Laurent Durieux never ceases to amaze me with his ability to capture the essence of a film in his artwork.

Here is a perfect example of his take on my favorite film, The Shawshank Redemption. Laurent posted this concept poster on his Facebook page and fans are clamoring for this image to become a print that we can purchase…me included!

Check out more of Laurent’s work HERE!

Dark Hall Mansion, under license from Warner Bros Entertainment, will release a print based on one of the most influential and classic of all Sci-Fi films, Godzilla.

First appearing in 1954, Godzilla’s impact and influence on worldwide culture is both inescapable and undeniable! The artist chosen for this Seminal Film Series project is Laurent Durieux and the poster will be released this Friday, August 28, 2015.

The essence of DHM’s Seminal Film Series is to showcase an artist’s work in print in a manner that is visually striking, compelling, and hopefully at times, provocative. Dark Hall Mansion feels Laurent has done just that with his Godzilla. His pieces do not just entertain but provoke thought and consideration. His Standard edition’s color palette evocatively underscores his visual’s powerful thematics while his Variant edition has a darker intensity harkening to the film’s black and white origins, its visuals strikingly offset with only Godzilla’s name rendered via kanji.

You can read a great interview with the artist about this project on blurppy.com HERE.

Godzilla Standard Print By Laurent Durieux
24″ X 36″
Edition of 350 $65
Godzilla Select Foil Edition of 20 (based on STD artwork) $150

Godzilla Variant Print By Laurent Durieux
24″ X 36″
Edition of 125  $100
Godzilla Select Foil Edition of 20 (based on Variant artwork) $150
Godzilla Select Giclee Printed on Canvas Edition of 15 (based on Variant artwork) $275

Tomorrow Mondo will release a couple of new posters celebrating one of the greatest superhero films of our time: Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

First up is a pair of posters from Laurent Durieux with Batman standing tall amidst the chaos and mayhem that’s been brought to Gotham City by The Joker. Originally, this poster was set to be released at a screening of the film at the Alamo Drafthouse last September, but was unfortunately unable to happen in time.

Here’s what Laurent had to say about the artwork:

“It’s been too long since I’ve come up with a new print for Mondo and this one has been finished and ready for many months. I have been both very anxious and excited about the day when it would eventually be revealed. The Dark Knight is such a great film, and most certainly is my favorite of Nolan’s trilogy. I hope I did it justice. A lot of TLC went into it in the hope I would. Thank you Mondo for this great opportunity!”

Please follow MONDO on Twitter for the on sale announcement. These posters will be available online at a random time on Thursday, January 7, 2015.

The Dark Knight by Laurent Durieux. 24″x36″ screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 425. $60

The Dark Knight (Variant) by Laurent Durieux. 36″x24″ screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 225. $90

Mondo is also excited to continue Mike Mitchell’s timed-edition portrait series with The Joker featuring Heath Ledger in his iconic role. He’s completely captured the essence of Heath’s Joker. The print will be available for purchase until Saturday, January 9th at 11:59PM CST.

The Joker by Mike Mitchell. 12″x16″ giclee. Hand numbered. Timed-edition available for purchase until Saturday, January 9th at 11:59PM CST. $55

Check out this unused Mondo poster concept by the great Laurent Durieux for The Dark Knight. I love how the artist incorporates the Joker’s profile in Batman’s billowing cape! I would love to see the finished image incorporating Laurent’s painstaking detail. Perhaps someday…

Dark Hall Mansion is pleased to share its latest officially licensed limited edition fine art print release with artist Laurent Durieux, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 “To Catch a Thief,” and on sale this Friday, April 1st!!

Dark Hall Mansion, under license from Paramount Pictures and the Alfred Hitchcock estate, will release the Master of Suspense’s 1955 romantic thriller that finds Hitchcock exploring the rarefied world of the French Riviera via his traditional themes of the ‘wrong man,’ duality of identity, romantic entanglement and its inherent cost, and of course, the role of law and the individual. DHM welcomes back artist Laurent Durieux who has created an elegant, dynamic, and restrained print worthy of the film’s thematics and legacy. A lovely Durieux story print, Laurent has set up not only Hitchcock’s tension inducing composition questioning who is really ‘the cat,’ but beautifully rendering one of Hitchcock’s most famed romantic visual send-ups, “To Catch a Thief’s” classic fireworks scene, by elegantly referencing and abstracting both his leading lady and the jewels that so intricately frame this Hitchcock film.

There will be a Standard edition, Variant with GID (Glow-in-the-Dark layer), select Foil, and an exclusive edition of only 15 canvases (total) based on both colorways. Know all “To Catch a Thief” editions will be screen printed in Belgium by Laurent’s personal printer of choice and also allowing for ALL editions to be signed by artist Laurent Durieux himself.

“To Catch a Thief” Standard Edition of 350 $70

“To Catch a Thief” Variant Edition of 150 with GID (Glow-in-the-Dark layer) $100

“To Catch a Thief” Foil Edition of 20 $150 (based on Std edition colorway)

“To Catch a Thief” Foil Edition of 20 $150 (based on Var edition colorway)

“To Catch a Thief” Canvas Edition of 8 $275 (based on Std edition colorway)

“To Catch a Thief” Canvas Edition of 7 $275 (based on Var edition colorway)

All editions are strictly limited, measure 24″ x 36,” are screen printed, hand numbered, and individually signed by artist Laurent Durieux. All DHM “To Catch a Thief” editions go on sale this Friday, April 1st, on Dark Hall Mansion’s store page here at 9:30 AM PST.

For those that are lucky enough to travel to Laurent Durieux’s solo show in Brussels on June 2, 2016 the artist will have these A4 fine art limited giclees of Labyrinth and Totoro available for 13 euros. You can confirm which print you prefer by private messaging Laurent with your order. Each giclee will be personalized with the buyers name.

The Bottleneck Gallery and Acme Archives in conjunction with Lucasfilm will release this new poster for Raiders of The Lost Ark by Laurent Durieux. The prints will be available in three editions on June 2, 2016 at noon EST at this link.

Raiders Regular Print By Laurent Durieux
Timed Edition through June 5 at 11:59 PM EST
24 x 36
15 color screenprint with metallic inks
$60

Raiders Variant Print By Laurent Durieux
Limited to 275
24 x 36
15 color screenprint with metallic inks
$80

Front

Back

Raiders Wood Print By Laurent Durieux
Limited to $50
24 x 36
15 color screenprint with metallic inks
$275

Dark Hall Mansion in partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, is most pleased to release Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory limited edition prints by leading contemporary artist, Laurent Durieux, and available Friday, September 23rd, 2016 at 12:30 PM (PST).

DHM welcomes back artist Laurent Durieux as he grants us his golden ticket view of the original 1971 Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory film based on the Roald Dahl children’s classic. In his distinctive visual and pathos driven style Laurent takes us into Willy Wonka’s factory for a quiet, contemplative moment that is as beautiful as it is hyper detailed via his renowned nuancing.

Laurent Durieux Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory editions measure 24″ x 36,” are 14-color screen prints, but for the select canvas edition of only 30 editions worldwide which is giclee printed, and are all strictly limited and hand numbered.

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory Standard Edition of 345 $70

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory Variant Edition of 145 $100

Additional editions inlcude:

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory Foil Edition of 25 $150 (based on Standard edition colorway) 
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory Foil Edition of 25 $150 (based on Variant edition colorway) 
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory Select Canvas edition $250 (15 based on Standard colorway and 15 based on Variant colorway)

Bottleneck Gallery will release Edward Scissorhands prints by Laurent Durieux at New York Comic-Con. You can find Bottleneck Gallery at booth #2171 during the con which runs from October 6-9.

Ballerina Regular
11 color screen print
24 x 36 inches
Numbered edition of 425
$60

Dinosaur Variant
11 color screen print
24 x 36 inches
Numbered edition of 150
$75

Poodle Variant
11 color screen print
24 x 36 inches
Numbered edition of 150
$75

Ballerina Foil Variant
Numbered edition of 75
$85

After releasing limited edition art prints based on The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Laurent Durieux completes his work on the iconic Paramount Pictures’ trilogy with The Godfather Part III.

The Godfather Part III was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Andy Garcia. The film is considered by some to be the epilogue to the Corleone Family story, but all three of the Durieux prints together depict a legacy that is everlasting.

The Laurent Durieux limited edition Godfather Part III prints will be signed by the artist, and will be sold online at the Odd City Entertainment online store HERE. The sale will begin at 1pm CST on Thursday, March 2, 2017.

Godfather III – Regular
Artist: Laurent Durieux
Size: 24″ x 36″
Edition Size: 275
Price: $65.00

Godfather III – Variant
Artist: Laurent Durieux
Size: 24″ x 36″
Edition Size: 150
Price: $100.00

Godfather III – Wood
Artist: Laurent Durieux
Size: 24″ x 36″
Edition Size: 50
Price: $300.00

Dark Hall Mansion in partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, is pleased to release the latest limited edition fine art print in their ongoing DHM Seminal Film Series, their officially licensed “Gone With The Wind” screen prints by leading contemporary artist Laurent Durieux, available Friday, March 24th, at 12:30 PM-PST!

Few words are needed to comment on this 1939 film’s landmark place in cinematic history, Laurent’s piece addresses its varied themes and arc with boldness and subtlety. From his powerful yet emotionally conflicted rendering of Leigh’s expression as Scarlett O’Hara to the provocative visual concept for Scarlett herself as both woman and thematic entity, Laurent’s piece lends itself to charged contemplation. On closeup you’ll find his address of the horrors of war, the destruction of Tara, the famed exit of Clark Gable’s Rhett Butler, as well as more subtle elements throughout such as Ashley’s image in Scarlett’s hand, the inscriptions on varied tombstones and more. Laurent’s piece is at once evocative of original 1930’s vintage movie posters while still very contemporary in approach and personal to the artist’s style and aesthetic.

This limited edition Durieux print release is yet another in DHM’s Seminal Film Series which has included Laurent Durieux contributions for DHM on “Metropolis,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” all editions have long since sold out.

DHM’s Laurent Durieux “Gone With The Wind” limited editions measure 24″ x 36,” are 10-color screen prints, strictly limited and individually hand numbered. The select canvas run of only 30 editions worldwide are giclee printed on canvas and hand numbered.

Gone With The Wind Standard Edition of 345  $70

Gone With The Wind Variant Edition of 145  $100

Additionally there will also be a:

Gone With The Wind Foil Edition of 20  $150 (based on the standard edition colorway)  

Gone With The Wind Foil Edition of 20  $150 (based on variant edition colorway)  

Gone With The Wind Select Canvas edition $250 (15 based on standard colorway, 15  based on variant colorway)

All prints will be on sale Friday March 24, 2017 at 12:30 PM (PST) and they can be ordered HERE.

Tomorrow Mondo is celebrating one of their favorite films of the ’80s, Labyrinth, with a poster by the inimitable Laurent Durieux and new enamel pins from DKNG.

Absolutely brimming with creativity and innovative puppetry and creature effects, Jim Henson’s 1986 fantasy film tells the story of Sarah (played by Jennifer Connelly) as she journeys into a dreamlike world inhabited by all sorts of memorable characters and puzzles to retrieve her baby brother from David Bowie’s iconic Jareth, the Goblin King. Laurent Durieux has done a beautiful job capturing the magic and insane variety of creatures born of the film portrayed as various toys positioned around Sarah’s desk.

Mondo will also have beautifully designed enamel pins by DKNG featuring Sir Didymus on Ambrosius, a Fireys and his detachable head, and the Worm (‘ello!).

Please follow Mondo on Twitter for the on sale announcement. These posters and pins will be available online at a random time on Thursday, May 18th at mondotees.com.

Labyrinth by Laurent Durieux. 24″x36″ screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 425. $65

Labyrinth (Variant) by Laurent Durieux. 24″x36″ screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 225. $85

Labyrinth Enamel Pins. Sir Didymus and Ambrosius ($10), Fireys Two-Pin Set ($15) and The Worm ($10). Designed by DKNG. Soft enamel pins with rubber clutch backings. $30 Set.

Mondo Graphics has announced the release of this new officially licensed print of Breakfast At Tiffany’s by the famed artist Laurent Durieux. The 17 color screen print measures 24″ x 36” and will be available as a signed and numbered edition of 250.

All profits from the sale of this poster are collected for the benefit of EURORDIS (the European organization for rare diseases). Order the limited edition print HERE for €900.

Vice Press has teamed up with Bottleneck Gallery to offer an online New York Comic Con pre-launch of Laurent Durieux’s long-awaited E.T. The Extra Terrestrial print. Both the regular and variant editions will be available through Vice Press and Bottleneck Gallery at 5pm BST/ 12PM Eastern on October 3rd!

E.T The Extra Terrestrial by Laurent Durieux
Edition of 350
24×36 Screenprint
$65

E.T The Extra Terrestrial by Laurent Durieux
Variant Edition of 150
24×36 Screenprint
$75

This year would have been the 100th birthday of Ray Harryhausen, the filmmaking legend who pioneered stop-motion animation.  To celebrate this occasion, Justin Ishmael of ISH will release prints of the classic Harryhausen film, 7th Voyage of Sinbad by the renowned artist, Laurent Durieux in both a regular and variant version

7th Voyage of Sinbad Regular Poster
By Laurent Durieux
13 colors
Measures 24×36 inches
Edition Size: 275
Price: $65

7th Voyage of Sinbad Variant Poster
By Laurent Durieux
13 colors
Measures 24×36 inches
Edition Size: 150
Price: $75

The prints will be available HERE at 9:00 a.m. PST Wednesday, March 18.

Mad Duck Posters will release new posters this week for The Silence of The Lambs by Laurent Durieux! The artist had the following to say about his take on the modern masterpiece:

“The art captures the room of the girl found dead who was on the autopsy table at the coroner’s office with her back incised. Here I make an ellipse between two scenes that follow each other in the final part of the film, where Agent Starling understands by seeing the different elements observed in this piece (polaroids, wallpaper with butterflies, sewing machine, dressmaker’s dummy, and especially the dress in the closet which has the same two large diamond-shaped strips). She understands that this is a dressmaker who makes clothes out of human skins and then we find her at Buffallo’s house in the final scene, which is why we see Agent Starling approaching Buffallo’s house across the street…”

The posters go on sale this Wednesday, March 25th 2020 at 12PM ET! Click HERE to order.

The Silence of The Lambs Regular Poster
By Laurent Durieux
24×36
Run of 350
$75

The Silence of The Lambs Variant Poster
By Laurent Durieux
24×36
Run of 250
$95

There will be a very small run of foils for each colorway as well.  

Nautilus Art Prints is very proud to announce its newest release : Martha’s Vineyard Welcomes You designed by Laurent Durieux. The artist does a gentle nod to the classic film Jaws in the poster.

Martha’s Vineyard Welcomes You Regular Print
By Laurent Durieux
Measures 24×36 inches
11 colors
Edition Size – 575
Signed and hand numbered by the artist
€65

Martha’s Vineyard Welcomes You Variant Print
By Laurent Durieux
Measures 24×36 inches
11 colors
Edition Size – 225
Signed and hand numbered by the artist
€85

Martha’s Vineyard Welcomes You Regular Version
Screenprinted on wood
By Laurent Durieux
Format: 26,38×38,58 inches
6 mm thick
11 colors
Edition Size – 10
Signed and hand numbered by the artist
€250

Martha’s Vineyard Welcomes You Variant Version
Screenprinted on wood
By Laurent Durieux
Format: 26,38×38,58 inches
6 mm thick
11 colors
Edition Size – 10
Signed and hand numbered by the artist
€250

On sale on Nautilus Art Prints store this Friday December, 11 at 7 PM Brussels Time – 10 AM (PT)

Belgian graphic artist Laurent Durieux has designed some of the most gorgeous movie posters of the past decade, working not for the studios but in custom-published runs just for collectors and fans.

Laurent Durieux

You’ve probably seen his work: intricate, finely tooled reimaginings of classic films — “Jaws,” “King Kong” and “Casablanca,” to name a few — produced as limited-edition screenprints by companies such as Mondo, resold on eBay for thousands of dollars.

Durieux’s retrofuturist designs have appeared on everything from bottles of Francis Ford Coppola’s wine to the cover of The New Yorker.

This year, he was invited by the Annecy Animation Festival — the world’s top toon showcase, in the south of France, on the banks of Europe’s cleanest lake — to come up with the key art for their 2022 edition (seen below). In the spirit of the festival, the Annecy team brought Durieux’s design to life, so it could be projected before every screening.

Annecy offered the perfect opportunity to speak with Durieux, who was in town for a gallery show, about the stories behind some of his best work.

“I confess that I’m not a huge cinephile,” Durieux admits. “I’m not that guy who rushes out to see every movie. At the same time, I have a huge DVD collection with something like 1,000 Blu-rays at home. I guess you could say, cinema is not my top passion. My top passion is to make a beautiful image.”

Durieux is first and foremost an artist, and though he’s been approached to design original posters for golden-age greats, his visual references are decidedly old school: pulp fiction covers and vintage 1930s travel posters.

“My inspirations come from everywhere but the world of movies,” he says. “They come from 1950s advertising campaigns, especially the great American ones. They come from classic magazine covers, like Fortune magazine in the 1930s and ’40s. Among those artists, there’s one who influenced me most: Antonio Petruccelli.”

The Iron Giant

In 2012, Durieux was approached by Mondo — the Austin, Texas-based poster company, which works with studios to license cult classics for an all-new graphic treatment — about designing a movie poster, opening the door to a wider renown. The challenge: offer a fresh interpretation of Brad Bird’s 1999 animated feature. “Mondo had just released a beautiful poster by Kevin Tong, and I said, ‘It’s perfect. What can I possibly add?’” Durieux recalls. “I came to understand that it was kind of a test by Mondo to redo a poster that was already perfect to see what I could bring to it.”

Durieux looked to vintage travel posters for the solution, emphasizing the naturalistic dimension of a fantastical film, placing the boy and his robot in a sea of trees. The result was so well received that more commissions were soon to follow. “At my core, I’m most passionate about retrofuturism, but they came to me to work on movie posters,” Durieux says. “If it were up to me, I’d rather be making pictures of huge helicopters, huge airplanes and huge boats.” In a way, “The Iron Giant” offered the perfect marriage of those two sensibilities.

Jaws

Durieux’s most sought-after poster is his take on Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws.” Again, the assignment called for Durieux to reinterpret a perfect poster. “The original ‘Jaws’ poster is iconic. That’s why I went in the opposite direction,” he says. “I didn’t draw the shark. I didn’t draw the bottom of the sea. I decided to make a poster that felt a bit lazy instead, except I wanted to play with the spectator.”

The idea started with the beach umbrella. “My idea was to tell a story. You know, it’s the Fourth of July weekend, the weather is beautiful, and the mayor wants everybody to go swimming because it’s good for business.” But something is not quite right with this idyllic image. As soon as you notice the black panel of the umbrella, the tone changes.

“I designed a lazy poster, but at the center of the image, all of the drama is there,” Durieux explains. “If you’re not paying attention, you don’t see it, and it remains a lazy poster. But if you’re being more alert, like when you go in the water and you see the shark, the adventure begins.”

The Birds

Although Mondo works with many different artists to devise new posters for classic films, what sets Durieux’s style apart are the colors and the attention to detail. Inspired by the look of old etchings, Durieux uses digital tools to advance an approach that artists once did by hand. “I don’t think anyone else would do it this way because it takes so much time,” he says. Since the final posters are screen printed, that forces him to be selective about the colors he works with. “You can’t do a serigraph with 50 colors. I’m already pushing the maximum with 13 or 14 colors.”

Durieux’s Hitchcock series — which includes striking posters for “Psycho,” “Rear Window” and “Vertigo” with deep blacks and vivid, almost fluorescent highlights — is best exemplified by “The Birds.” His design (one of three that Mondo has produced) features Marion Crane on the dock, overshadowed by a giant crow. “I needed a muted sky so her green jacket would pop,” he says of the palette.

As for the design, “I couldn’t do the same kind of poster if people had not seen the film,” he explains. With tribute posters, however, “There’s no financial pressure. The film has long since made its money back, so you can amuse yourself. That’s what’s fun: the collusion with the fans. It’s like a game. You know they know.”

The Master

These days, the vast majority of studio-created movie posters feature floating heads of the films’ stars, since conventional wisdom states that the cast — even more than the concept — is what lures audiences to the theaters. By contrast, very few of Durieux’s posters feature traditional portraits of the actors involved.

“It’s not that I don’t want to draw people head-on. It’s just that I only want to do so when you can’t think of anything else,” he explains. “With ‘The Master,’ the movie is about a kind of guru, the guy who created this cult, and so I needed his gaze. When you get drawn into a cult, it’s by someone who looks you in the eyes, like the serpent Kaa in ‘The Jungle Book,’ so I needed direct contact with the eyes. It’s always the idea that comes first.”

One of the challenges artists face when making after-the-fact movie poster commissions, which fans might not realize, is that the projects often require special approvals by the talent involved. In many cases, the stars won’t let their likeness be used at all for derivative products. “The Master” was an exception, since the poster was created during the Oscar season when the film was nominated. Mondo commissioned posters for all the films in the race, so they were considered part of the advertising campaign. “So you didn’t need to ask for likeness rights on promotional material.”

Apocalypse Now

When approached about making a movie poster, Durieux is always looking for a fresh angle on the film. For Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now,” he came up with several possible solutions. “I started by making the jungle with the boat,” remembers Durieux, who also designed a striking image where Martin Sheen’s head emerges from the water — reminiscent of the late Bob Peak’s earlier poster, featuring the bald head of Marlon Brando.

“I sent two ideas to Francis, and I said, ‘I think I’ll do this one [of the boat] because it’s more original.’ And Francis said, ‘That’s too bad, because the other is very interesting, too.’ And I understood that the really liked the other one.” So Durieux decided to do them both. Coppola so appreciated the artist’s work on the poster that he asked that Durieux’s design be used as the cover of the final, most definitive home video re-release of the film.

The Godfather

“Apocalypse Now” wasn’t Durieux’s first time working with Coppola. A year earlier, he’d designed a series of posters for the “Godfather” trilogy — a triptych of highly unconventional images designed to evoke the distinctive feel of each film. “My connecting thread between the three posters was either the color orange or oranges themselves. I had noticed that in those films, each time we see oranges — blood oranges, naturally, which come from Sicily — or the color orange, it’s just before a scene of murder or violence.”

Durieux’s approach was partly dictated by restrictions related to the likeness rights. Mondo told him he could feature Brando, which he did, but he decided to do it from behind, offering an original reverse angle on the scene where Don Corleone is shot in front of the fruit stand. “Because of the contracts, I couldn’t necessarily draw the other actors, which meant I couldn’t focus my trilogy on them,” he says. “That’s why, for ‘Part II,’ I drew the child.” For the third movie, he was allowed to feature Andy Garcia, though Durieux believes, “Constraints oblige you to be creative. If you don’t have constraints, it’s much more difficult to make something interesting.”

2015 Telluride Film Festival

One of the most beautiful of Durieux’s posters — and the one he considers his personal favorite of all his work — was created in 2015 for the Telluride Film Festival, which takes place each year high in the Colorado mountains, in an old mining town whose Western-style main strip looks like something you might find on a Hollywood backlot. Durieux drew an imaginary movie theater on that central drag, placing a black bear directly in front of the box office — a touch that rhymes with many of his retrofuturist-styled original works, which feature wild animals wandering through mid-century towns.

“When I got to Telluride, people asked me, ‘Have you been to Telluride before?’ And I told them no, I’d just looked at photos online. And they said, ‘How did you know we had a problem with bears?’ And I replied, ‘I don’t think you have a problem with bears, I think bears have a problem with you.’” Sure enough, in Telluride, all the trash cans are locked to deter the animals from seeking food in town. “I think one of my strengths is to take the ambiance or the spirit of something and condense it into a single image.”

2022 Annecy Film Festival

The Telluride poster harks back once again to those classic travel posters Durieux loves so much. That same spirit informed his design for the 2022 Annecy Animation Festival. Unlike Telluride, Durieux was already familiar with the town of Annecy. He’d visited the year before and been moved by the scenery.

“I started by thinking about how to incorporate the idea of a film reel,” says Durieux, who soon realized that he was embracing a cliché seen on countless film festival posters made over the past century. “Instead of being so literal about the idea of cinema, I knew I had to find a cinematic image. If I could do that, I wasn’t stuck drawing a camera, a zoetrope [or something we’ve seen a million times before]. As soon as I realized that, it freed me up to other ideas.”

One of the signatures of the city of Annecy are the paragliders one sees in the skies over the lake. “But a paraglider isn’t interesting to draw. It’s not original,” he says. “But if you replace those paragliders with sailboats, you have something light that evokes the sequence of a zoetrope, which they could animate.”

Elevator To The Gallows

Most of Durieux’s movie posters are commissions — projects suggested to him by Mondo or another party interested in getting his interpretation of a popular movie. Every so often, however, Durieux gets to propose the film himself. That happened with “Titanic”: a trompe l’oeil composition that depicts both the Heart of the Ocean diamond hanging around Rose’s neck and, hidden there in the shape of the chain, an overhead view of the ship. Durieux pitched the project to Mondo, they arranged the rights and voilà, the project became reality.

Another personal favorite from among Durieux’s prints was inspired by the 1958 Louis Malle film “Elevator to the Gallows.” The artist couldn’t get permission from Malle’s estate, “so I did that one without text, and I called it ‘Waiting for Julien,’ but it was clearly a wink to ‘Ascenseur pour l’echafaud,’” he says.

Durieux’s composition evokes not only the film, but also the work of Edward Hopper. The solitary figure of Jeanne Moreau leans against the wall, smoking, like the mysterious woman in Hopper’s “New York Movie.” Through the plate glass windows, the streets of Paris assume a “Nighthawks”-like feel. “I think it’s my most beautiful poster, but it’s not really a movie poster,” he says.

To see more of Durieux’s work, check out his personal website, laurentdurieux.com, or “Mirages,” a full-color coffee table book that collects his entire oeuvre.

Pulp Fiction

Some of history’s most successful movie posters cheat. They aren’t limited by what’s on screen, but instead suggest the emotion with which audiences ultimately imbue the experience. The original poster for “Pulp Fiction” — featuring Uma Thurman smoking in bed — is a good example. For his own homage, Durieux wanted to reconstruct a scene that only appears in pieces in the movie, pulling in details from the rest of the film.

“It’s a poster full of Easter eggs for the fans,” he explains. Look carefully and you’ll find a billboard for Red Apple cigarettes, a Big Kahuna Burger stand, Butch’s beat-up old Honda and other key vehicles from the film. “You even have the Gimp,” says Durieux, pointing out a tiny detail nearly everyone surely misses. Check out the mirror on the motorcycle, and sure enough, reflected there is a character who never makes it out of the basement in the movie.

In a sense, it makes real a place that only exists in our imagination, a fantasy portrait of Los Angeles. “The diner was destroyed in 1999, and all that remains is a single low-resolution jpeg,” Durieux says. “My goal was to redo the montage of the film. The strength of ‘Pulp Fiction’ is the way everything cuts together, so I set out to assemble those elements and make a single scene that represented the film.”

Reprinted from Variety: LINK

Mad Duck Posters will release a new officially licensed Drive poster by Laurent Durieux!

Laurent is one of the best artists designing movie posters today, and his stunning artwork for Drive presents a fresh take on the movie with amazing results!

The posters go on sale this Wednesday, December 21st  at 12PM ET HERE!

Drive Poster
By Laurent Durieux
Regular Edition
24×36 Screen Print
Run of 350
$85

Drive Poster
By Laurent Durieux
Variant Edition
24×36 Screen Print
Run of 275
$105

Drive Poster
By Laurent Durieux
Chrome Edition
24×36 Screen Print on Silver Foil
Run of 200
$155

Today, Bottleneck Gallery is teaming up with ISH and Laurent Durieux to pay homage to a manga legend, Astro Boy!

Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy character has been a seminal science fiction staple in Japan (and worldwide!) since the early 1950s. Astro, an incredible android built by a grief stricken Dr. Tenma to visually look like his deceased son, deals with a lot of complicated themes while also featuring extraordinary fights between Astro and evildoers.

Laurent’s print perfectly encapsulates the heart of Astro Boy’s story, with Astro coming to terms with his creation and identity. Laurent is a master at city architecture and creating smart compositions, and this piece really showcases his talents. 

Laurent’s Astro Boy print will be available for purchase on Wednesday February 8, 2023 at 9AM PT at bottleneckgallery.com!

Astro Boy by Laurent Durieux
16 color screen print
24 x 36 inches
Hand-numbered edition of 225
$85

Astro Boy – Variant by Laurent Durieux
16 color screen print
24 x 36 inches
Hand-numbered edition of 125
$100

Astro Boy – Aluminum Print by Laurent Durieux
2mm thick aluminum panel
24 x 36 inches
Limited edition of 50
Includes hand-numbered COA with BNG hologram of authenticity
$200