Filmmaker Brad Bird, the Oscar-winning director of the animated films “Ratatouille” and “The Incredibles,” will receive the Cinematic Imagery Award from the Art Directors Guild, it was announced Monday.
Bird will be honored at the 21st annual Art Directors Guild’s Excellence in Production Design Awards on Feb. 11 in the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland.
“The ADG is thrilled to recognize the amazing contributions Brad Bird has made to narrative design, while so adeptly creating a visual cinematic legacy for generations to come,” said ADG President Nelson Coates.
“The amazing ways Brad and his teams have elevated the production design of animation, and live action, have raised and continue to raise the bar for all visual storytellers,” Coates said.
The ADG’s Cinematic Imagery Award “is given to those whose body of work in the film industry has richly enhanced the visual aspects of the movie- going experience,” according to the guild.
Previous recipients include David O. Russell, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, Norman Jewison, John Lasseter, George Lucas, Frank Oz and Steven Spielberg.
Bird finished his first animated film at the age of 14, which brought him to the attention of Walt Disney Studios where he was mentored by Milt Kahl, one of a group of famed Disney animators known as the “Nine Old Men.” Bird would eventually work as an animator at Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.
Bird wrote and directed the critically acclaimed 1999 animated feature “The Iron Giant” before going to Pixar, where he was part of the senior creative team that created such animated features as “Up,” “Wall-E,” “Inside Out” and “Toy Story 3.”
Bird’s credits include serving as an executive consultant on the animated television series “The Simpsons” and “King of the Hill”; co- writing the screenplay for the live-action feature “Batteries Not Included”; and directing the live-action films “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” and “Tomorrowland.”
His next project, “The Incredibles 2,” is set for release on June 15, 2018.
—City News Service