Grant Major

Production Designer

About Grant Major

Grant Major, best known for his work on The
Lord of the Rings trilogy, was born in 1955 in
New Zealand. He studied graphic art at
Auckland Technical Institute where he holds a
honorary Doctorate of Arts and Design. He
began his career as a set designer for TVNZ. A
few years later he worked with BBC in London
and Belfast but later returned to New Zealand
and worked with TV Ones news broadcast.
Major then began working on films in 1984 as an
art direction for Other Halves and later worked
as a production designer for other films such as
An Angel at My Table. Director Peter Jackson
began working with Major on various films,
leading Major to become the production
designer for all three The Lord of the Rings
films. Major worked closely with artists such as
Alan Lee and John Howe to create functional fullscale sets.

About Grant Major

(continued)
Grant Major continued to work with Jackson on
films such as King Kong. However, Major also
works on projects outside of just film and
television. His design for New Zealands World
Expo pavilion won the award for Best Concept and
Implementation in 1990. In the same year he also
worked on both the opening and closing
ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games. He also
worked on advertisements which one him various
awards, some of these ads were aired during the
Superbowl. Grant Major has been nominated and
won several other awards during his career
including Oscars, BAFTA Awards, Art Directors
Guild, New Zealand Film and TV Awards, Satellite
Awards, OFTA Awards, and many more. In 2005
was given the New Zealand Order of Merit for his
work for the New Zealand film industry.

Filmography/other works
(selection):

Other Halves
(1984)

An Angel at My
Table (1990)

The Lord of the

Rings Trilogy
(2001-2003)

King Kong (2005)

Heavenly
Creatures (1994)

Green Lantern
(2011)

Whale Rider
(2002)

X-Men:
Apocalypse
(postproduction, 2016)

Coke Heist Ad
(2009)

Guinness Bring
it to Life (2010)

NZ Pavilion for
the World Expo in
Spain (1990)

Bibliography

http://www.grantmajor.com/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0538194/

http://www.legendariummedia.com/2014/10/04/aninterview-with-grant-major-production-designer-of-thelord-of-the-rings-trilogy/

http://www.nzonscreen.com/person/grant-major/
biography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfaajN4uTQ0