With great sadness, on March 10th, 2016 we lost production designer Sir Ken Adam. Known for his illustrious sets and amazing interior design, he will perhaps best be known for his work on the James Bond films of the 60s and 70s. Ken passed away at the age of 95.
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| Ken Adam on the set for "Moonraker" |
Born in 1921 in Berlin, Germany Ken was a natural at illustration. While the Nazi's were coming into power, Adam and his family migrated to the United Kingdom in 1934 where he continued his goal as an illustrator and architect. Adam has lived in England ever since. A two-time Academy Award winner for Art Direction, Adam won for both
Barry Lyndon and
The Madness of King George. In 1961, Adam began the first of seven James Bond films as Production Designer.
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| Dr. No's secret base at Crab Key. |
Starting off with
Dr. No, the first 007 movie, the layer used for Dr. No's radiation room is not as elaborate nor as spectacular as what is to come with Ken's work, but brings the viewer into the story by the sheer madness and ridiculousness of the design. Starting with just a wide shot, you notice the long beams and tilted supports. Without even knowing what the room is used for, you can tell it's for something important and maniacal. With a budget of just $1 million for the production (the cost for the films would go up and up later down the line) this is quite a remarkable set. Even though this isn't the only set of Ken's in the movie, it does stand out as most memorable for me.
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| "This is gold, Mr. Bond." |
Unavailable for the second Bond film, Ken returned with a vengeance for
Goldfinger. This is where Bond is strapped to a table with a laser beam about to slice him in half from the crotch up. For 1964, I'm sure the world has never seen anything so elaborate in a room that can switch sides and platforms by just hitting the switch of a button.The darkness of the scene really adds to the darkness to the
character of Goldfinger and his obsession with...well gold. As the laser proceeds to get closer to 007, Connery makes a great witticism during his "visual example." "I think you've made your point, Goldfinger. Thank you for the demonstration." To which Goldfinger replies, "Choose your next witticism carefully Mr. Bond, it may be you last." Classic stuff and having a set like this makes it all the more entertaining! In addition, Adam makes his own vision for the interior of Fort Knox, in what I can only assume is much more elaborate than it's real-life counterpart. Another great scene uses Ken's designs as Bond and Oddjob fight to the death. These rooms and sets speak for themselves and you will notice that little to no music is performed while taking place in each of them. We don't get sets like this anymore and every set piece is a product of its time.
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| The interior of Fort Knox, Kentucky. |
"RAID FORT KNOX? HAHAHA!!!!"
I've always been a big fan of his set for
You Only Live Twice. In what was originally supposed to be an interior of a volcano, Blofeld has SPECTRE convert it into a hidden launching site for rockets to capture and return other space vessels. Bond (Sean Connery) discovers the base accidentally and brings a group of ninjas to infiltrate the hideout. In what is one of the most expensive and awesome actions sequences in any Bond film, Adam's interior is the setting for the battle.
Of course while it was built on stage and not actually in a volcano, you would forget while watching the movie. For 1967, this was quite an accomplishment. Nowadays, studios would use either either full CGI or a mixture of matte paintings
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| Tanaka and his ninjas infiltrating Blofeld's base. |
As Ken Adam goes on to work on other productions, he will forever be known as the best production designer to ever live for the James Bond films and sets. An interesting note is that he was an avid drinker and smoker. In nearly every interview he's done, there's a large cigar in hand.
In addition to the 007 films, Ken Adam also has a strong relationship with Stanley Kubrick in the 1960s.
Adam is known for his work on Kubrick's
Dr. Strangelove. Planning on working on another Kubrick film,
2001: A Space Odyssey, Adam declined. From an
article by
The Economist, Ken describes, '"I found out that he had been working with experts from
NASA for a year on space exploration and all that sort of thing. And
the moment I saw that, I thought, not for me. Because I could only
function properly with this very powerful computer-like brain of Stanley
by knowing as much visually about the subject matter as he did, because
then I could justify departing from the visual reality that he knows."' In other words, if Kubrick had an advantage, then their minds wouldn't sync together thus probably causing more problems on set. A random fact, that in 1977, Stanley worked on the lighting on one of Ken's sets for
The Spy Who Loved Me. Kubrick went unaccredited for his work. Once finding this out, I am not surprised as they both had a strong working relationship in the past.
According to a
recent article from
The Guardian, Writer Ronald Bergman shares a quote from Adam regarding the drastic changes from the Ian Fleming Bond novels to what is depicted on screen. '“More and more, the Ian Fleming stories disappeared and the producers
and the public seemed to rely more and more on the visual excitement of
the film, meaning sets, locations, gadgets and everything else."' In order to depict the large changes, and what audiences wanted to see, these changes are the eye candy people were craving for. You wouldn't find sets like this just about anywhere.
Retiring in 2003, Ken Adam's final production was depicting the aftermath of WWII in the film
Taking Sides in 2001.
Adam is survived by his wife.
What do you think about his designs? Do you think the Bond films would not be what they are today without his contributions?
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