Who Will Win Best Art Direction, Costume Design?
We begin the first of our category previews with two of Oscar’s more artistic awards. In years past, Art Direction and Costume Design have been among the easier categories to predict. There are several reasons for this. First of all, the same film almost always wins both. For five years running, this has been the case, a fairly amazing trend. Secondly, these awards are likely to get swept up by an epic, such as “The Aviator” or “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.” There have been few upsets throughout the years in these two categories, although you never know when will be a first. Let’s take a closer look.
For Best Achievement in Art Direction this year, the nominees are:
“Dreamgirls”
“The Good Shepherd”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
“Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
“The Prestige”
This race boils down to “Dreamgirls” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” and could be one of the closer contests of the evening. At first glance, “Dreamgirls” has got to be your favorite. It’s a musical and musicals have historically fared well in this category. Both “Chicago” and “Moulin Rouge” won in their respective years. But “Pan’s Labyrinth” has a shot for a simple reason. The Art Direction award is broken down into two components: art direction (which refers mostly to style) and set direction. “Pan’s Labyrinth” has some of the most creative and imaginative sets we’ve seen in a movie in years. It possesses some of the same feel as “Sleepy Hollow,” which also won Art Direction many, many years ago. If voters get tired of musicals and feel like embracing something different, it is certainly a worthy selection.
So what will be the difference maker? Generally, the more traditionally artistic films (as in musicals, costume dramas) have prevailed over fantasy pictures. The first two “Lords of the Rings” failed to win this category despite having incredible sets. Same goes for “Gangs of New York.” That was a more of a historical period piece, but it also featured amazing sets, but eventually lost out to “Chicago.” We’ll go with the frontrunner for now, but this is a category we’ll likely revisit.
Our Pick – “Dreamgirls”
Moving on to Costume Design, this one may be a little less complicated. Here is your list of nominees.
“Curse of the Golden Flower”
“The Devil Wears Prada”
“Dreamgirls”
“Marie Antoinette”
“The Queen”
If you go back to 1999, you’ll remember that “Shakespeare in Love” took home costume design, so that might be a positive sign for “The Queen.” But in all likelihood here, there is no competing with “Dreamgirls.” The sheer volume of costumes featured in “Dreamgirls” may be enough to convince some voters that the designers are deserving. As with Art Direction, recent musicals have never lost Costume Design and since the “Dreamgirls’” duds are more than impressive, we think the award swings their way. As a final consideration, we think that with “Marie Antoinette” (a royal period piece) also nominated in this category, the possibility of a split vote with “The Queen” dooms both of their chances.
Our Pick – “Dreamgirls”
Well, if you’re keeping count at home, that’s two (projected) wins for “Dreamgirls” with six more nominations to go. How many more can they take down? We shall see.
mark wrote:
Did an african american write this article?
Posted on 09-Feb-07 at 8:58 am | Permalink
Sam Juliano wrote:
Ala,s Mark is a racist. I am a married white American with five young kids, and I concur with the commentary here. Dreamgirls is definitely the costume winner, and the art direction is a possibility, although Pan’s Labyrinth can prevail here.
Posted on 10-Feb-07 at 5:46 am | Permalink
Paris wrote:
I agree with Sam that Mark is a racist, if you think “Dreamgirls” doesn’t deserve to win both categories, you must explain why. Mentioning the race showed how small your brian is.
My gut feelings tell me “Dreamgirls” could lose these two categories (I prefer it to win though)
Art Direction – Pan’s Labyrinth has the slight edge (same reason with the article above)
Costume Design- Oscar voters usually go for musicals actually, but at times their tastes were films that costume design was very outstanding (Ran, Cyrano De Bergerac, Restoration, Topsy-Turvy, Memoirs of a Geisha). Dreamgirls’ costumes are outstanding yes, but Marie Antoinette’s are one of a kind too.
Posted on 12-Feb-07 at 11:23 am | Permalink
mark wrote:
Not a racist. Just tired of all the hype behind one of the most overrated movies in many years. It was not snubbed for best picture, it just simply didn’t earn it. Just because it has nearly an all black cast, doesn’t mean it is a lock. What’s more annoying is that Jackie Earle Haley is not looking like an Oscar winner this year, and to what?? Eddie Murphy?! He was ok. My noms in the best supporting actor category were the most different than the end result. I would have gone with Haley (little Children), Nicholson (departed), Adam Beach (Flags of our fathers), Matt Damon (The Departed) and Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine). Also how are Streep and Whitaker lead nominees, when they were VERY clearly the supporting roles of their movies??!! Ridiculous.
Posted on 13-Feb-07 at 9:24 am | Permalink
Rayven wrote:
I agree with mark…streep should have been nominated for supporting role as well as whitaker…and eddie murphy’s role is okay but the worst out of the 5 nominated and he shouldn’t win!!!….and as far as costume design goes, i think the clear winner is marie antoinette!!!!!
Posted on 13-Feb-07 at 9:20 pm | Permalink
jesse wrote:
Nah, Eddie Murphy kicked butt in his tour de force performance and the reason he will probably win. If this picture was “White” everyone would love it. As it is only 90 percent love it. LOL.
Posted on 14-Feb-07 at 8:53 pm | Permalink
chris Nesheim wrote:
Since it apparently matters, I’m black.
I didn’t like Dreamgirls at all. It was far to soap opera ham for me, and it felt like a gross distortion of the events and music of Motown. Eddie Murphy WAS the most watchable part of the film, shockingly, but it’s still the worst performance (role, really) of the five.
Posted on 23-Feb-07 at 3:14 pm | Permalink
art galleries in california wrote:
art galleries in california
[...] View Thread ] [ Post Response ] [ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ] Admin Tools Forum question for Art or some other expert … Posted By: Wilfried Baldauf-Sobez Date: Monday, 30 June 2008, at 11:19 [...]
Posted on 02-Jul-08 at 11:16 pm | Permalink
us art galleries wrote:
us art galleries
[...] Builder Standard is an effective tool for image merging, card and marriage photograph making. You can add the artful frame and lovely cookie to your photos. With so simple action, you can make out a fancy art.Photo Builder [...]
Posted on 02-Jul-08 at 11:16 pm | Permalink