"Carl Sprague: Setting the Stage" Carl Sprague's career as a designer spans stage and screen. He has worked in the art departments of more than 40 films, which between them have a combined total of 35 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen. Though he has worked with Martin Scorsese (The Age of Innocence), Steven Spielberg (Amistad), and Damien Chazelle (La La Land), the most enduring collaboration has been with Wes Anderson. Anderson, known for his attention to detail, chose Sprague to lead the art department on 2001’s cult classic, The Royal Tenenbaums, for which his turn as art director on that film garnered a nomination for an Art Director’s Guild award. Since then, Sprague has worked in the art departments of many more of Anderson’s best-loved films: The Grand Budapest Hotel (concept illustrator), The French Dispatch (concept illustrator), and most recently, as concept illustrator on 2023’s Asteroid City.