Facing the Future
STATUS
Development
FORMAT
Feature Film
GENRE
Documentary
LOGLINE:
Many of the most iconic and original aesthetic looks of the 1980s – from David Bowie to Miami Vice – were created by Antony Clavet, a self-educated outsider from rural Canada whose trailblazing career as a hair and makeup designer was cut short by his tragic death.
SYNOPSIS:
Born in New Brunswick, Canada in 1945, Antony Clavet was a globally renowned make-up/hair artist and art director who worked with many of the world’s leading photographers, models, musicians and actors from the 1970s until his death in 1990. His major collaboration was with David Bowie from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. They were close friends and colleagues, and Clavet was art director and make-up/hair artist for his early 1980s films, most of his music videos from ‘Heroes’ to ‘Let’s Dance’, and his magazine/album cover portraits.
His major collaboration was with David Bowie from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. They were close friends and colleagues, and Clavet was the art director and make-up/hair artist for Bowie’s early 1980s films, most of his music videos from Heroes to Let’s Dance, and his magazine/album cover portraits. Clavet was selected by Harper’s Magazine as “one of the image-setters of the 1970s, with a vision for the 1980s.” This would be prophetic, as Clavet’s vision led the way to creating the colourful primary- and jewel-toned make-up and asymmetrical hair aesthetic of the 1980s, and much more.
Clavet worked with leading style and fashion magazines, collaborating with renowned photographers Richard Avedon, Clive Arrowsmith, Annie Liebowitz, Helmut Newton, Cecil Beaton, Greg Gorman, Robert Mapplethorpe, Albert Watson, and Irving Penn, to name a few. He worked on hundreds of magazine covers for publications such as Rolling Stone to Interview to Vogue, and in the pop culture world he art directed hair and makeup in photo and film shoots for icons: Bowie, Mick Jagger, Sophia Loren, Jerry Hall, Richard Gere, Elton John, Catherine Deneuve, Diane Lane, Goldie Hawn, Paul McCartney, Natassja Kinski, Tom Cruise, Isabella Rossellini, and Queen Noor of Jordan, among hundreds of other luminaries.
Clavet was present in the pioneering days of late 1970s and early 1980s music videos. His vision and hair/make-up hand were central to the aesthetic of music videos by David Bowie, Roxy Music, the Rolling Stones, and Sting. He art directed shoots for album covers for Bowie, Brian Ferry, Paul Anka, Elton John, and Gloria Gaynor. His best-known work is his creation of the twisted, falling figure of Bowie on the iconic cover of his 1979 Lodger album. Constantly working and pushing himself, Clavet was the visual art and make-up director for the iconic 80s TV series Miami Vice, and such films as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Hunger, 9 ½ Weeks, Top Gun, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Beverly Hills Cop II, and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club.
The central trove of visuals and objects for this project is Clavet’s personal archive, which is owned by his sisters and has been made completely available. It is a considerable collection of documents, periodicals, photographs, slides, awards, letters, recordings, objects, and mementos which has been carefully catalogued and examined in depth. This documentary will launch in 2028 in conjunction with an
eponymous exhibition spearheaded by the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and a substantial book from Goose Lane Editions, one of Canada’s most respected publishers. Facing the Future will reunite the Gallery, filmmakers, and publisher who successfully collaborated on Wabanaki Modern, the winner of the prestigious Canadian Museums Association Award for best research project in 2023.
CREDITS:
Director: Clem McIntosh
Producer: Sandy Hunter
Writer: Alison Taylor
Executive Producer & Researcher: Dr. John Leroux
Line Producer: Megan Thelosen
Composer: Tim Rideout
PARTNERS
