Visionary set designer wants to give audiences authentic experience





Lauren and Oliver ‘Brick’ Price

Lauren and Oliver ‘Brick’ Price

Oliver “Brick” Price seeks realism when creating props, sets and miniatures for use by movie makers, museums and theme parks.

The Calabasas resident has collaborated with NASA, Disney and the Smithsonian as the founder of WonderWorks Inc., which he and his wife, Laura, have run since 1977.

The company has created film sets, props and visual effects for more than 40 movies, including “Apollo 13,” “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact.” It also designs and builds production equipment for theme parks and museums worldwide.

The Canoga Park firm specializes in realism.

Price said his company endeavors to create and build backdrops that will give audiences an authentic experience.

“If I do a film about space, it’s presented in a positive light that reaches millions of people very quickly,” he said.

Bert Ulrich, NASA’s multimedia liaison for film and TV collaborations, said the entertainment industry helps to keep people interested in the space program and WonderWorks plays an important role in that because it provides an accurate depiction of NASA hardware for films and museums.

Whenever NASA gets a request to recreate the shuttle cockpit or other space-related apparatus, it refers the query to Price because his company has a proven record of producing authentic replicas.

“Brick is amazing. He’s always been extremely respectful to the agency and helps a lot on movies we work on, providing set designs, props and things that helped with our production for films,” Ulrich said.

Price is designing interactive mock-ups for a new California Science Center exhibit featuring the space shuttle Endeavor. The shuttle is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles on Sept. 20 on the back of a 747.

The son of a physicist and a Disney Studios artist, Price, 67, said he became captivated with the concepts of jet propulsion and space travel when he was a boy.

The best design is the simplest design, he said.

“ Good engineering is not creating a lot of mechanics but creating something simple that works,” he said.

During the Vietnam War, Price was drafted into the Army, where he dabbled in cartooning.

After his discharge, he learned the basics of cinematography. He worked at Hughes Aircraft and did freelance work before founding WonderWorks.

In 1995, the self-taught modeler and designer won an Emmy for his work on “Star Trek Voyager.” He was also part of the Oscar-nominated team for his work on “The Abyss,” a 1989 film directed by James Cameron.

“Cameron is very focused and creative, and he demands quality from people, and he pushes himself as well as other people to their limits,” Price said.

Price and his wife have lived in the Bird community of Calabasas for 40 years. They have two children, Eamonn and Eilish.

Laura Price handles administration for WonderWorks.

“I don’t get into his part of the business,” she said, referring to her husband’s creative efforts, “and he doesn’t try to do the books for me.”

Eamonn, 32, is following in his father’s footsteps.

“I’ve been working with my dad since I was a child. He’s got way too many hobbies, and everything intrigues him,” Eamonn said.

Through the years, Wonder- Works has employed about 250 people.

“But we’re still a mom-andpop business,” said Price, who lectures at colleges and schools to motivate and inspire a new generation of modelers and designers.

“One of the reasons we’ve been so successful is we use people who are competent and artists in their own right and let them have leeway within the parameters of the projects. I feel that I found the right person for the task when I’ve learned something from them,” Price said.

In 2000, WonderWorks collaborated with the City of Calabasas to create a 55-foot-tall Eiffel Tower replica. The monument was featured in an outdoor exhibit on the site of the civic center before the complex was built.

Price said he’s grateful for his company’s continued success and looks forward to participating in new ventures.

“I am delighted in what this country can still provide, even in troubled times, and even more delighted that we have been a part of it for so long,” Price said.


TEST FLIGHT—This mock-up of the Space Shuttle cockpit was featured in a Super Bowl commercial.

TEST FLIGHT—This mock-up of the Space Shuttle cockpit was featured in a Super Bowl commercial.

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