[1] His motion picture credits include the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical In the Heights, based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway show; Jon M. Chu's romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, the highest-grossing romantic comedy of the last decade; Robert Zemeckis' dramatic thriller Flight, which critics Roger Ebert and Owen Gleiberman placed on their top-10 lists; and the biographical drama Antwone Fisher, which received a 2002 American Film Institute Award.
[12][13] During high school, Coates also competed in gymnastics, developing an understanding of biomechanics, action and physical space that informed his design of Wesley Snipes' escape route in Murder at 1600 and continues to benefit his work today.
He developed collaborative relationships with numerous directors, working with Gary Fleder on Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, Kiss the Girls and Runaway Jury; Anne Fletcher on The Guilt Trip, The Proposal and Hot Pursuit; Mimi Leder on Thick as Thieves, John Doe and On the Basis of Sex; and Jon M. Chu on Crazy Rich Asians, Home Before Dark and In the Heights.
Coates also designed Anjelica Huston's debut as a feature film director on Bastard Out of Carolina, Bill Paxton's on Frailty and Denzel Washington's on Antwone Fisher.
Coates grew 3,250 cornstalks from seed to dress the set, but when Utah's harshest winter in 100 years stunted the crop's growth, he interspersed close-up worthy replicas.
[20] Director Robert Zemeckis tasked the designer with creating a fictional, but believable airline that included the word "jet" in its name, but that avoided any real-world references.
For greater authenticity, Coates imbued the characters with Peranakan heritage (it wasn't in the original novel) and tapped its rich art, architecture and design practices for his sets.
[20] Coates recreated the tundra town of Barrow, Alaska (later renamed Utqiagvik) in the warmer, greener, mountainous Anchorage for the feature film Big Miracle (2012).
The films were shot simultaneously over 106 days in 167 locations and required Coates to balance a myriad of details to maintain the visual integrity and continuity of each movie.
In 1996, he was named ACU's Outstanding Young Alumnus of the Year and was accorded the University's Department of Journalism and Mass Communication's Gutenberg Award, which recognizes distinguished professional achievements by alumni.