“I'm always seeing images. I just thought everybody was like that.” — Pablo Ferro
Spanning nearly 60 years in the film and advertising industries, designer Pablo Ferro’s career is one brimming with innovation, ingenuity, and constant reinvention. And he’s not done, yet.
Throughout his life, Pablo has adhered to an ideal of constant motion, reminding himself to experiment and always “keep it moving,” a lesson he learned from his grandfather and a scorpion.
In Parts One and Two of our three-part interview with title designer Pablo Ferro and his son Allen, Pablo discussed his beginnings in New York City in the 1950s, his first agency, his collaborations with directors Stanley Kubrick, Norman Jewison, and Jonathan Demme, his friendship with actor Steve McQueen and editor Hal Ashby, and his advertising work for NBC and Burlington Mills. Pablo also recounted a story from 1970 which packs a formidable one-two punch: a harrowing encounter with a hitman, and the subsequent usurpation of the Pablo Ferro, Films company by his brother, José.
In Part Three, we enter the 1980s. Pablo did what he’s always done: he kept it moving. He moved from New York to Los Angeles, the very heart of the American film industry. There, he operated under the moniker De Pablo De Pablo, distancing himself from the now-sullied Pablo Ferro, Films, and formed a partnership with Hal Ashby, now a feature film director. The two worked under the names Northstar Media and Calligraphic Pictures and collaborated on a number of films. Then, Pablo joined Title House, and thundered into the ’90s and the digital age with his indelible title designs for Darkman , The Addams Family, Men In Black, L.A. Confidential, To Die For, and many more.
Now approaching his 80th birthday, Pablo Ferro and his son Allen discuss their time in Los Angeles, their collaboration and recent work, and their upcoming projects. Because there’s always so much more to be done.
So, now we’re in the ’80s and you’ve moved to LA. Were you working on your own?
Pablo: Just myself, as De Pablo De Pablo.
Allen: Being There was the start of the end of De Pablo De Pablo. Pablo partnered with Hal Ashby on Being There.
Pablo: The only film that appears with the De Pablo De Pablo name is Bound for Glory, for Hal. For Citizens Band, I tried to get it in there since I had an office at Paramount with De Pablo De Pablo, but the producers said no. They said, “We hired Pablo…
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