Ex-Naperville resident creates sets for 'Batman,' 'X-Men,' 'Chicago P.D.'

Cliff Zimowski's resume comes packed with credits that would impress any fan of movies or TV shows.

Among them are "Batman Begins," "X-Men: First Class" and, most recently, the TV series "Chicago P.D."

But his job titles might leave people scratching their heads: Set decoration coordinator, set decoration administrator and art department coordinator.

They all are involved with creating the look of a movie or television scene, from the pictures on a desk to the clutter on a character's coffee table.

But there's more to the job than just how the set looks, according to Zimowski, a former resident of Naperville and Lisle.

"If there's a poster on the wall or a name-brand product displayed, you have to get all that stuff cleared," he said, referring to the process of getting permission from copyright owners. "It's very time-consuming and very complicated, especially if the director wants a certain thing and you're having trouble getting it cleared.

"Even if we're shooting in Chicago, a lot of the props are specialized. They come from L.A. and from England. So you have to coordinate between different departments, like props and construction."

Then there's the bottom line.

"The main thing you do is worry about the budget," Zimowski said. "You have to keep track of expenses."

Business is actually something the Naperville Central High School graduate pursued at one time, though it was not his first love. Zimowski started higher education as a film major at Columbia College.

"But I switched to marketing, because I worried that I couldn't make a living with film," he said.

Zimowski did the practical thing. He earned a degree in organizational communications from North Central College in Naperville, then went to work in the exciting world of marketing. Except it wasn't all that exciting. "I was miserable in marketing," he confessed.

So, Zimowski went back to the impractical thing. He earned a B.A. in film from Columbia and, while still a student, nabbed an internship on the set of Harold Ramis' underrated black comedy "The Ice Harvest."

"Harold really was a great guy," Zimowski said. "He gave me advice on how to be a writer, which was to go to Second City. So I went there and did that."

Zimowski, who writes screenplays as a hobby, made key contacts at Second City, and they led him to the people who hired him to work in the art department of Christopher Nolan's first Dark Knight adventure, "Batman Begins."

Quickly, Zimowski evolved into a poster boy for movie-set networking by using contacts to progress from one production to the next.

Working on such movies as "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" and "Transformers: Age of Extinction" can be challenging, but the job has its perks - like hanging out with Johnny Depp on "The Rum Diary."

"There are times when bizarre things happen and you think to yourself, 'I can't believe this!'" Zimowski said. "It's still a good way to make a living, plus you're working in film."

He credits many people as his mentors, but he said he believes Second City proved to be the best and strongest influence for his success.

"You learn this business as you go along," he said. "Harold Ramis and Second City taught me how to give honesty to a character. So, in set decoration, you do that by being honest about the objects around the character."

For example? "In 'Rum Diary' with Johnny Depp as Hunter S. Thompson, I was supposed to dress up his apartment," he said. "What would Hunter S. Thompson have on his walls in the 1950s in Puerto Rico? What would he have on his coffee table? Would he even have a coffee table? Those are the kinds of questions you wind up asking. Second City taught me how to be true to a character. That concept works in acting. It works in writing. I say it also spills over into all other departments."

- Dann Gire

• Jamie Sotonoff and Dann Gire are looking for suburbanites in showbiz. If you know someone who would make a good story, contact them at jsotonoff@dailyherald.com and dgire@dailyherald.com.

Intro to art

Cliff Zimowski graduated from Naperville Central High School in 1987, but he said he met one of his key mentors at Lincoln Junior High School.

“We had an art teacher there named Bill Vose,” Zimowski said. “He would pick certain students he thought had talent and invite them into the art classroom during lunch hour. It was sort of like a studio for us. We could work on whatever we wanted. Painting. Pottery. Whatever. I did that for three years.

“He introduced me to my own creativity. He introduced me into the world of art.”

Later, as a result of these studio encounters, young Zimowski painted murals for Chicago jazz clubs, the foundation for his eventual profession as a Hollywood set decorating coordinator and art department coordinator.