In Contention

Tag: Best Costume Design

  • TECH SUPPORT: Final predictions

    Tech Support at In ContentionAfter six months of Tech Support previews and interviews, the films have arrived, the nominations have been announced and the guilds, the critics and BAFTA have all announced their preferences.  Today we take a final look at the races before the envelopes are opened on Sunday.

    BEST ART DIRECTION
    After guild and BAFTA wins, I would say “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” has cemented its frontrunner status in this category. Spanning decades of the 20th Century, Donald Graham Burt’s production design was impossible not to notice and gave us gorgeous backdrops for its character’s predicaments.

    The other nominees all have the odds stacked against them, whether similar work has been seen before (Michael Carlin’s “The Duchess” and Kristi Zea’s “Revolutionary Road”), is just not showy enough (Nathan Crowley’s “The Dark Knight”) or the nominee is otherwise along for the ride (James Murakami’s “Changeling”).

    Will win: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Could win: “The Duchess”
    Should win: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

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  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The crafts of ‘Benjamin Button,’ part one

    Tech Support at In ContentionThirteen Oscar Nominations.

    Very few films in Academy history have achieved that status and, prior to this year, no film had secured that many nods since “Chicago” in 2002. But “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” has managed it this year, largely because of the incredible work going on below-the-line.

    Last week, I featured composer Alexandre Desplat and his role as film music composer on David Fincher’s film. In the past week, I have spoken to cinematographer Claudio Miranda, production designer Don Burt, set decorator Victor Zolfo, costume designer Jacqueline West, film editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, visual effects supervisor Eric Barba and makeup artist Greg Cannom, a healthy lot, all of them cited for their work on the film by the Academy this year.

    Today, I concentrate on my talks with Burt, Zolfo, West and Cannom. Tomorrow, Miranda, Baxter, Wall and Barba will be featured.

    “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is, without any doubt, a film extraordinarily reliant on visual attributes to be effectively told. The crafts artists acknowledge the intimidation poised by such a project.

    “‘Hmmmm…’ is what went through my mind when David [Fincher] first asked me to do this,” says Burt. “How in the world are we going to do this? Then I started going through the different periods in my mind and started building a plan, thinking maybe – just maybe – we could pull it off.”

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  • POLL: Who deserves it? — BEST COSTUME DESIGN

    Who should win for the best threads of the year?  Tell us in the sidebar poll.

  • TECH SUPPORT: The aftermath

    Tech Support at In ContentionSo the nominations have descended upon us. “The Dark Knight,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” as expected, all did phenomenally well, garnering seven crafts nominations each. The only absolute shock, in my opinion, was “Wanted” managing to show up in the sound fields.

    Allow me a few comments on each category…

    Best Art Direction
    As expected, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Changeling” and “The Dark Knight” all managed to score nominations.

    My “Frost/Nixon” hunch and “Slumdog Millionaire” gamble, however, were incorrect. Rather, Michael Carlin’s lavish sets for “The Duchess” and Kristi Zea’s recreation of 1950s suburbia on “Revolutionary Road” managed to overcome guild snubs and find a home here.

    Best Cinematography
    My hunch that the guild and the AMPAS branch would not match 5/5 was right on as Tom Stern managed to prevent a second consecutive double nomination for Roger Deakins. Stern’s work on “Changeling” was his sixth collaboration with Clint Eastwood this decade; a nomination seemed inevitable eventually.

    Joining him, as expected, are Chris Menges and Roger Deakins for “The Reader,” Claudio Miranda for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Wally Pfister for “The Dark Knight” and Anthony Dod Mantle for “Slumdog Millionaire.”

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Final preview special, part one

    Tech Support at In ContentionFive months of Tech Support reach their climax on Thursday morning.

    This Canuck is, like the rest of the world, celebrating a new American President today. The fact remains, however, that a new set of Oscar nominees will greet us tomorrow and I can’t help but share my final thoughts on the categories.

    This is the first part of my review, including the categories of best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing and best Makeup.  We’ll chart the final five fields later today, so be sure to check back.

    Best Art Direction
    Starting with the most difficult category, there is only one film I would give the title “lock,” and it’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” I’d be stunned if Donald Graham Burt’s exquisite sets failed to make the cut.

    I suspect that Michael Corenblith is a solid bet for his detailed and realistic sets for “Frost/Nixon.” If “American Gangster” could get in last year, I would surprised if Corenblith did not score, especially considering his past success when working with Howard. James Murakami also seems a solid bet for “Changeling” for what were detailed and memorable designs of 1920s Los Angeles. His guild and BAFTA nominations suggest people remember the work.

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  • CDG nominees

    I’ve been out and about, so apologies for getting to the Costume Designers Guild nominees late:

    Contemporary Film
    “Iron Man” (Laura Jean Shannon and Rebecca Bentjen)
    “Mamma Mia!” (Ann Roth)
    “Sex and the City” (Patricia Field)
    “Slumdog Millionaire” (Suttirat Larlarb)
    “The Wrestler” (Amy Westcott)

    Period Film
    “Changeling” (Deborah Hopper)
    “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Jacqueline West)
    “The Duchess” (Michael O’Connor)
    “Milk” (Danny Glicker)
    “Revolutionary Road” (Albert Wolsky)

    Fantasy Film
    “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” (Isis Mussenden)
    “The Dark Knight” (Lindy Hemming)
    “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” (Sanja Milkovic Hays)

    I have to say, while I could understand the classification for, say, the Tim Burton films, I’m increasingly agitated by the “fantasy” classification of Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise.  And “The Dark Knight” is 10 times more “contemporary” than “Iron Man,” but whatever.  If the false classification means the films find some guild love in the fields of art direction and costume design, so be it, I guess.

    More frankly surprising guild support for “The Wrestler,” while “Slumdog” and “Button” remain the guild champs.  I’m happy “Prince Caspian” finally popped up somewhere.

    I see no real reason to change my Oscar predicitons here based on these results, but we’ll keep an eye on it as always.

  • The costume design of ‘Benjamin Button’

    Costume design sketch from The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonParamount Pictures has put together a brilliant little FYC site for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” that I’m just now getting around to, fit with the usual bells and whistles: downloadable screenplay, score samples (God Alexandre Desplat’s work is gorgeous), clips and interviews, etc.  You can enter the site by clicking on the ad at the top of the page here.

    I always look for proper care and consideration for the crafts of this film or that each season.  It’s our mandate, as long-time readers know, that those names get the same exposure as the biggest of stars.  Paramount Vantage always does a nice job of that with its Vantage Guilds website, but more and more, other studios are following Vantage’s example.

    For instance, on the “Button” site, there is a nice little gallery of costume design sketches from Jacqueline West’s portfolio, with screen test photos to go along with the ultimate look of the apparel in the film.  It gives you a nice cross section of the work and a look at its journey from the hypothetical to the tangible.

    And indeed, West’s work on the film is quite lovely, a much more thorough and certainly more varried array of threads than you might expect.  Cate Blanchett’s red dress from a key scene in the film has popped up in at least one Q&A.  Director David Fincher used some CGI nit-picking to amp up the red and add to the experience of the scene’s emotional beats.  But that’s not to take away from what West has done, which is outfit a hell of an epic with a beautiful wardrobe that walks the line between reality and fantasy nicely and understands that dichotomy, one that lies at the heart of the film.

  • TECH SUPPORT: Gleaning the guilds

    Tech Support at In ContentionIt’s been three weeks since the last “Tech Support” column. For that, my apologies. In the meantime, we’ve had Thanksgiving, the NBR, the LAFCA, the NYFCC, the BFCA and the Golden Globes to keep us entertained.

    The Screen Actors Guild is the first guild to announce its nominees and will do so next week. Between then and the date the Oscar nominations are announced, the various crafts guilds will also announce their nominees.

    The guilds have a knack of shaking up the race, even more so than the Globes. The guilds have crossover membership with the Academy, which is incredibly important in predicting AMPAS nominees. The American Cinematographers Society (ASC), the American Cinema Editors (ACE), the Art Directors Guild (ADG), the Costume Designers Guild (CDG) and the Cinema Audio Society (CAS) all have a tendency to accurately predict the eventual Oscar nominees –- and often, winners –- in their respective categories.

    So what to expect from these groups when they announce their nominees in January?

    The ASC has what is probably the best correlation of any guild-to-Oscar nominees. Every year, at least three, usually four, of its five nominees tend to be cited by AMPAS.  Last year, all five nominees were cited by both groups.  This year, I would expect Roger Deakins (a guild favorite) to be nominated for “Revolutionary Road.” The living legend of cinematographers lensed what seems to be a major player among this year’s contenders. Moreover, the work has his customized style and class.

    Claudio Miranda (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) and Anthony Dod Mantle (“Slumdog Millionaire”) also seem primed for citations from this guild and AMPAS. Though awards have not been common in their careers to date, both are working on films which are leading the Oscar race so far. Moreover, the cinematography on both films is incredibly showy and Mantle has already been awarded by the NYFCC for his efforts. Miranda may face difficulty come Oscar time due to the use of visual effects to brush up his work. But that tends to be less of a problem from the guilds.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Rudin bails, Brolin buzz, original scores

    And this, as they say, is the week that was:

    • In the biggest news of the week, Scott Rudin has washed his hands of the whole “The Reader” fiasco by taking his name off the film. What now?

    • Lots happening on the music front this week, with Universal offering a taste of the scores for “Changeling” and “Frost/Nixon,” while elsewhere, the surprisingly rich score for “W.” was revealed.

    • Carrying on the musical theme, we nabbed an interview with “Appaloosa” composer Jeff Beal.

    • This week’s Off the Carpet column contemplated the marked social currency of this year’s contenders.

    • Following its NYFF screening, “Changeling” got a rough ride from the blogosphere.

    • Josh Brolin has been all over the place this week, speaking out about that Shreveport incident, while his “W.” performance gathers positive buzz. Meanwhile, rumor has it that he’s down for “Jonah Hex.”

    • EW looks to revisit history (i.e. gloat over the Academy’s mistakes) with its Oscar revote.

    • A look at the sometimes troubled relationship between Hollywood and Philip Roth.

    • Continuing Tech Support’s preview of the crafts categories, this week was the costume designers’ turn.

    • And finally, is Alfred Hitchcock overrated? Join the debate here.

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Costume Design — Volume One

    Tech Support at In ContentionThe Academy Award for Best Costume Design recognizes, shock of shocks, the clothes and accessories worn by actors in a film.  Clothing can add to the story and express the nature and situation of the characters who wear them.

    If a single word could be used to describe this category, it would be “period.”  31 of the 40 nominees here this decade were period pieces.  This is not altogether surprising.  Period clothes automatically draw attention by not being the sort of fashion we see every day on the street and require the costume designer to accurately portray the time in which the film takes place.

    The nominations two years ago “The Queen” and “The Devil Wears Prada” were refreshing in my opinion but extremely rare, being the first contemporary nominees in a dozen years.  Admittedly, fantasy films occasionally find a home here as well.  Seven nominees this decade fit that mold.  But even so, there is usually only one –- and never more than two –- spots available for non-period films in this category.

    This is also an arena that tends to reward many familiar faces.  In a typical year, only one or two of the nominees are first-timers, while many designers are (usually deservedly) seen year after year.  This trend has occasionally resulted in some films one would never expect to find in the awards race landing the label “Oscar nominee.”

    Catherine Martin might be leading the way this year.  She won this category seven years ago, the last time both she –- and her husband/director Baz Lurhmann -– worked.  That film was “Moulin Rouge!” and its design elements were fantastic.  Again doubling as a production designer on “Australia” this year, Martin will fashion the world of a Briton coming to a strange historical land, filled, as always, with Lurhmann’s bordering-on-fantastical elements.  The design opportunities should once again be amazing and I’d be quite surprised if Martin failed to make the cut.

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  • Hmm…another design contender?

    City of EmberTwo craft category posts in a row, but I just watched this “City of Ember” featurette and suddenly wondered if Martin Laing and former nominee Celia Bobak have a shot at a nomination from the art directors’ branch.

    There’s plenty of talk from producer Tom Hanks and star Bill Murray about the massive sets constructed.  I remember when I was out in Belfast over the summer, the recent rush of film production was a pretty big deal to the community.

    Laing, by the way, was a draugtsman on Tim Burton’s “Batman.”  His designs in “City of Ember” seem to be taking a definite cue from the work of Anton Furst.  He was also a part of the design team on “Titanic,” though he didn’t get to share in the film’s Oscar nomination despite inclusion in the guild win that year.

    Perennial favorite Ruth Myers is also in the mix, having designed the threads for the film.  Keep an eye out, that’s all I’m saying.

  • ‘Set to Screen’ series at Apple spotlights ‘Australia’ techs

    This is actually quite amazing, and take it from those of us who’ve been covering the tech categories for years, it’s refreshing to see a major outlet paying attention as well.

    It seems Apple has started a new series called “Set to Screen,” which focuses on the various behind-the-scenes design elements of a given film.  “Australia” is the first subject, with detailed looks at on-set still photography, production and costume design, location shooting, cinematography and sound recording.  Podcasts about music composition and sound recording are still outstanding, with a “coming in September” notation.  I also assume the music playing over the various clips are snippets of David Hirschfelder’s work, but I’m just guessing.  Sounds lovely.

    Check it all out at Apple.  The clips are on YouTube as well, but I figured the best example would be the cinematography spotlight, where we finally get to meet Ms. Mandy Walker:

    I think it’s obvious by now that this film, regardless of major category potential, will be the tech giant of the year.

  • TECH SUPPORT: Fall and Winter Contenders

    Tech Support at In ContentionLast week we took a look at the films that have already been released and now appear to be in contention for crafts nominations come Oscar time.  Now that the dust is settling from the Toronto and Venice Film Festivals, it’s time to look ahead…

    Very often we see films dominate the crafts categories and end up with many nominations.  Recent examples include “The Aviator,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Dreamgirls” though, in all fairness, not to the extent expected.  Such films tend to be set in period, large in scope and contenders in the main categories as well.  And a number of upcoming efforts are aiming for that kind of recognition.

    Baz Lurhmann’s “Australia” seems the obvious example.  Lurhmann is a visual master and this film could be an amazing palette.  Cinematographer Mandy Walker and production designer/costume designer Catherine Martin (Mrs. Lurhmann) strike me as likely nominees.  This is not to mention great opportunities in sound, editing, makeup and a potential return to the game for Aussie composer David Hirschfelder.

    David Fincher has the opportunity to finally break through with Oscar in a major way with “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”  His films have — shamefully, in my opinion — received a grand total of three Oscar nominations to date.  While a few hasty bloggers gave some cold knee-jerk assessments of a reel of footage at Telluride, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for now.

    Moreover, “Button” should prove to be visually spectacular.  The cinematography, editing, visual effects and makeup will likely be integral to the plot.  The sets and costumes will span 80 years.  This sounds like the makings of a potential crafts category behemoth.  And don’t forget the score from Alexandre Desplat, my favorite working composer.

    Edward Zwick’s “Defiance” is another film that could be a massive player in the crafts fields.  While Zwick’s films are notorious for their flat critical receptions, they almost always involve themes the Academy loves and “Defiance” should prove no exception in this regard.  Indeed, his films usually take at least three nominations in the crafts categories.

    Zwick has not disappointed in amassing a slew of respected artists who have been recognized by the Academy in the past: cinematographer Eduardo Serra, costume designer Jenny Beavan, film editor Steven Rosenblum and composer James Newton Howard.  Veteran production designer Dan Weil seems bound to be nominated eventually, while the still undocumented sound designers are sure to be top notch.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Pre-Fall Contenders

    Tech Support at In ContentionWhile this week is rightly being most noted by awards-watchers for the Toronto International Film Festival, I’m actually going to go a bit of a different route today. I will be sure to comment on the movers and shakers of TIFF next week as the dust begins to settle, however.

    In a couple of weeks, I’ll start exploring each of the technical categories, one at a time, examining the potential contenders.  But right now, I think it’s a good time to look back on the contenders we’ve already seen.

    Many of the highest profile films of the year could garner nominations in the major categories at the Oscars. Heath Ledger’s classic turn in “The Dark Knight” seems almost certain to score recognition. (In my opinion, the film has much more potential than just Ledger, though that will depend on the reception of films we’ve yet to see.)

    Penelope Cruz’s work  in “Vicky Christina Barcelona” is bound to come into play during the awards season, with writer Woody Allen not too far behind. Films like “Frozen River” and “The Visitor” could wind up in contention for the performances of Melissa Leo and Richard Jenkins.

    Not to mention Andrew Stanton’s beautiful “WALL-E,” which may have had its “summer favorite” buzz stolen by “The Dark Knight,” but that does not take away from the prestige the Pixar name brings. (Though the minimal dialogue may prove a problem in garnering a screenplay nomination.)

    But as I noted in a column here two years ago, the pre-Fall months can be a major source of nominations in the crafts categories.

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  • REVIEW: “The Duchess” (**1/2)

    Paramount Vantage\'s The DuchessThere’s a startling scene near the beginning of “The Duchess,” in which the teenaged Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley) has intercourse for the first time with her new husband, the much older Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes). Ordered, with dispassionate reserve, to strip naked and lie on the bed, Georgiana trembles with positive terror as her husband enters her with all the wordless efficiency of a man fulfilling a prescribed brief; Knightley’s exquisite face gradually crumbles as it dawns on her that this is how it shall always be.

    It’s a brilliantly unsettling bit of visual storytelling — and it’s all the more memorable in retrospect because nothing else in this lavishly appointed historical biopic comes close to matching its emotional honesty or alluring strangeness.

    I was never bored watching “The Duchess,” but I was never exactly engaged either. The film has the slick, diverting pull of a glossy magazine article, and goes about that deep. Knightley’s Georgiana is sufficiently sympathetic to carry you with her through the various storytelling hoops, but as the credits rolled, I didn’t feel I knew her at all.

    The story of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, is simple enough. Forced at 17 into a loveless marriage to a frigid aristocrat, she has but one duty to fulfill: provide the Duke with a male heir. As she repeatedly fails to deliver on this “promise,” bearing only daughters, her increasingly cruel husband engages in a series of barely-concealed affairs, the last of which culminates in an awkward ménage à trois with Georgiana’s former confidante, the disgraced Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell). Georgiana, meanwhile, falls in ill-fated love with handsome future Prime Minister Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper).

    Even if you don’t know the history, it’s a familiar narrative with a number of clear reference points, both cinematic and historical, from the story of Marie-Antoinette (especially as told in Sofia Coppola’s impressionistic re-imagining) to that of Georgiana’s own great-great-great-great-niece, Princess Diana (the connection to which has been so crassly emphasized in the film’s marketing here in the UK).

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Kicking off the new year

    Tech Support at In ContentionWell here we go again. Welcome to the third year of “Tech Support” here at In Contention, still the Oscarweb’s only weekly column devoted strictly to the crafts elements of filmmaking and the awards process that surrounds them.

    The Toronto International Film Festival will be commencing tonight in my hometown and I am yet again “up the creek” (the creek being Lake Ontario) in Kingston. TIFF is correctly acknowledged as the true starting point of awards season so the next few weeks will really be an intro to the year ahead posing the intial questions that the oncoming season will eventually answer. The crafts categories will be no exception in that regard.

    So before we get there, perhaps stating the purpose of Tech Support, for both new and veteran readers, is a good place to start.

    Consider camera work. Sets. Costumes. Editing. Sound. Visual Effects. Makeup. Music.

    It goes without saying the absence of either element would negate the film-going experience. It might be true that the average moviegoer will see a film because of its director or its stars and not its
    cinematography but that does not take away from the work that crafts artists do behind the scenes to
    bring a movie to life, to improve it and to push the medium of film forward.

    Tech Support is an attempt to give the artists behind this work a more prominent role in the media, a role they almost never find themselves in. At In Contention, our focus is obviously on the awards side of the filmmaking industry. Discussing phenomena seen in the categories that award these disciplines, discussing particular categories and interviewing those “in contention” are frequent subjects of the weekly debate and discourse.

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  • Hollywood Awards get the craft races rolling

    I’ve never quite got a handle on what purpose the Hollywood Awards serve, since they frequently seem to honour achievements in still-unseen films. Their picks can be quite prescient (last year’s honorees included Marion Cotillard and Dante Ferretti), but they can frequently baffle too. (Based on “Charlie Wilson’s War,” did anyone really think that Stephen Goldblatt was the cinematographer of 2007?)

    However, following the announcement of this year’s craft honorees, I am pretty confident that we will see a couple of these names in the awards derby.

    A couple of months ago, I discussed the awards prospects of “Australia” DP Mandy Walker, so it’s nice to see she’s been named Cinematographer of the Year. The one thing that’s not in doubt about “Australia” is that it’s going to be a visual feast, so things are looking good for Walker to become the first female Best Cinematography nominee in Oscar history.

    Also on this site, Kris recently mused on the surprisingly poor Oscar record of Danny Elfman, one of the most distinctive composers in the business. He in turn has been named Composer of the Year. Elfman’s had a busy 2008, scoring “Wanted,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” and Errol Morris doc “Standard Operating Procedure,” but it’s the heavily-buzzed “Milk” that could reverse his Academy fortunes.

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