Ryan Warren Smith

last summer i had the pleasure of getting to go out to Massachusetts to help tell the story of Anthony Bourdain’s monumental summer of 1975, where he fell in love with the wonderful world of restaurant kitchens. i have such a immense respect Anthony Bourdain, so to get to tell a small piece of his story was such an honor. thanks @a24 & @livefreeordiefilms for having me along for the ride. thanks to all my Massachusetts team - you are all the best. couldn’t have done it without you all! special thanks to @pjfalanga - appreciate your help so much. enjoy everyone!

happy birthday, Jade! we love you so much. getting to be a dad to you and Sunny is my greatest joy. i first came to Universal Studios when i was 10 years old and it absolutely blew my young mind. to actually see behind the curtain on how movies were made was a core memory and something i’ll never forget. thank you @UniStudios for the tickets! it was such a special experience for us all!

In our interview, production designer Ryan Warren Smith @rylaughing recounts how he started working with director Andrew Haigh on Lean On Pete: “Andrew had taken a road trip that Charley takes in the book when adapting the script. He also made a photo book of this journey and gave it to me when we first started. I’ll forever treasure it. Andrew, being English, had a real outsiders point of view of America, which I found so inspiring. So we just dove in, started scouting, driving the state looking for the real places in the book/script, but also places that we could cheat for Colorado, and all the places in between. Those early days are so simple on a film, very little people around, and all the time is ahead of you. I always start there, driving around with the director, seeing what we gravitate towards. All while having Charley and the book in our hearts.” There is hardship, but there is kindness, too, there is cruelty, but there is always a streak of hope, and this kind of hope, I think, particularly resides in 15-year-old Charley, and in Charlie Plummer, who, with his incredible expressiveness and instinctive acting, gives life to Charley on screen. It is the film’s unsentimental tenderness that gives you the freedom to make your own ideas. With Lean On Pete, Andrew Haigh brings to cinema a world of an incredible humanist depth and an undeniable technical skill that translates into a wonderfully natural rhythm that drives the narrative. Read the full interview on the Classiq Journal website. Photo by Scott Patrick Green – © Lean on Pete LLC #LeanOnPete #andrewhaigh #charlieplummer #chloësevigny #stevebuscemi #ryanwarrensmith #productiondesign #ClassiqJournalInterviews

My guest today on Classiq Journal is production designer Ryan Warren Smith @rylaughing “Over the years, Willy Vlautin and I have become close friends. It’s a really magical and beautiful friendship. I’m a huge fan of his books, even a bigger fan of Willy as a person, so getting an early glimpse and to getting know and love Willy, it becomes really personal for me. It’s like I need to protect these characters, because they are my friends. A lot of the time, I feel like that’s part of why I’m there – to love them like he does, and I do because they are all Willy, they are all my friends. All that being said, I’ve had to get better at separating the two (book and film), when I’ve done as much as I can to stick up for them. In the end, these are two separate pieces of art, with one heart.” In our interview, we talk about a beautiful film we both love, Lean On Pete (based on Willy Vlautin’s novel by the same name), and discuss everything from Ryan’s first meeting with director Andrew Haigh, two years prior the filming started, how he mapped out Charley’s emotional and physical journey through color coding, to a defining location in the film that no longer exists and one of the most emotional days on the set. You can read the whole conversation on the website. #LeanOnPete #andrewhaigh #charlieplummer #chloesevigny #stevebuscemi #ryanwarrensmith #productiondesign #ClassiqJournalInterviews

beautiful moments with my loves. sending love to everyone out there. VOTE! 💙

very excited to have a new film, Rebel Ridge, coming out! this one took a lot of hard work and time with frequent collaborators / friends Jeremy Saulnier & Neil / Anish @ FilmScience! very happy to finally share it with the world. out everywhere Sept 6th on Netflix! special thanks to the amazing John P Goldsmith for taking over where i left off. enjoy!

my pot of gold.

happy 7th birthday to our beautiful boy, Jade. what a gift it is to be your friend and dad. you bring me so much joy and laughter, and are always teaching me so much. i hope to be as calm as kind as you one day. love you so much little buddy!

Sweet Sunny May, wow it's been 10 years that i've gotten to be your dad! each moment has been a gift, and you've taught me so much. i feel so lucky i get to be your dad. the laughter we share makes me feel like the richest man alive. you are so loved sweetheart! Happy Birthday! Love you so much! 💙