Ciclope 2025: The James Price is right.

8 October 2025

A driech day in Berlin was made better when Oscar and Bafta-winning production designer James Price, whose credits include 'Poor Things' and 'The Iron Claw', took to the Ciclope stage.

It was easy to forget about the dreich weather in Berlin when Oscar and Bafta-winning production designer James Price took to the Ciclope stage. Ahead of the release of 'Bugonia'—his second collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos (after 'Poor Things')— Price offered a giddy and personable insight into his process.

“

The good thing about winning an Oscar is people say no to you less.

”

James Price, production designer            

One of the key tenets of that process is immersion, and "nobody realises the shit you have to do" to achieve it, especially on a smaller budget. He's happy to get on his hands and knees and rip up carpets if necessary, like he did for ITV's take on 'The Ipcress File'.

Even when there's money, as was the case with 2023's 'The Iron Claw', Price often fights stay on location. To say his approach paid off with Sean Durkin's film about professional wrestling would be an understatement.

With the Sportatorium in Dallas, Texas long gone, Price went shed hunting. He found a discount furniture warehouse that was soon transformed into the arena where the Von Erich family made its name. When Fritz Von Erich's granddaughter visited the set, she cried (in a good way). For Price, "to create someone's past and have it become their reality" makes it all worthwhile.

Awards are nice, too, of course. "The good thing about winning an Oscar (Price shared the 2024 Best Production Design gong for 'Poor Things' with Shona Heath and set designer Zsuzsa Mihalek) is people say 'no' to you less often." If Price wants to "build a house in the English countryside" or "hang ribeye steaks from the wall" (2026's 'Clayface' should be a sight to behold), chances are he'll get to.

As for commercials, Price is more than game. He's already broken his duck with a Rimowa spot directed by Daniel Wolfe, and where better to make yourself available for more ads than at Ciclope with an audience full of potential collaborators?

If 'Bugonia' strikes a chord as beautiful as 'Poor Things', expect Price's stock to rise even further.