Dennis Gassner

A student of architecture and the arts, Gassner was a successful linebacker in college football but turned down a try-out for the Los Angeles Rams in order to continue his studies in graphic design. After designing some record albums, Gassner moved into film work when an old art school friend, then one of Francis Ford Coppola's assistant directors on "Apocalypse Now" (1979), got him a job as production assistant on the film. Gassner worked at Coppola's Zoetrope Studios for several years after that on such features as "Hammett" (1982) and "One From the Heart" (1982, a film that Gassner claims required "six miles of neon"). Shortly thereafter he earned his first production designer credit for the harsh, stylized look of Coppola's "Rumble Fish" (1983).