Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Great article on Robert McGinnis

From CinemaRetro today:


NEW DVD DOCUMENTARY ON LEGENDARY MOVIE POSTER ARTIST ROBERT MCGINNIS


CINEMA RETRO RECENTLY VIEWED AN ADVANCED SCREENER OF A SUPERB NEW DOCUMENTARY TRIBUTE TO ROBERT MCGINNIS, ONE OF THE GREATEST CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS. WE ASKED THE FILM'S PRODUCER, PAUL JILBERT, TO PROVIDE OUR READERS WITH THE BACKGROUND STORY.

Robert McGinnis: Painting the Last Rose of Summer

A new documentary on the life and work of one of the greatest contemporary artists - and a legend in the field of classic movie poster design.

By Paul Jilbert

As the 1980’s came to a close, I noticed something was missing in the glass movie poster display cases of my favorite movie houses: the illustrated movie poster. Suddenly, the explosive action scenes, handsome leading men and beautiful women were being reduced to drab, colorless photographic headshots. I found myself longing for the images of artists such as Bob Peak, Frank McCarthy, Howard Terpning and my favorite movie poster artist, Robert McGinnis. In the back of my mind I thought that some kind of program or video should be made about these artists. Several years later, I had just completed my first illustrator documentary on the work of James Bama ( In the 1960s Jimmy created those cool Doc Savage : Man Of Bronze paperback cover images).

It was through the encouragement of my friend, illustrator Barry Klugerman and my mentor, Jim Steranko (the brilliant writer-artist of the 1960’s Marvel comics Nick Fury: Agent Of Shield) that I decided to produce a documentary on Robert McGinnis. It was the perfect project for me.

I began collecting James Bond posters in the 1970’s, beginning with Diamonds Are Forever. I spent many summers teaching myself to draw comics and copying the style of McGinnis' famed female figures of the 1960s, who were noted for their bold sexuality. I must have re-drawn Bob’s Diamonds Are Forever poster over a dozen times. Years later, I contacted him and explained I had just completed the James Bama project - and asked if he would participate in a documentary dedicated to the McGinnis legacy. Bob wanted to see the Bama program. He called back to say he was very impressed and gave me the green light for a documentary about him.

for the rest of the article go here http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/1896-NEW-DVD-DOCUMENTARY-ON-LEGENDARY-MOVIE-POSTER-ARTIST-ROBERT-MCGINNIS.html#extended

(Several great movie posters included)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you Ed Gorman for informing me of the new documentary on Hall of Fame Artist- Robert McGinnis.I cant't wait to see what Mr.Jilbert has produced on this most diversified illustrator.
I recently read that Robert McGinnis is being noted to be the leading illustrator of this century,yet we seldom get to obtain any insight into this man.
I'm anxious to get my hands on this new DVD!
Regards,
Sylvia