Concert of Wills: Making the Getty Center [DVD]

This acclaimed documentary traces the building of the Getty Center, one of the most ambitious cultural undertakings of the twentieth century. Spanning fourteen years, from the early blueprints to the groundbreaking to the public opening of the Center in December 1997, the film takes viewers from California to a rock quarry in Italy where the Center's signature travertine originated. The gathering of creative personalities needed to complete this monumental complex gave rise to conflict as well as consensus, to tension as well as resolution. Concert of Wills looks behind the scenes and chronicles intimate moments of success as well as frustration and heated debates. Featured at work during the creation of the Getty Center are architects Richard Meier and Michael Palladino; artist Robert Irwin who designed the Central Garden; Museum director emeritus John Walsh; former Getty Trust president and CEO Harold M. Williams and former executive vice president Stephen Rountree; interior designer of the Museum galleries Thierry W. Despont; and others.