Fictional Architects in Movies
Via mirage.studio.7 we ran into this list of fictional architects in movies. There are some classic ones, like Henry Fonda. Some new ones like Adam Sandler. And there’s even an actual architect who made it to The Simpsons.
Which one do you like the most? The least? Is there anyone missing in this list? Some actor/actress you would really like as an architect in a movie? Tell us what you think. Full list after the break.
Update: Images and sources were taken from mirage.studio.7. They did this article with different sources like DanStewart, Ajolote Boletin, Archinect, ArchitExploitation, and more.
Paul Newman in “The Towering Inferno”:
Keanu Reeves in “The Lake”:
Steve Martin in “HouseSitter”:
Woody Harrelson in “Indecent Proposal”:
Michael Keaton in “White Noise”:
Frank Gehry (voice) in “The Simpsons”:
Gary Cooper in “Fountainhead”:
Jude Law (Landscape Architect” in “Breaking and Entering”:
Adam Sandler in “Click”:
Liam Neeson in “Love Actually”:
Wesley Snipes in “Jungle Fever”:
Luke Wilson in “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”:
Ashton Kutcher (Student) in “Butterfly Effect”:
Matt Dillon in “You, Me and Dupree” and “There’s Something About Mary”:
Tom Hanks in “Sleepless in Seattle”:
Charles Bronson in “Death Wish”:
Michelle Pfeiffer in “One Fine Day”:
Tom Selleck in “Three Men and a Baby”:
Henry Fonda in “12 Angry Men”:
Zach Braff in “The Last Kiss”:
Virginia Madsen in “Firewall”:
Matthew Broderick in “The Cable Guy”:


































































哇,原来这么多电影里都有建筑师的身影,以前只记得神奇遥控器里的男主角是建筑师。Indecent Proposal里的建筑师很有感觉!
didn’t richard gere play an architect, as well?
yes – in the movie “intersection” c/w Sharon Stone
Based on the images, Virginia Madsen looks most realistic :)
No ways, most realistic gotta be my boy Snipes.
damn right lol
haha, yep, thats pretty much what we architects get upto in the office.
Come on! No architect would mess up his/her drawings that way…that’s what the conference table is for…I have an eyewitness story about that one!
and you missed Matthew Perry and Oliver Platt on ‘Three to tango’
the Keanu Reeves movie is called “The Lake HOUSE.” not “The Lake”
the bloke in Gremlins was a Landscape Architect
Joseph Gordon-Levitt in “500 Days of Summer.”
Yes! Awesome movie!
you missed David Murphy (Woody Harrelson) in the film “Indecent Proposal”
oops you didn’t! just saw it
I propose fake architect George Costanza (in multiple Seinfeld episodes) for honorable mention on this list!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXMDRbOBMno
Also, Graham Chapman and John Cleese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2PyeXRwhCE&feature=fvw
:)
the guy in the show: “How I met your mother” (I know it’s a show and not a movie, but still think it counts)
Are not there several TV shows with architects? It would be interesting to get a list of them as well. My doctor told me that the architecture profession is boring and that is why you never see them on TV shows.
Another interesting list would be foreign films with architects.
I think the father from the Brady Bunch was an architect.
Wilbur Post, the owner of Mr. Ed the talking horse was an architect
Hey, also Elyse Keaton, the mother from “Family Ties”
Mike Brady, sigh…huge crush, such a nice guy. Good architect too, forever at that drafting table. Always bothered, me even at age seven, that the exterior shot shows the second story on the left side of the lot, but the interior set has stairs that lead you up to the right side. the garage structure was really good, looked like a Schindler or Nuetra. Hey maybe!
my friend says there’s How I Met your Mother series
the butterfly effect, ashton kutcher wasn t an architect, but a psychologist. his best friend was an architect in one of the scenarios though.
Matt Dillon in “There’s Something About Mary” was not an architect. His character was a private investigator.
He actually was a private investigator but lies about being an architect to look good in front of Mary, also he lies about being twice on a year on Santiago jaja.
True, true!
good.มันเยี่ยมมากครับ
Matthew Langford Perry Three to Tango (1999)
what about Scofield (Prison Break) ?:D
Engineer
Jeff Bridges as Max Klein – “Fearless” (1993)
Kevin Klien as George Monroe – “Life As A House” (2001)
Albert Finney as Mark Wallace – “Two For The Road” (1967)
Kirk Douglas as Larry Coe – “Strangers When We Meet” (1960)
Richard Gere as Vincent Eastman – “Intersection” (1994)
Helmut Bakaitis as The Architect – “The Matrix Reloaded” (2003) – I know it doesn’t fit the ‘celluloid architect’ type but still worth a mention.
Simpsons is the best… the way Gehry designs, and the way they built the building straight then bend it is really funny!!
The wrecking ball bends!!!
I think I’ve got a few more candidates: Wasn’t Mr. Brady, from the Brady Bunch, also an architect? Also, the main character in The Phantom of the Opera was an architect too. There was a movie I saw hen I was a kid in which Donald Sutherland played an architect restoring buildings in Venice, but I can’t recall the name of the movie. The protagonist from It’s a Wondeful Life was also an architect. And finally, my favorite fictional character [on TV] was George Constnaza’s own fictional alter-ego, which he every once in a while claimed to be… My two cents.
What about Kevin Kline as “George Monroe” in “Live as a house”? Ore is he just building models?
Really nice pictures of Rome has “The Belly of an Architect” (1987) with Brian Dennehy.
I prefere the german film “Vineta” (2008) with Peter Lohmeyer as “Sebastian Färber” who nearly dies as a workaholic with the big chance to build the perfect city of the future in a secret project.
Bob Rebadow (Donald Groves) > OZ inmate > an architect :) who stabbed his client to death with an umbrella, as he disliked bob’s project!
http://www.hbo.com/oz/cast/character_rebadow.shtml
Good call!
Presenting the architects with these giant drawing tables and the chaotic image with bunch of paper is such a cliche … and I’m sick of it!!! As somebody said before me, Virginia Madsen in “Firewall” is the most realistic representation.
French Movie:
YVAN ATTAL in “Les regrets”
http://www.lesregrets-lefilm.fr/
In “Click” Adam Sandlers boss (head architect) is no lesser than “The Hoff”; David Hasselhoff
Brian Dennehy as Stourley Kracklite in “The Belly of an Architect”
French Movie:
Arly Jover in “Les regrets”
http://www.lesregrets-lefilm.fr/
i know its only english movies but even in bollywood:
Dev Anand in 1963 film “Tere Ghar Ke Samne” translation
I remember seeing an old movie on TV when I was a kid with Kirk Douglas playing an architect. I do not remember the name of it, but it was probably made in the 50′s. He either was living in a beach house or designing one. Does anybody know this movie.
One more!
Kevin Kline in “Life as a house”
Kirk Douglas as Larry Coe in “Strangers When We Meet”
Ashton Kutcher’s character in The Butterfly Effect was not an architect, he was a psychology student. His friend Lenny was an architecture student in some of the different life scenarios.
Wow, if hollywood thinks we’re such a sexy profession why aren’t we getting payed more?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt from 500 days of summer.
Plus, wasn’t Mr. Brady from the Brady Bunch an Architect?
George Constanza @ Seinfeld
Can we also make a list of fake architects, that is, guys who pretend they’re architects to score with chicks?
Matt Dillon in “There’s Something About Mary”
George Costanza as Art Vandelay in “Seinfeld”
etc.
At the mention of the “Butterfly Effect”, is wrong. Ashton Kutcher was a psychology student, the movie features two roommates, one is a dark guy and the second who was his childhood friend, this was the student of architecture.
what about Ted Mosby in How I Met Your Mother? i know its not a movie but in one eppisode Barny, the friend, demonstrates that saying to girls he’s an architect is the best pick up line ever!
there’s one japanese serial tv drama, by takuya kimura in “CONCERTO”, its about a self-taught architect and his lovelife. and another one from indonesia, a movie called “ARISAN”, its about a young promising architect who turns into ***.
Jim on according to Jim.
Dustin,
I think he was a contractor.
Maybe the architect was Andy then…
http://arquis.blogspot.com/2008/08/architects-are-nice-guys.html
i like father of Kaenu revees in the lake house , he played with Le corbusie and mr. FLR…hehehe
i was once saw a television series where this architect use microsoft paint to design a building. amazing! :D
One of the caracters of brendan fraser on that movie with elizabet hurley as the devil was a gay architect.
The guy in Butterfly effect was a sicology student (almost sure)
Mark Rufallo in “just like heaven” (landscape architect)
Heino Ferch actually played Albert Speer in “der untergang” (for those who dont know, hitler´s architect)
David Duchovny in “return to me”
Thursday. best architect ever.
Gary Cooper, definitely.
the 2 main male characters in the Japanese TV series: Kekkon Dekinai Otoko (Man who can’t get married)
The most convincing? Definitely Virginia Madsen – only one using a computer… ;)
Michael J. Fox, “The Frighteners,” 1996
Pierce Brosnan ‘Mamma Mia’
Monty Python of course, in The Architect Sketch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2PyeXRwhCE
The belly of an architect
Director: Peter Greenaway
Architect: Brian Dennehy
Curating an exhibition retrospective on Boulle’e , awesome drawings, kind of a clunker of a movie, embarrasing acting and I usually love Dennehy. It was visually nice though, the scene at Hadrian’s baths…
oh and don’t forget Brad Pitt!
oh no wait!… he acts as an architect in real life….
even though he is not one….
sehr gut Wesley Snipes!!
David Schwimmer was an architect in “The Pallbearer”.
Easily one of the worst films of all time.
That Schwimmer is such a putz.
Frank Ghery in The Simpsons, only because of The Simpsons. lol.
Breaking and Entering FTW!!!
i think that ted mosby from HIMYM is most unrealistic architect i’ve ever seen. from his outfit to his introspection.
VISIT LAS PALMAS
Gabriele Ferzetti as Sandro in «L’Avventura» (Antonioni, 1960).
I can’t stand the fact that all those architect characters are so positive and lame
RT @archdaily Fictional Architects in Movies http://bit.ly/12ahoB
You forgot about “ART VANDELAY” (George’s alter ego in SEINFELD), he claimed the Guggenheim addition…
William Petersen (CSI´s Grissom) in FEAR
wesley snipes!!! he knows how to draw…….
Indecent Proposal cos he couldnt afford to repay the mortgage..?!
And the lake house, cos keanu looks really scruffy and frustrated in the site office! just like what happens in reality..
Shame, Michelle Pheiffer trips and then breaks the model she’s carrying to bits! Probably the most cry-worthy scene ever!!
Shame!
Considering the design…maybe not a shame
Grace from “Will & Grace”. There have been a lot of jokes about Interior Decorators.
Do you remember, people.
:)))))
Josh Radnor aka Ted Mosby in How I Met Your Mother series is the best :)
“Something About Mary” – While Matt Dillon claims one time to be an architect while on a date with Cameron Diaz, it’s Cameron Diaz’s close friend (the guy with the leg braces) who plays the role of the architect (he’s also a fake). It’s this friend in the movie who calls out Matt Dillon on his lie.
So technically “Something About Mary” contains 2 architects.
@aplusk Answer the fans: Where you really an architecture student in The Butterfly Effect? http://is.gd/2JtKm
…Keanu Reeves in “The Lake house”….the most real image about the architect romanticism…and the dreems, the bad work….the cause of their studies….mmmmmm…..I think it is the best image of the current architect
….mmm ok….that is all
from @archdaily | Fictional Architects in Movies http://bit.ly/12ahoB
Great Post, i love the photo of Wesley Snipes with that girl haha
I have noticed, that when the main character needs a profession which has to be insignificant to the plot, but be somewhat interesting…an architect. The reason for this, I think, is that it is a profession which everybody can imagine but it is not to specific.
Fictional Architects in Film: http://bit.ly/10nwT2
1GR3, ted mosby from himym is going to evolve to a more convincing architect, keep watching and you’ll see…
Wesley Snipes in “Jungle Fever”…wow is very hot..:-P
Donald Sutherland in “Don’t Look Now” by Nicholas Roeg
shares http://tinyurl.com/mnkqhv (Fictional Architects in Movies) http://plurk.com/p/1rnapo
I can’t decide which one is worse, Pfeiffer’s project or Broderick’s…
Brodericks project was an adaptive reuse… i think that factors in the decision
Another TV series is the OC… Ryan turns out to be an architect.
yea he did…the profession does suit his brooding character…
my favorite is Keanu Reeves in The LAKE HOUSE,
he looks convincing
Archdaily’s article was written by an idiot – one word: Fountainhead
Before you call someone an idiot about an article you’ve only read diagonally maybe you should check the 7th picture on the list…
David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) in The Invaders
http://www.memorabletv.com/ i/the-invaders.html
John Stewart (yes, that John Stewart!!) played an architect who lived in, and (improbably) designed Case Study House #21 in the mostly lousy “Playing by Heart” from 1998.
* arch: Pierre Koenig
doesn’t anyone remember Clarissa Explains It All?
her father was an architect who worked from home.
in a french movie
Guillaume Canet in “Jeux d’enfants” (love me if you dare)
i love this game!
Guillaume Canet in Jeux d’enfants
Gwyneth Paltrow in Hush
the good old Australian TV show, ‘Hey, Dad’.
ha, the dad was an architect who worked from home.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Dad..!
Kevin Kline in Life as a house, I cringe every time i see him smash his models after he gets fired.
Its actually not a bad house he builds in the end….
i love the lake
I was pretty surprised and flattered when i saw ArchDaily today, as alot of these images came from Stills that I ripped from the movies for my blog ArchitExploitation (www.architexploitation.blogspot.com). I don’t believe that I ever told to many people about it, but am glad to see that people have been reading.
Anyway, for those of you who are interested in the site, I’ll get back to regular posting again soon. Summers comming to an end and the winter months mean staying indoors and watching movies….
Charles Bronson!
Maybe you should credit the source of this material.
It originally came from the ArchitExploitation blog.
don’t forget Brian Dennehy in Belly of an Architect…
http://www.cooper.edu/facilities/library/vrc/pix/picks_pix/greenaway-architect.jpg
Good call! But I think we should also add the co-star architect’s role – the Xerox machine! Certainly had the client-architect relationship nailed.
landscape architect in “just like heaven”, but i forget the actor..
pierce brosnan @ Mamma Mia
THEY ARE SO LOVELY, SO INTERESTING!
Ted Mosby (played by Josh Radnor) the main character in “How I Met Your Mother” (tv-sitcom) also is an architect !
RT @archdaily: Fictional Architects in Movies http://bit.ly/12ahoB
I would have thought “The Architect” was a given: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466665/ Didn’t think it was too great nor realistic to the profession but its a movie based on an architect!
Please see architechnophilia http://architechnophilia.blogspot.com/2009/08/architects-film.html
and previously on WonderSphere http://wondersphere.blogspot.com/2009/08/architects-in-movies-definitive-list.html
Fictional Architects in Movies http://bit.ly/41AcB1
Kal Penn (Kumar from Harold and Kumar) played an architect in “the Namesake” Actually one of the more realistic portrayals i’ve seen.
There is an architect on District 9, right?
And Ryan Atwood from the OC ends up studying architecture at UC Berkeley :)
Fictional architects in movies http://bit.ly/6A8d3
fictional architects in movies: http://bit.ly/wGLeW
Joseph Gordon-Levitt in “500 days of summer”
Has Will Smith ever played and architect?
RT: @Buob_Marley: http://tinyurl.com/mnkqhv ถูกใจกูจริงๆ T^T // เครดิต: http://tinyurl.com/ydpl59x
Strangers When We Meet (1960 – in black and white!) with Kirk Douglas as an architect.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=3863
Billy Campbell (Richard ‘Rick’ Sammler) and Todd Field (David Cassilli) in “Once and Again.”
They tried to look futuristic by talking on a video phone. However, they were still using T-squares to draw.
Luke Wilson in “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” wasn’t an architect. He was organizing the presentation of the architectural ideas and plans.
My favourite architec in this list definately was David (Woody Harrelson in
Matt Dillon AND Michael Douglas in ‘You, Me, and Dupree’
So many fantastic new additions to this impressive roster all the time. LOL
Oh, and I hear Steve Martin played an architect in ‘It’s Complicated’ movie with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin.
WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?
NOTHING SEXIER THAN A WOMAN IN BLACK/EARTHTONES USING COMPLEX THOUGHT PATTERNS AND BEING PUT-TOGETHER.
GET WITH IT, HOLLYWOOD.
I got an other one:
Natascha McElhone as Karen in “Californication”, great series by the way. In one episode they visite a Ray Kappe house.
Your site is very interesting.
…and Inception’s Ariadne, played by Ellen Page, still an architecture student but probably explored more in space than anybody else of these fictional characters
Very useful info. Thanks
oh,guy,it’i realy great!
I’m glad we agree about this. I understand every afternoon and just stopping by to say kudos!!
I GOT A CRAZY IDEA FOR U, DONT DO IT ” lmaooo !!!!!
lol i know right
lol i know right
I just like to say it how I see it. Take care.
I GOT A CRAZY IDEA FOR U, DONT DO IT ” lmaooo !!!!!
I GOT A CRAZY IDEA FOR U, DONT DO IT ” lmaooo !!!!!
I GOT A CRAZY IDEA FOR U, DONT DO IT ” lmaooo !!!!!
lol i know right
lol i know right
I GOT A CRAZY IDEA FOR U, DONT DO IT ” lmaooo !!!!!
Wesley Snipes is the best architect among them.
I GOT A CRAZY IDEA FOR U, DONT DO IT ” lmaooo !!!!!
inception!!! all of them are architect! (leonardo di caprio, ellen page, joseph gordon levitt)
Miles Harding- Electric Dreams 1984
Gary Lockwood as George Matthews in “Model Shop” (Jacques Demy, 1969).
7:57 PM Jul 18th
@LilyWonderland You saying being an architect isn't the glamorous sexy lifestyle that the movies would have you believe? http://bit.ly/6A8d3
5:31 AM Sep 30th
@anggieamalia Fun to read.. fictional architects in movies http://www.archdaily.com/33366/fictional-architects-in-movies/
2:41 AM Oct 7th
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10:52 PM Feb 26th
Reading: "Fictional Architects in Movies | ArchDaily"( http://twitthis.com/mzdl2d )
5:28 PM Mar 2nd
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11:10 AM Apr 10th
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8:16 AM Oct 2nd
Fictional Architects in Movies | ArchDaily http://t.co/Zmhqpd7J 透過 @archdaily
3:00 PM Dec 11th
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12:10 AM Jan 29th
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10:18 PM Jan 30th
Fictional architects in films. Can relate to Adam Sandler in Click, there is just never enough time! http://t.co/Q8F5TXKj
6:03 PM Feb 6th
@DLequeu @steveparnell only two in this list. One you already got. http://t.co/Vj2m174O