Hannah Beachler () is an American
production designer
In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...
. She worked on the 2015
Rocky
''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burge ...
film ''
Creed'',
the
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
biopic ''
Miles Ahead,''
and most recently has become known for the film
''Moonlight'',
Beyoncé's 2016 TV special and visual album ''
Lemonade
Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored beverage.
There are varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In North America and South Asia, cloudy still lemonade is the most common variety. There it is traditionally a homemade drink using ...
'', and for her
Afrofuturist
Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, and philosophy of science and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technocultur ...
design direction on the film
''Black Panther'',
for which she won an
Academy Award for Best Production Design
The Academy Award for Best Production Design recognizes achievement for art direction in film. The category's original name was Best Art Direction, but was changed to its current name in 2012 for the 85th Academy Awards. This change resulted fro ...
. She was the first
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
to be nominated in the category.
Early life and education
Beachler, the daughter of an architect and interior decorator, grew up in
Centerville, Ohio
Centerville is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. A core suburb of Metro Dayton, its population was 24,240 as of the 2020 census.
Geography
Centerville is located at (39.638709, -84.148087). Although the city is located primari ...
, being surrounded by design for a long time.
She graduated from the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...
, studying fashion design. She attended
Wright State University in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...
where she studied film.
[
]
Career
She first met Ryan Coogler
Ryan Kyle Coogler (born May 23, 1986) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is a recipient of four NAACP Image Awards, four Black Reel Awards, a Golden Globe Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination for Best Pictu ...
working on his ''Fruitvale Station
''Fruitvale Station'' is a 2013 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It is Coogler's feature directorial debut and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man killed in 2009 by Bay ...
'', a film about the shooting of Oscar Grant
Oscar Grant III was a 22-year-old African-American man who was killed in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009 by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California. Responding to reports of a fight on a crowded Bay Area Rapid ...
. It had a limited budget and required Beachler's creativity to come up with low-cost ideas; she used her own Bay Area Rapid Transit card that is seen in the visor of a car Grant is driving. ''Fruitvale Station'' won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film and the Audience Award for Best Film at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013.
For '' Creed'', Beachler watched the first four Rocky films for inspiration. She was responsible for designing Front Street Gym that appears prominently in the film. She visited a number of gyms across the United States, but particularly in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
where the film series is based, in order to get a good idea of what the set should look like. She designed the entire gym including the professionally-sized boxing ring, and her plans ensured that cameras could get a 360-degree view of everything.[ In her efforts, she was able to transform a hall within ]Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...
, into the realistic gym that was seen in the film.
For the outdoor scenes in '' Miles Ahead'', Beachler searched through numerous photograph archives to accurately capture the scenes in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
from the 1950s to the 1970s, but ultimately took inspiration from some silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
shot from a car window, that was posted on YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
decades later.[ She used no stage shots in the entire film; the set of Davis' home was a disused church in ]Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
that was gutted and renovated to resemble a multi-layer house including a basement recording studio.[
As the production designer on Marvel Studios's '' Black Panther'', Beachler oversaw a $30 million art budget and a crew of several hundred people.] Beachler is the first-ever female production designer of a Marvel film, and was the second person hired for it behind director Ryan Coogler. To research the project, she first spent time in Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, and then traveled the region with the rest of the crew to get a sense of the countryside and cultures represented there. Before beginning the process of working on ''Black Panther'' with Coogler, Beachler did not believe she would have this "once in a lifetime opportunity," but to prove herself she worked hard and even ended up spending $12,000 of her own money to prove her capability. "It’s all different, and they’re different countries..." Beachler explained: "you can’t represent everything, but I can certainly interpret the fact that there are so many different things within ts fictional country ofWakanda
Wakanda () is a fictional country appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Wakanda has been depicted as being in East Africa. It is located in sub-Saharan Africa, and is home to the superhero Black Panther (comics), Black Pa ...
and within that one culture." For her work on ''Black Panther'', Beachler became the first African-American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Production Design
The Academy Award for Best Production Design recognizes achievement for art direction in film. The category's original name was Best Art Direction, but was changed to its current name in 2012 for the 85th Academy Awards. This change resulted fro ...
, as well as the first to win the category.
Beachler was lead curator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, '' Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room'', which opened in 2021. Working with commissioners such as Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Jenn Nkiru, she designed this space in hopes that it would embody, "Black imagination, excellence, and self-determination...".
Filmography
* ''Fruitvale Station
''Fruitvale Station'' is a 2013 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It is Coogler's feature directorial debut and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man killed in 2009 by Bay ...
'' (2013)
* ''The Town That Dreaded Sundown
''The Town That Dreaded Sundown'' is a 1976 American thriller horror film directed and produced by Charles B. Pierce, and written by Earl E. Smith. The film is loosely based on the 1946 Texarkana Moonlight Murders, crimes attributed to an unide ...
'' (2014)
* '' Creed'' (2015)
* '' Miles Ahead'' (2015)
* ''Lemonade
Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored beverage.
There are varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In North America and South Asia, cloudy still lemonade is the most common variety. There it is traditionally a homemade drink using ...
'' (2016)
* '' Moonlight'' (2016)
* '' Black Panther'' (2018)
* '' Dark Waters'' (2019)
*''Black Is King
''Black Is King'' is a 2020 American musical film and visual album directed, written, and executive produced by American singer Beyoncé. It is a visual companion to the 2019 album '' The Lion King: The Gift'', curated by Beyoncé for ''The Lio ...
'' (2020)
* ''No Sudden Move
''No Sudden Move'' is a 2021 American neo-noir period crime thriller film directed, photographed and edited by Steven Soderbergh (the latter two roles under pseudonyms), produced by Casey Silver, and written by Ed Solomon. The film features ...
'' (2021)
* '' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'' (2022)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beachler, Hannah
Living people
People from Centerville, Ohio
University of Cincinnati alumni
Wright State University alumni
American production designers
Best Art Direction Academy Award winners
Year of birth missing (living people)
Women production designers