‘Crash’s’ look

I always look forward to reading Christopher Hawthorne’s views on architecture, but I have to give him a mulligan in his article “Typecast in an Urban Drama” [March 5]. While the art director and set decorator he mentioned did a great job on “Crash,” the “architectural determinism” he refers to comes from the creative mind of director-producer-writer Paul Haggis and the head of the design staff -- my friend, production designer Laurence Bennett.

Haggis is brilliant visually and tireless in his pursuit of a single vision. It is the production designer, after many long days and nights of conceptual discussion, illustrating, budget meetings and supervision of all of the art departments, who brings that vision to the screen. I speak from the experience of production designing for Paul some years ago.

TONY COWLEY

Agoura Hills