Jeannine Oppewall
Biography
Jeannine Oppewall entered the film industry in the late 1970s after a six-year association with the great design innovators, Charles and Ray Eames. She worked as a set designer (Blue Collar, Blow Out, The Rose, Honky Tonk Freeway) before rising to the position of production designer in 1983 with Tender Mercies, the modestly budgeted ‘slice of life’ film, which brought Robert Duvall an Academy Award. For the next several years, Ms Oppewall designed an impressive variety of motion pictures for a diverse list of directors, many with international credentials. These range from the Russian Andrei Konchalovsky (Maria’s Lovers) and the Brazilian Hector Babenco (Ironweed), to include Costa-Gavras (The Music Box) and Luis Mandoki (White Palace). Other credits include Love Letters, The Big Easy, Rooftops, Wonder Boys and Sibling Rivalry. Other films for which she is known are Seabiscuit (starring Jeff Bridges), Catch Me if You Can (Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio), The Sum of All Fears (starring Morgan Freeman), and Robert DeNiro’s The Good Shepherd, released at the end of 2006. Claudia has received 4 Oscar Award nominations for her films and received the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Production Design, 1998 for Pleasantville. She also won the Art Directors’ Guild’s award for Excellence in Production Design for Catch Me If You Can, and was nominated for 5 others of her films for the same. She served on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 9 years and is currently the co-chairperson of its Museum Committee.
Personal Details
Also Known As
Movies (50)
Deep Water
Production Design (Art)
2022
Remembering Reno: Reflections on the Making of Desert Hearts
2017
Wakefield
Production Design (Art)
2017
Rules Don't Apply
Production Design (Art)
2016
Last Days in the Desert
Production Design (Art)
2016
5 to 7
Production Design (Art)
2014
And the Oscar Goes To...
as Self - Interviewee
2014
A Perfect Man
Production Design (Art)
2013
The Face of Love
Production Design (Art)
2013
Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic
as Self
2012
How Do You Know
Production Design (Art)
2010
Peacock
Production Design (Art)
2010
Sunlight and Shadow: The Visual Style of 'L.A. Confidential'
as Self
2008
Whatever You Desire: Making 'L.A. Confidential'
as Self
2008
The Happening
Production Design (Art)
2008
An Old Fashioned Love Story: Making 'The Bridges of Madison County'
as Self
2008
The Good Shepherd
Production Design (Art)
2006
The Making of 'Seabiscuit'
as Self
2004
Seabiscuit
Production Design (Art)
2003
Catch Me If You Can: Behind the Camera
as Self
2003
Catch Me If You Can
Production Design (Art)
2002
Waking Up in Reno
Production Design (Art)
2002
The Sum of All Fears
Production Design (Art)
2002
Wonder Boys
Production Design (Art)
2000
Snow Falling on Cedars
Production Design (Art)
1999
Pleasantville
Production Design (Art)
1998
L.A. Confidential
Production Design (Art)
1997
The Rich Man's Wife
Production Design (Art)
1996
Primal Fear
Production Design (Art)
1996
The Bridges of Madison County
Production Design (Art)
1995
Losing Isaiah
Production Design (Art)
1995
Corrina, Corrina
Production Design (Art)
1994
The Wrong Man
Production Design (Art)
1993
The Vanishing
Production Design (Art)
1993
School Ties
Production Design (Art)
1992
Sibling Rivalry
Production Design (Art)
1990
White Palace
Production Design (Art)
1990
Music Box
Set Designer (Art)
1989
Animal Behavior
Production Design (Art)
1989
Rooftops
Production Design (Art)
1989
Ironweed
Production Design (Art)
1987
Light of Day
Production Design (Art)
1987
The Big Easy
Production Design (Art)
1986
Desert Hearts
Production Design (Art)
1985
Maria's Lovers
Production Design (Art)
1984
Racing with the Moon
Set Designer (Art)
1984
Love Letters
Art Direction (Art)
1983
Tender Mercies
Art Direction (Art)
1983
Cat People
Set Designer (Art)
1982
Blow Out
Set Designer (Art)
1981