François was born in Toulouse, France and raised in a small town north of Los Angeles. His passion for movies grew from regular visits to the Towne Theater that showed one film a week on its single screen.
François started his career path as a concept illustrator and graphic designer, contributing to the designs of dozens of films over the past 20 years, including Men in Black 1 & 2, Primary Colors, Wild Wild West, Minority Report, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Zodiac. He gradually transitioned to art direction—on tentpole films such as Green Lantern, Watchmen, Transformers, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, The Terminal, and Spider-Man.
As production designer, François designed the films Dracula Untold directed by Gary Shore, The Wolverine directed by James Mangold, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter directed by Timur Bekmambetov. He re-teamed with James Mangold to design 2017’s blockbuster Logan, earning him the ADG award for Best Production Design in the Contemporary Film category. In 2018, François worked with Mangold again, this time designing the 2019 movie Ford vs. Ferrari. He most recently designed Ghostbusters: Afterlife for director Jason Reitman.
François has also created conceptual designs for such iconic film franchises as Avatar and Jurassic World. He has worked as a Visual Consultant for Pixar Animation Studios, and Dreamscape Immersive’s first in-house VR title Alien Zoo. He has designed commercials, as well as music videos for Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello, Harry Styles, Coldplay and Meghan Thee Stallion.
In 2021, the video for Harry Styles’ “Falling” was the first music video ever to win an ADG Award, and this year he won another ADG Award for an Apple Music commercial starring Billie Eilish.
