began work as an assistant art director for the popular sitcom “One Day at a Time.” Ten years later, he won an Emmy award for his work as the art director of the 1980s hit “Miami Vice,” a cop show that redefined the national color palette.
Howard, who now lives in Denver, describes his current career as “production designer for renovating our Park Hill home,” a job that’s only a stone’s throw from the work he did in Hollywood.
“A simple way to define the contribution of a production designer is to imagine the story of your favorite movie enacted in front of a black curtain,” he said.
Production design is everything that replaces the black curtain — for example, the explicit accuracy in the set of the Jordan Spreader snowplow re-created for “SwitchBack,” a Danny Glover/Dennis Quaid thriller set in Colorado. The climactic fight scene takes place inside the plow as the train moves precariously above a canyon.
“Of course, the cinematographer ultimately frames the image, but everything within the frame is conceived by the production designer,” said Howard, who is looking forward to tonight’s Academy Awards ceremony.
The Oscar nominees for best art direction are giants in the profession — Dante Ferretti, nominated for “Sweeney Todd,” won an Oscar for “The Aviator”; Jack Fisk, nominated for “There Will be Blood,” designed for directors David Lynch and Terrence Malick; Dennis Gassner, nominated for “The Golden Compass,” won an Oscar for “Bugsy.”
Howard, who moved to Denver in 1997, considers himself semi-retired now. He is teaching a class in motion picture art direction at the Colorado Film School, where budding production designers pepper him with questions about his career.
Claire Martin
