On 02 April 2011, Italian set designer Dante Ferretti and his wife joined Francesca Lo Schiavo at BAFTA to discuss his Life in Design.
During the event Ferretti, an award-winning production designer, costume designer and art director, who has worked with both Fellini and Scorsese, shared his “maximalist approach to design”.
Ferretti has won three Production Design BAFTAs, for The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Aviator and Hugo. The last was alongside his wife, acclaimed set designer Francesca Lo Schiavo, who joined him on stage.
Ferretti told the audience at the special event, held on 2 April 2011, that “it’s important to make some mistakes.”
“They make everything real. Look around – when everything is perfect, there’s something fake.”
Ambitious and awe-inspiring sets
From Casino to Sweeney Todd and Shutter Island, Dante Ferretti has long been one of cinema’s major design forces. He’s acclaimed for creating ambitious and awe-inspiring sets with a stylised, hyper reality.
Early collaborations with legendary directors Pier Paolo Pasolini and Frederico Fellini brought him to the attention of cinema fans worldwide. Yet he’s perhaps best known for his extensive collaborations with Martin Scorsese and work with Terry Gilliam, Neil Jordan and Tim Burton.
A lifelong passion for cinema
In conversation with host Mark Salisbury, Ferretti spoke out about his early exposure to cinema as a child in Italy, and how it was always art directors, not actors, he idolised.
He described how he felt like “a prisoner” to Fellini’s vision, compared to the artistic freedom of working with Scorsese. He also told the story behind his decision to shoot Gangs of New York in Rome, plus his thoughts on green screen technology.
