Christopher Hobbs

Biography

Christopher Hobbs is a Production designer. He was born in 1945.

A true Renaissance man, Hobbs combines his work as a production designer with portraiture, sculpture and plasterwork, interior decoration and exhibition design.

He began his career as a props-maker before entering the film industry, providing sculpture and special effects for Ken Russell (on such films as The Devils (film) and Savage Messiah (1972 film)), storyboards for Terry Gilliam (on Time Bandits) and was involved in the production of Derek Jarman's early Super 8 films.

He designed nearly all Jarman's feature films: Jubilee (1978 film), Caravaggio (1986 film), The Last of England (film),Aria (1987 film), The Garden (1990 film), and Edward II (film).

He designed Gothic (film) and Salome's Last Dance for Ken Russell, The Long Day Closes (film), and The Neon Bible (film) for Terence Davies, Velvet Goldmine for Todd Haynes and Mansfield Park (1999 film) for Patricia Rozema.

Filmography details

In Caravaggio (1986 film) Hobbs recreated all the paintings in the film himself; the film evolved over seven years, initially it was envisaged on a lavish budget.

The grandeur of his original storyboard is replaced in the final production sketches by an emphasis on simplicity, line and texture, with selected props, furnishings and costumes evoking the period.

In Edward II (film) Hobbs pushed the simplicity of Caravaggio towards abstraction.

The main set featured two ramps, five blocks, and a surrounding wall in two sections. Hobbs' portrait of Tilda Swinton waiting for a take on the set. The only other set on the film was the cast-iron dungeon, influenced by Dante Ferretti's engine room for And the Ship Sails On and the pit in Edgar Allan Poe's story The Pit and the Pendulum.

In Velvet Goldmine director Todd Haynes wanted a ruined ballroom with a staircase and a chandelier; the effect was done like grand opera with old-fashioned Trompe-l'œil style painting on flats.

References

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