Dan Perri: A Career Retrospective

Dan Perri is as he describes himself: a filmmaker born and bred. Although credited primarily as a title designer over the course of his nearly five decade career, Perri’s contributions to cinema as a whole are undeniable. As a designer he has had a hand in some of the most iconic and important moments ever put to celluloid.

A legend in the field of optical title design, Perri is perhaps best known for a creating the opening crawl that triumphantly heralded the arrival of Star Wars. It’s one of the most identifiable and imitated pieces of title design – if not design – ever created. Period. But to only focus on a galaxy far, far away when discussing the career of Dan Perri would ignore a wealth of incredible title design, from The Exorcist to Nashville, Taxi Driver to Raging Bull, Days of Heaven, The Warriors, Caddyshack, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Blood Simple, Insomnia, The Aviator, and hundreds and hundreds more. You probably didn’t know Perri’s name until now, but if you’ve seen a film made in the past fifty years then you are already well acquainted with his work.

Unlike some title designers whose style is instantly recognizable, the true strength of Perri’s output is not a familiar style or mode of design, but his adaptability – it’s how well suited his title designs are for the project at hand. If there’s one single thing that defines Perri’s career it is that dogged pursuit of good design in whatever form is required. His designs – as varied as they are – have become synonymous with the films for which they were created, but not his name. If he’s done his job right, then the viewer shouldn’t even know who designed the titles until they see “Title Designer: Dan Perri” in the end credits.

In this feature retrospective, Perri shares a selection of stories spanning his incredible design and filmmaking career, from his humble beginnings as a sign painter and the influence of a high school teacher, to being a mentored by design legend Saul Bass and his collaborations with filmmakers like William Friedkin, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, and Jodie Foster, as well as the challenges of bringing his feature film and upcoming book on title design to life.

The Beginning

So let’s start at the beginning. Can you give us some info on where you’re from and how you started out?

Dan: Sure! I thought about all this as I was preparing my book. I sort of went back in time in my memory and it all came back to me.

It all started when I was about twelve. My cousin and I started a little business where we were sign painting, on Long Island, a small town there. I was painting the signs and he was selling them to local markets and stores. We were doing signs…

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