The fascinating journey of the Greek film designer and his major successes, such as Batman, Alien, 300, Independence Day, and Godzilla. Having collaborated with directors like Coppola, Stone, and Fincher, he will share the secrets of his career on the stage of TEDxAthens.
He is the man who inspired David Fincher for Se7en, designed the impressive castle in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, created the creatures for Godzilla, built the magical universes in Chronicles of Riddick, the sets of Independence Day, and, of course, conceived the iconic Batmobile in Batman.
We are talking about the highly discussed film designer — that is, Production Designer, Visual Effects Designer, and Hollywood director Patrick Tatopoulos — who, in just a few days, will appear on the stage of the TEDxAthens Conference 2024 to share his experiences and unravel his incredible story.
Regarding his upcoming appearance at this year’s TEDxAthens 2024 on Saturday, October 5th, in a new venue at Piraeus 260, known as the Athens and Epidaurus Festival venue, he tells THEMA he is “truly excited” but also “terrified because so far, I haven’t done anything like this. And the fact that it’s happening in Greece means a lot to me.”
Watch the video: Patrick Tatopoulos talks on the occasion of the Total Recall premiere
Patrick Tatopoulos Interview – Total Recall Premiere
“It marks the completion of a cycle that started from the day I left Athens for Hollywood and is now coming full circle with my return here, to share my thoughts and experiences from the film industry,” he says.
Everything started for Patrick Tatopoulos one ordinary morning on the beach in Nea Makri when the young and always restless Fine Arts graduate was flipping through a magazine a friend had given him, titled Cinefex, about special effects companies in America. The pages featured monsters and strange creatures, impressive creations that balanced between science fiction and conceptual art, pushing the boundaries of what the Greek-French artist’s vivid imagination could create.
His reaction was immediate. Impressed by what he saw in the magazine, he began constructing his homemade monsters in his mother-in-law’s house, hoping to build his portfolio from scratch. This would help him secure some appointments in America. Despite having no connections and knowing nobody in the industry, his instinct told him that this was the path that matched his temperament and concerns. He spent all the money he had on a ticket, with a stopover in Amsterdam and just enough for some expenses that would barely allow him to stay in Los Angeles for more than a week.
His goal, however, was to show as many companies as he could that his work was full of ideas for a differently designed-Hollywood. But the suitcase containing his famous portfolio and samples of his work didn’t arrive until the day before his return from Los Angeles to Athens, resulting in him managing to see only one company just before his departure. However, less than a month later, the company called him back to the U.S. and offered him a job, even ensuring that he got his green card.
From there, his rise and career took off: starting with Oliver Stone’s The Doors in the early ’90s, he then became the invisible creator of the cinematic world of Coppola’s Dracula. He was the one who conceived the stunning castle of the demonic creature and the chapel where Dracula is finally killed between two statues.
However, he hadn’t taken steps to protect his creations – a lesson he learned to safeguard his work, as he did in Stargate, where he designed everything from the soldiers to the monsters, and similarly in Roland Emmerich’s much-discussed Independence Day, under Emmerich’s protection. Godzilla became his signature, with his monsters paying homage to Tomoyuki Tanaka, making history and skyrocketing his collaboration with Emmerich into the stratosphere.
The dildo of Fincher
Designing sets in an era where Artificial Intelligence didn’t even exist as a concept, and special effects were the result of practical craftsmanship, Tatopoulos’ artistic ingenuity quickly stood out. Filmmaking back then was pure; it wasn’t about the artificial constructs of computers that, despite their perfection, no longer surprised audiences precisely because they lacked the high mark of creation.
Instead, directors of that time relied on the creative imagination of people like Tatopoulos to bring their visions to life: the strange creatures, Dracula’s castles, and the explosive imagination of this Greek-born, French-blooded artist—a unique combination for American directors—started gaining serious attention in Hollywood in the early ’90s, a time synonymous with some of the best and most modern films in cinema history.
It was during this period that the famous David Fincher sought someone to realize his vision for his film Se7en, one of the best thrillers ever made, starring Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Fincher’s phone call to Tatopoulos came while he was having lunch, with the famous director getting straight to the point: “I have a job for you. I’m making a movie called Se7en and I want you to design a killer dildo, a sexual device that can kill!”
And all this, as Tatopoulos admits, happened during family lunch, in what he describes as a surreal experience that led to his great collaboration with Fincher – through a sexual device! Anyone who has seen the film will remember that this intricate sexual gadget appears in a Polaroid photo, which is emblematic of Fincher’s demonic directorial vision and his ability to go beyond the norm, with Tatopoulos’ help.
Batman and the 300
After Se7en, offers began flooding in for Tatopoulos: films such as those of Alex Proyas, with whom he collaborated on Dark City, one of his best works, have left their mark. His signature wasn’t just about atmosphere, unique conditions, strange situations, and science fiction, but also about his beloved monsters. He created his own unique Godzilla, while his hybrid Alien in the famous sci-fi film Alien vs. Predator is considered part of cult cinema culture, and beyond.
It’s a significant tribute to the history of cinematic monsters, a confirmation of everything that came before. The same goes for the stunning Batmobile, which continues the legacy of previous Batmobiles but was distinct enough to make a major difference: it was a dynamic construction, very radical and revolutionary in its logic. But Tatopoulos wasn’t just designing film worlds linked to his Greek name; he was also directing – primarily directing – and reconstructing entire worlds, often adapted from comics, sci-fi books, extreme scripts, and even ancient Greek history, with the most notable example being 300.
Tatopoulos and 300
It’s obvious that no one could understand a film inspired by the story of the 300 Spartans better than Greek-born Tatopoulos, although, as he says, it cost him initially. He was so enthusiastic during the first meeting with producers and the director that he brought not only the comic but also the necessary books and even Greek statuettes to show them where exactly the famous men of Leonidas drew their inspiration from.
In fact, he was speaking with such passion, explaining every detail, that the filmmakers feared he knew much more than they themselves could understand. They even told him that they couldn’t work with him and give him the creative part of the movie because his knowledge risked turning the film into a Greek epic, while they wanted to capture the cinematic experience of a comic book. Ultimately, although they rejected him for the first version of 300, they returned for the second, 300: Rise of an Empire, where the Greek designer led the film again with the signature of Zack Snyder, with whom he also collaborated on Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
As for his secret, it lies in the triptych he’ll share during his upcoming TEDxAthens appearance: “Support – Collaboration – Kindness. These are the three things I’ve encountered so far in my collaboration with the TEDxAthens team,” he says, and these words will undoubtedly accompany his highly anticipated appearance on stage before the Athenian audience.
