Dan Perri
- Known for
- Art
- Born
- August 11, 1945 (age 81)
- Birthplace
- New York City, New York, U.S.
Biography
Daniel Richard Perri (born August 11, 1945) is an American film and television title sequence designer. He has worked in film title design since the 1970s, and has been responsible for the main titles of several notable films including The Exorcist (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Star Wars (1977), Raging Bull (1980), Airplane! (1980), and Suspiria (2018). Perri made contact with the film graphics designer Saul Bass and began to pester him for work at his studio on Sunset Boulevard. Eventually, Perri found work with Bass through his illustrator, Art Goodman. During his service in the US Navy, Perri served on the USS Repose and designed an on-board newspaper, entitled The Repose Reprise. After serving in the Navy, Perri went to work with Cinefx alongside Phill Norman, Wayne Fitzgerald Don Record, and a former school friend, Steve Smith. After a year, both Perri and Smith quit and went on to form their independent design studio, Perri & Smith. The pair worked together from 1969 to 1973, mostly on small, low-budget television features, but their credits also included films such as Electra Glide in Blue and several of Gene Corman's blaxploitation films. The designers were often exploited and clients sometimes failed to pay, and eventually, the business folded. Perri's big break came in 1973 when he was commissioned by Billy Friedkin to produce the main titles for The Exorcist, his first solo project. With a blockbuster film in his portfolio, Perri was now able to attract more work and soon found himself working on high-profile titles. For Nashville (1975), Robert Altman commissioned a main title sequence and a logo to be used in marketing. Perri produced an unusual, kitschy sequence inspired by low-budget K-Tel Records television commercials, complete with a loud, brash voiceover by Johnny Grant. In 1976, Martin Scorsese brought Perri in to design the titles for Taxi Driver. Perri took second unit footage and color-treated the film through a process of film copying and slit-scan, resulting in a highly stylized graphic sequence that evoked the "underbelly" of New York City through lurid colors, glowing neon signs distorted nocturnal images and deep black levels, accompanied by Bernard Herrmann's jazz soundtrack. Possibly Perri's best-known title sequence project came about in 1976 when his friend James Nelson was working on post-production for a new space fantasy film, Star Wars. Nelson recommended Perri to director George Lucas, who invited Perri to Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm's post-production operation at Van Nuys, California. Lucas briefed Perri to take inspiration from old 1930s cinema serials such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers that had inspired Lucas to write much of his Star Wars story. After struggling to come up with a concept that Lucas liked, Perri eventually developed a concept for presenting a textual introduction based on the opening credits of the 1939 Cecil B. DeMille film, Union Pacific, in which the credits are shown distorted by a sharp perspective and rolling along a railroad track towards a distant vanishing point. Lucas approved of the idea and Perri produced sketches and prototype mechanical artwork, supported by storyboard artwork drawn by the production artist Alex Tavoularis. This gave birth to the now-familiar opening crawl sequence that appears in the Star Wars films.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
Movie · Title Designer
Dead for a Dollar
Movie · Title Designer
Mosquito State
Movie · Title Designer
I'm Your Woman
Movie · Title Designer
The Public
Movie · Title Designer
Lake of Death
Movie · Title Designer
Suspiria
Movie · Title Designer
All Saints
Movie · Title Designer
First House on the Hill
Movie · Title Designer
Internet Famous
Movie · Title Designer
Sharkskin
Movie · Title Designer
Pound of Flesh
Movie · Title Designer
The Beaver
Movie · Title Designer
The Warm-Up Guy
Movie · Title Designer
Spread
Movie · Title Designer
Spinning Into Butter
Movie · Title Designer
In the Valley of Elah
Movie · Title Designer
Even Money
Movie · Title Designer
The House of Usher
Movie · Title Designer
Have Dreams, Will Travel
Movie · Title Designer
There Will Be Blood
Movie · Main Title Designer
Eight Below
Movie · Title Designer
Hoot
Movie · Title Designer
Pizza
Movie · Title Designer
Santa's Slay
Movie · Main Title Designer
Mojave
Movie · Title Designer
The Aviator
Movie · Title Designer
The Battle of Shaker Heights
Movie · Title Designer
Tropix
Movie · Title Designer
Sorority Boys
Movie · Title Designer
American Gun
Movie · Title Designer
Insomnia
Movie · Title Designer
Gangs of New York
Movie · Title Designer
James Dean
Movie · Title Designer
15 Minutes
Movie · Title Designer
Speaking of Sex
Movie · Title Designer
Bartleby
Movie · Title Designer
Luckytown
Movie · Title Designer
She's All That
Movie · Main Title Designer
She's Alive! Creating 'The Bride of Frankenstein'
Movie · Main Title Designer
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Movie · Main Title Designer
Freak City
Movie · Title Designer
The Road to 'Dracula'
Movie · Main Title Designer
Varsity Blues
Movie · Title Designer
The 'Frankenstein' Files: How Hollywood Made a Monster
Movie · Title Designer
East Is East
Movie · Title Designer
In Too Deep
Movie · Title Designer
Thick as Thieves
Movie · Title Designer
Vendetta
Movie · Title Designer
A Night at the Roxbury
Movie · Title Designer
54
Movie · Title Designer
Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights
Movie · Title Designer
A Price Above Rubies
Movie · Title Designer
Since You've Been Gone
Movie · Title Designer
The Very Thought of You
Movie · Title Designer
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died
Movie · Title Designer
Gridlock'd
Movie · Title Designer
This World, Then the Fireworks
Movie · Title Designer
Soul Food
Movie · Main Title Designer
Traveller
Movie · Title Designer
Cold Around the Heart
Movie · Title Designer
Playing God
Movie · Title Designer
Love Jones
Movie · Title Designer
Tinseltown
Movie · Title Designer
Another 9 1/2 Weeks
Movie · Title Designer
Freeway
Movie · Title Designer
Rainbow
Movie · Title Designer
Harvey
Movie · Title Designer
Mulholland Falls
Movie · Title Designer
Curdled
Movie · Title Designer
House Arrest
Movie · Title Designer
Species
Movie · Title Designer
Dazzle
Movie · Title Designer
Picture Bride
Movie · Title Designer
Mallrats
Movie · Title Designer
Congo
Movie · Title Designer
Separate Lives
Movie · Title Designer
Dazzle
TV · Title Designer · 2 eps
Color of Night
Movie · Title Designer
Safe Passage
Movie · Title Designer
Iron Monkey
Movie · Title Designer
Mr. Wonderful
Movie · Title Designer
Alive
Movie · Title Designer
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
Movie · Title Designer
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Movie · Title Designer
Traces of Red
Movie · Title Designer
Original Intent
Movie · Title Designer
The Distinguished Gentleman
Movie · Title Designer
Deep Cover
Movie · Title Designer
Night and the City
Movie · Title Designer
The Player
Movie · Title Designer
The Taking of Beverly Hills
Movie · Title Designer
Palomino
Movie · Title Designer
Prison Stories: Women on the Inside
Movie · Title Designer
Guilty by Suspicion
Movie · Title Designer
Men Don't Leave
Movie · Title Designer
The First Power
Movie · Title Designer
Pacific Heights
Movie · Title Designer
The Rescuers Down Under
Movie · Title Designer
Internal Affairs
Movie · Title Designer
Stella
Movie · Title Designer
Lord of the Flies
Movie · Title Designer
RoboCop 2
Movie · Title Designer
Field of Dreams
Movie · Title Designer
Out Cold
Movie · Title Designer
Mystic Pizza
Movie · Title Designer
Fresh Horses
Movie · Title Designer
A Time of Destiny
Movie · Title Designer
Vibes
Movie · Title Designer
1969
Movie · Title Designer
Miracle Mile
Movie · Title Designer
The Seventh Sign
Movie · Title Designer
Everybody's All-American
Movie · Title Designer
Bull Durham
Movie · Title Designer
The Beat
Movie · Title Designer
Midnight Run
Movie · Title Designer
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Movie · Title Designer
Tequila Sunrise
Movie · Title Designer
Talk Radio
Movie · Title Designer
Leonard Part 6
Movie · Title Designer
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Movie · Title Designer
Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
Movie · Title Designer
La Bamba
Movie · Title Designer
Raising Arizona
Movie · Title Designer
Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise
Movie · Title Designer
Wall Street
Movie · Title Designer
The Allnighter
Movie · Title Designer
In the Mood
Movie · Title Designer
Dream Lover
Movie · Title Designer
Deadly Friend
Movie · Title Designer
Streets of Gold
Movie · Title Designer
Platoon
Movie · Title Designer
Quiet Cool
Movie · Title Designer
The Color of Money
Movie · Title Designer
Wise Guys
Movie · Title Designer
Willy/Milly
Movie · Title Designer
Nine 1/2 Weeks
Movie · Title Designer
Quicksilver
Movie · Title Designer
Where the River Runs Black
Movie · Title Designer
Tough Guys
Movie · Title Designer
Compromising Positions
Movie · Title Designer
Blood Simple
Movie · Title Designer
Beer
Movie · Title Designer
Key Exchange
Movie · Title Designer
Grace Quigley
Movie · Title Designer
White Nights
Movie · Title Designer
The Last Dragon
Movie · Title Designer
After Hours
Movie · Title Designer
Circus
Movie · Title Designer
Beat Street
Movie · Title Designer
The Goodbye People
Movie · Title Designer
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Movie · Title Designer
Against All Odds
Movie · Title Designer
Spring Break
Movie · Title Designer
Star 80
Movie · Title Designer
A Night in Heaven
Movie · Title Designer
Curtains
Movie · Title Designer
Streamers
Movie · Title Designer
White Dog
Movie · Title Designer
If You Could See What I Hear
Movie · Title Designer
The King of Comedy
Movie · Title Designer
An Officer and a Gentleman
Movie · Title Designer
Airplane II: The Sequel
Movie · Title Designer
The Hand
Movie · Title Designer
The Fan
Movie · Title Designer
Honky Tonk Freeway
Movie · Title Designer
Cutter's Way
Movie · Title Designer
Threshold
Movie · Title Designer
Blood Beach
Movie · Title Designer
The Long Riders
Movie · Title Designer
Times Square
Movie · Title Designer
Raging Bull
Movie · Title Designer
The Idolmaker
Movie · Title Designer
My Bodyguard
Movie · Title Designer
The Stunt Man
Movie · Title Designer
Why Would I Lie?
Movie · Title Designer
First Family
Movie · Title Designer
Airplane!
Movie · Title Designer
American Gigolo
Movie · Title Designer
Caddyshack
Movie · Title Designer
The Double McGuffin
Movie · Title Designer
The Warriors
Movie · Title Designer
Dreamer
Movie · Title Designer
Players
Movie · Title Designer
Americathon
Movie · Title Designer
Bloodline
Movie · Title Designer
An American Christmas Carol
Movie · Title Designer
Norma Rae
Movie · Title Designer
Going in Style
Movie · Title Designer
Promises in the Dark
Movie · Title Designer
Hanover Street
Movie · Title Designer
Girlfriends
Movie · Main Title Designer
FM
Movie · Title Designer
Blue Collar
Movie · Title Designer
House Calls
Movie · Title Designer
F.I.S.T.
Movie · Title Designer
The Betsy
Movie · Title Designer
Coming Home
Movie · Title Designer
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Movie · Title Designer
The Last Waltz
Movie · Title Designer
Stony Island
Movie · Title Designer
Days of Heaven
Movie · Title Designer
Movie Movie
Movie · Title Designer
The Late Show
Movie · Title Designer
Capricorn One
Movie · Title Designer
Sorcerer
Movie · Title Designer
The White Buffalo
Movie · Title Designer
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Movie · Title Designer
3 Women
Movie · Title Designer
Exorcist II: The Heretic
Movie · Title Designer
New York, New York
Movie · Title Designer
Star Wars
Movie · Title Designer
Taxi Driver
Movie · Title Designer
The River Niger
Movie · Title Designer
All the President's Men
Movie · Title Designer
Marathon Man
Movie · Title Designer
Griffin and Phoenix
Movie · Title Designer
Paco
Movie · Title Designer
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson
Movie · Title Designer
Welcome to L.A.
Movie · Title Designer
Love Among the Ruins
Movie · Title Designer
Mr. Sycamore
Movie · Title Designer
Lucky Lady
Movie · Title Designer
Lepke
Movie · Title Designer
Once Is Not Enough
Movie · Title Designer
The Day of the Locust
Movie · Title Designer
Nashville
Movie · Title Designer
The Hiding Place
Movie · Title Designer
The Legend of Bigfoot
Movie · Title Designer
Russian Roulette
Movie · Title Designer
King Arthur, the Young Warlord
Movie · Title Designer
The Four Deuces
Movie · Title Designer
Las Vegas Lady
Movie · Title Designer
California Split
Movie · Title Designer
Flesh Gordon
Movie · Title Designer
The Swinging Cheerleaders
Movie · Title Designer
Freebie and the Bean
Movie · Title Designer
The Exorcist
Movie · Title Designer
Electra Glide in Blue
Movie · Title Designer
Heavy Traffic
Movie · Title Designer
Time to Run
Movie · Title Designer
I Escaped from Devil's Island
Movie · Title Designer
Fritz the Cat
Movie · Title Designer
The Concert for Bangladesh
Movie · Title Designer
Hit Man
Movie · Title Designer
FTA
Movie · Title Designer
Cool Breeze
Movie · Title Designer
The Grissom Gang
Movie · Title Designer
Plaza Suite
Movie · Title Designer
Rio Lobo
Movie · Title Designer
The Out-of-Towners
Movie · Title Designer