Veteran production designer and art director Charles William Breen has had an extraordinary career working on some of the most popular and long lasting films from the last 35 years. His extensive list of credits includes early career work on Ridley Scott’s masterpiece Blade Runner, Mike Nichols’ drama Postcards from the Edge, Richard Attenborough’s ambitious biopic Chaplin, James Cameron’s seminal science-fiction classic Terminator 2, Clint Eastwood’s blockbuster romance The Bridges of Madison County, Neil Labute’s scathing satire Your Friends and Neighbors and his playfully violent black comedy Nurse Betty. And that’s just naming a few! No matter the genre or the filmmaker that he’s working with, Breen is always able to transport the viewer exactly where any given project is set, and it’s through his innate sense of what’s pleasing to the eye that we’re left with some of the most visually iconic sets and brush-strokes of art direction that could possibly be imagined. Having received an Emmy nomination for Art Direction on HBO’s critically acclaimed Weapons of Mass Destruction, he’s also no stranger to the small screen, having just recently worked on the pilot for the short-lived but extremely funny FX series The Comedians, as well as 23 episodes of the USA comedic series Sirens. Breen is also a frequent contributor on short films, working with a wide variety of talent throughout the years on multiple projects, and has put his talents to use as a solo art director on the powerful drama Flesh and Bone, the glossy copy thriller Jade, the fiery revenge tale The Crow: City of Angels, and Walter Hill’s kick-ass actioner Trespass. There’s not much that Breen can’t do it seems!
One of his most distinctive credits was the 2006 gangster-musical hybrid Idlewild, from frequent collaborator director Bryan Barber, who has spent the majority of his career in the music video world. Breen brought all of Barber’s bold visual ideas to life with his production design of Idlewild; it’s gorgeous work, overflowing with detail that spills out past the edges of the frame, always providing something visually stimulating to look at. A wildly ambitious and obscenely underrated film, it’s the sort of technical and logistical tour de force that warranted an Oscar nomination. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have something like Neil LaBute’s nasty relationship drama Your Friends and Neighbors, which highlighted Breen’s ability to use open space and a clean frame to express sadness, hostility, and isolation. It’s an emotionally cold film, and the spare production design reflects the chilly and repressed interior worlds of the characters. And while this project arrived before Idlewild, it was an early indication of Breen’s range as an artist that would allow him to even be considered for such a daunting designing challenge. And I can only image what it must have been like to get one of your first industry jobs working on the sets for the now beyond famous Blade Runner, which has come to mean so much to some many people over the years that it’s safe to call it one of the most influential films ever made. In every single shot of Blade Runner, the audience is treated to something spectacular, and I can think of few other films that have been more art directed and designed to express so many thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
Podcasting Them Softly 