Art Director Haisu Wang Sets the Stage for ABC’s ‘The Muppets’

Internationally esteemed art director Haisu Wang adds his skill to ABC’s new series “The Muppets,” as well as several highly anticipated films.

Online PR News � 02-January-2016 – Art director Haisu Wang has added his unique vision and unparalleled skill to ABC’s new series “The Muppets.” The series, which premiered in September, has brought some of America’s beloved puppets including Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Animal and others back to the screen for the first ongoing prime-time network series since “Muppets Tonight.”

The documentary-style series, which received the Critics Choice Award for Most Exciting New Series, reveals the personal lives, relationships, dreams and desires of the Muppets for the first time ever. The show has also featured several notable guest stars such as Dave Grohl, who had a drum-off with Animal in the episode “Going, Going, Gone,’ which aired on Dec. 1, as well as Jason Bateman, Renee Witherspoon, Kristin Chenoweth, Christina Applegate and others.

Wang’s art direction has been a vital force in setting the stage for the characters’ return to primetime television in the modern age.

“The set that I designed and supervised are all the permanent sets such as the ‘Up Late with Miss Piggy’ late night show stage set, the production office area for The Muppets’ set, Rowlfs Tavern, and the concept design of Kermits house,” explains Wang.

“Designing sets that really felt as though they were lived in by those Muppets was a really fun and challenging journey for me. I was honored to get the chance to work on this iconic American puppet show.”

In addition to “The Muppets,” Wang has achieved an astonishing level of success as the art director of the internationally acclaimed films “Contrapelo” and “Day One,” which were both shortlisted in the top 10 films up for consideration for the Best Live-Action Trophy at the 2015 Oscar Awards.

For director Gareth Dunnet Alcocer’s film “Contrapelo” Wang did a miraculous job creating a Mexican barbershop and an abandoned travel agent’s office to appear as the headquarters of the film’s antagonist, all within the confines of a Los Angeles sound stage.

The film, which received the Copper Wing Award at the Phoenix International Film Festival, the Jury Award at the San Diego Latino Film Festival, as well as a nomination at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival, revolves around a proud Mexican barber who is forced to shave the beard of a violent drug lord who’s cartel has brought an onslaught of violence to the community.

The barber is led to question morality and what it means to do the right thing when one of the world’s most atrocious individuals sits vulnerably in his hands.

“Contrapelo” producer Pin-chun Liu says, “I’m thrilled with the success of our film ‘Contrapelo’ and I can honestly say that we couldn’t have reached this level without Haisu’s impeccable art direction, he managed to transform a bare bones space into the perfect set for transporting our audience to the small town in Mexico that served as the environment for our film.”

Wang’s seasoned skill using digital technology in his work as an art director also served as a huge asset in creating the sets for the multi-award winning film “Day One.”

The film, which earned the Jury Award at the Stony Brook Film Festival, as well as multiple other prestigious accolades, centers on Feda, a US Army interpreter played by Layla Alizad.

Based on a true story, “Day One” follows Feda on her first day deployed in Afghanistan where she and her team track down an elusive bomb maker at his home; but, when Feda finds the bomb maker’s pregnant wife going into labor, she must put her professional responsibilities aside and deliver the baby.

Wang was able to create a mockup set using the measurements of the desert location that served as the bomb maker’s house where the majority of the film takes place, which was incredibly important in effectively constructing the set due to the location’s uneven ground.

“I was able to use my digital skill to analyze the topography of the desert location and create a 3D model of the real location During the construction period I supervised the construction coordinator based on my digital location data and set design data,” explains Wang. “The set would have been really hard to build in the desert without my digital skill and construction planning.”

Over the years Wang has played a major role as the art director of several other films including “Panacea,” “La Bella,” and “My Sunshine,” as well as the “Extraordinary Day” Kia commercial and the “Categories of Being” fashion film for Roberto Cavalli’s Autumn 2014/2015 menswear line. He also recently art directed the films “Drowning” and “Is That A Gun In Your Pocket?,” which are currently in postproduction and will be released this year.

Prior to immersing himself in the film industry as an art director, Wang spent several years using his creative skill as a VFX artist and technical director for Base-FX, one of China’s leading visual effects and animation companies. While at Base-FX, Wang contributed heavily to the visual effects for the award winning films “I Am Number Four,” “Soul Surfer” and “Sacrifice,” and the two-time Oscar Award winning series “Boardwalk Empire,” as well as the eight-time Primetime Emmy Award winning miniseries “The Pacific.”

Up next for Wang is the highly anticipated film “Guardians of the Galaxy 2,” which is slated to begin production this year.

Harry Otto, one of the art directors for “Guardians of the Galaxy 2,” says, “Haisu’s international experience as an art director coupled with his unique and innovative approach to design will be a major asset to the production of the film ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2’… I’m looking forward to working with him on this film, as well as many more projects in the future.”