Rockwell Group to Design Set for 2009 Oscars

Rockwell Group has designed sets for Broadway productions including "Hairspray" and "Legally Blonde."

Laurel Petriello -- Interior Design, 11/17/2008

From Broadway to Tinsel Town, Interior Design Hall of Famer David Rockwell always finds himself in the spotlight. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced last week that Rockwell Group will spearhead the set design for the 81st Academy Awards in Los Angeles next February.  The event will take place at the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles, which Rockwell Group designed in 2001.

“David is an innovator who possesses the outstanding combination of truly firsthand knowledge of the Kodak Theatre and superb design work in a variety of realms, including film and theatre,” said Laurence Mark and Bill Condon, Academy producer and executive producer, in a joint statement.  “We’re pleased to be collaborating with someone whose talents are so diverse.”

Rockwell Group is no stranger to the stage as the company has designed sets for Broadway productions in New York including “Hairspray,” “Legally Blonde,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” “The Rocky Horror Show,”  and the upcoming “Catch Me If You Can” and “Houdini.” The announcement comes just two weeks after Rockwell Group received the 2008 Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Interior Design.