowell, RDI (born April 1, 1955) is British production designer and film producer.

McDowell was born in Borneo to parents of English origin. He wanted to become a painter and studied at the Central School of Art in London. He founded Rocking Russian Design in 1978 and started his career designing album covers for punk rock groups. During the 1980s, he designed the sets for various commercials and music videos.

McDowell has worked, among others, with directors Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg, Alex Proyas, David Fincher and Zack Snyder. In 2002 he won the San Diego Film Critics Society award in the Best Production Design category for his work on Minority Report and, in 2004, the Art Directors Guild award for Excellence in Production Design for The Terminal. In 2006, McDowell was named Royal Designer for Industry by the RSA, the UK’s most prestigious design society, and was appointed Visiting Artist at the MIT Media Lab.

McDowell is an advocate of immersive design and integrates digital technology and traditional design technique in his productions, creating a production design process that allows for the highest level of control over the look of the final film.

Filmography

Production design

• The Lawnmower Man (1992)
• The Crow (1994)
• Crying Freeman (1995)
• Fear (1996)
• The Crow: City of Angels (1996)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
• Fight Club (1999)
• The Affair of the Necklace (2001)
• Minority Report (2002)
• The Cat in the Hat (2003)
• The Terminal (2004)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
• Corpse Bride (2005)
• Breaking and Entering (2006)
• Bee Movie (2007)
• Watchmen (2009)
• Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) (visual consultant)
• Rise of the Guardians (2012) (visual consultant)
• Upside Down (2012)
• Man of Steel (2013)

Production

• Bunraku (2010) (co-producer)

External links

• Alex McDowell at the Internet Movie Database
• NY Times entry
• The Terminal Diary
• Cinefex, visual effects journal - The Terminal