Nelson Coates

Nelson Coates is an American production designer for feature film and television. His motion picture credits include the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical In the Heights, based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway show; Jon M. Chu's romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, the highest-grossing romantic comedy of the last decade; Robert Zemeckis' dramatic thriller Flight, which critics Roger Ebert and Owen Gleiberman placed on their top-10 lists; and the biographical drama Antwone Fisher, which received a 2002 American Film Institute Award. Coates' television projects include the mystery drama Home Before Dark and the second and third season of The Morning Show, both for Apple TV+.

Coates is currently serving his second term as President of the Art Directors Guild.

Early life

Born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Coates began his lifelong involvement in the performing arts at an early age. He made his professional debut at six, acting, singing and dancing in regional theater. During high school, Coates also competed in gymnastics, developing an understanding of biomechanics, action and physical space that informed his design of Wesley Snipes' escape route in Murder at 1600 and continues to benefit his work today.

In 1990, Coates relocated from Texas to Los Angeles, where he built his career designing for movies and television series. He developed collaborative relationships with numerous directors, working with Gary Fleder on Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, Kiss the Girls and Runaway Jury; Anne Fletcher on The Guilt Trip, The Proposal and Hot Pursuit; Mimi Leder on Thick as Thieves, John Doe and On the Basis of Sex; and Jon M. Chu on Crazy Rich Asians, Home Before Dark and In the Heights. Coates also designed Anjelica Huston's debut as a feature film director on Bastard Out of Carolina, Bill Paxton's on Frailty and Denzel Washington's on Antwone Fisher.

Coates' second major award nomination was for a 2008 Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award, Contemporary Film for Flight, about a troubled pilot who crash lands a plane to save its occupants. Director Robert Zemeckis tasked the designer with creating a fictional, but believable airline that included the word "jet" in its name, but that avoided any real-world references.

Zemeckis wanted the passengers, crew and their belongings to react naturally to gravity during the accident. To solve this challenge, Coates built a full-length fuselage using modified, genuine, airline parts and that divided into sections. The fuselage, replete with performers and props, was mounted onto various motion simulation rigs including a "rotisserie rig" that rotated 180 degrees.

On Crazy Rich Asians, Coates' directive was to bring Singapore's tastes, traditions, culture and design to the silver screen. For greater authenticity, Coates imbued the characters with Peranakan heritage (it wasn't in the original novel) and tapped its rich art, architecture and design practices for his sets.

Chu wanted the film's climactic marriage ceremony "…to be a wedding like you've never seen before." In the novel, the ceremony costs $40 million, but the project's entire budget was only $30 million. Coates attended more than 35 Chinese and Singaporean weddings as research and designed a set in a former 19th Century convent that Architectural Digest described as a "church of nature." He also developed a system for flooding the chapel that preserved the decorations so that the bride could walk on water down the aisle.

Coates won a 2018 Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award, Contemporary Film, for his designs for the film.

For Fifty Shades Darker (2017) and Fifty Shades Freed (2018), director James Foley hired Coates to reimagine the franchise's world. The designer added texture and depth to the projects' 160 sets and introduced visual references to reflect the characters' backstories. The films were shot simultaneously over 106 days in 167 locations and required Coates to balance a myriad of details to maintain the visual integrity and continuity of each movie.

Entertainment industry and arts organizations

Coates is serving his second term as President of the Art Directors Guild (ADG). In 2016 he oversaw the formation of ADG's women's and diversity committees to address issues in front of and behind the camera. Coates was also instrumental in creating and organizing the Guild's first new member orientation and first member directory.

Coates is a voting member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), where he also serves on the Executive Committee of the Production Design Branch. He previously served on AMPAS' Foreign Language Film Committee (later renamed the International Feature Film Committee).

Coates served as the keynote speaker at UCLA's Design Showcase West.

Filmography Film Art Directors Guild Best Art Direction, Critics Choice Movie Awards, Broadcast Film Critics Association; Best Production Design, Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle Awards; Best Production Design, OFTA Film Awards, Online Film & Television Association 2018 Fifty Shades Freed On the Basis of Sex 2017 Unforgettable Fifty Shades Darker 2015 Secret in Their Eyes Hot Pursuit 2012 The Guilt Trip Flight Excellence in Production Design Award, Contemporary Film, Art Directors Guild Big Miracle 2010 The Last Song 2009 The Proposal Thick as Thieves 2008 The Express: The Ernie Davis Story 2006 School for Scoundrels Aquamarine 2005 Man of the House 2003 Runaway Jury 2002 Antwone Fisher Impostor 2001 Frailty Don't Say a Word 1999 Stir of Echoes 1998 Living Out Loud Disturbing Behavior 1997 Kiss the Girls Murder at 1600 1996 Albino Alligator Bastard Out of Carolina 1995 Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead 1994 Blank Check 1993 Three of Hearts CB4

Television