Background and career
Jack Fisk (born December 19, 1945) is an American production designer and director. As a production designer, he is known for his collaborations with Terrence Malick, designing all of his first eight films, including Badlands (1973), Days of Heaven (1978), The Thin Red Line (1998), and The Tree of Life (2011). He also worked with David Lynch on three films: Eraserhead (1977), The Straight Story (1999), and Mulholland Drive (2001). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Production Design for There Will Be Blood (2007), The Revenant (2015), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), and Marty Supreme (2025). His other credits include Phantom of the Paradise (1974), Carrie (1976), Heart Beat (1980), Water for Elephants (2011), and The Master (2012). Fisk made his directorial debut with Raggedy Man (1981) and went on to direct the films Violets Are Blue (1986), Daddy's Dyin': Who's Got the Will? (1990), Final Verdict (1991), and two episodes of the television series On the Air (1992).
Fisk was art director on Brian De Palma's Carrie (1976), in which his wife, Sissy Spacek, played the title role. He frequently collaborated with directors Terrence Malick and David Lynch (the latter of whom he knew since childhood). His production design and art director credits include all of Malick's first eight feature films and Lynch's The Straight Story (1999) and Mulholland Drive (2001). He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction four times: for Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, for Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant, for Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, and for Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme. Fisk appeared in Lynch's Eraserhead (1977) as the Man in the Planet, and the film's credits give "special thanks" to him and to Sissy Spacek (who reputedly held the slates between takes). Fisk directed Spacek in the films Raggedy Man and Violets Are Blue with Kevin Kline.
Fisk met his wife, Spacek, while working on Terrence Malick's 1973 film Badlands, where she portrayed the aloof and distant version of Caril Ann Fugate. They married on April 12, 1974. Together they have two daughters, including Schuyler Fisk.
