Sketches of Frank Gehry

"Sketches of Frank Gehry" is director Sydney Pollack's first feature length documentary on the acclaimed architect, Frank O. Gehry. The two men have been friends for many years, and Pollack completed the film over a period of five years, starting in 2000. Frank Gehry loves to sketch; it is the beginning of his architectural process. And it is his love of the sketch that gave Pollack his first clues to the style of this documentary film. Beginning with Gehry's own original sketches for each major project, the film explores Gehry's process of turning these abstract drawings, first into tangible, three-dimensional models, often made simply of cardboard and scotch tape, then into finished buildings of titanium and glass, concrete and steel, wood and stone.

To capture the sketch quality in the documentary, Pollack uses a combination of film and Mini DV (digital video) as his media. Spending countless hours in Gehry's studio, on building sites, and in his home, this unobtrusive and quiet shooting style has captured, for the first time, the essence of Gehry's unique architectural process, and his shy and elusive personality.