Drew Struzan Interview! (“First Blood”, “Star Wars”, “Indiana Jones” and More!)

Drew Struzan, one of the legends of movie poster art, was recently interviewed by Erik Sharkey for /Film.com.  The interview is well worth a read.  If you click over you’ll find out about Drew Stuzan’s…

  • documentary
  • love of King Kong (and his take on who the real villain of the film is)
  • approach to poster art
  • favorite Star Wars movie
  • early art career
  • thoughts on the Indiana Jones films
  • plans for retirement

Before you click over, I want to highlight this exchange about Drew Struzan’s First Blood poster:

Erik Sharkey:  I always thought your artwork for the movie First Blood was a powerful poster of a single figure.

Drew Struzan:  Well, thank you. It’s a guy with a big gun, and the first thing we know is that he was in a war of some kind, but I want the image to be beautiful. I want it to be kind. I want it to be loving. Big tough guy with a big gun and bullets, how does that relate to what I’m saying? What’s the color in it? It’s basically a blue picture. And blue is the most comforting and loving color you can paint. Does it not look peaceful? I could have painted blood dripping from them, which a lot of movie posters have done, but that’s not what I paint. I want to make the world a better and more beautiful, peaceful, and kind place. So, you’ll see that in every picture I paint.