Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated production designer Jim Bissell will receive the Art Directors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards on January 31 at a black-tie ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The announcement was made today by John Shaffner, ADG council chairman, and ADG award producers Dave Blass and James Pearse Connelly.
"Jim Bissell's work as a production designer is legendary and we are proud to rank him among the best in the history of our profession. He is an extraordinary artist and accomplished leader in the industry and it is our pleasure to name him as this year's Lifetime Achievement Award recipient," said Shaffner. A veteran leader of the ADG, Bissell was a past vice president and a board member for more than 15 years. He also chaired the Guild's awards committee for the first three years of its existence.
Bissell's distinguished work can be seen on such notable films as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), which took home four Oscars with an additional five Oscar nominations in 1983; The Rocketeer (1991), Jumanji (1995), 300 (2006), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) and most recently The Monuments Men (2014), directed by and starring George Clooney.
Monuments Men is his fourth collaboration with Clooney, which began with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), followed with Oscar-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and continuing with Leatherheads (2007). Bissell is currently working on Mission: Impossible 5 (2015) and the recently announced film 1906 (release TBA).
Nominations for this year's ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards will be announced on January 5.