Academy's Make Up and Hairstyling Branch Triple-Down on Tom Hardy

Glenn here. If there's one thing we know about the Academy's make up and hairstyling branch it's that we know nothing about what they will or will not like. Evidence of that is quite clear in this year's preliminary shortlist of seven contenders, of which three will be selected as the nominees. As we are all aware, the make up and hairstyling category remains the only one with three nominees each year - give or take a slow year in the world of animation - despite every film having it in some capacity and despite being one of the few categories that doesn't have a predetermined sway towards prestige.

This year's field of seven is as wholly unexpected as we have come to expect from both the branch and from this year in general. The list of films in contention for a nomination who will get to present their works to the branch, include Tom Hardy, Tom Hardy, and Tom Hardy. [More...]

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Production Design Interview: Building the World(s) of "Room"

Once you've seen Room, you're unlikely to forget "Room". To Jack (Jacob Tremblay) "Room" is the entire world. He names everything in it and says hello each morning to the only (inanimate) friends he has ever known. The space had to be tight, visually memorable, and emotionally specific and you had to have cameras function inside it. A tall order. To design Room, and the world outside of it in Room, a Globe nominee for Best Picture, Lenny Abrahamson entrusted the ingeniously creative production designer Ethan Tobman who had previously worked in low profile independent film but attracted much more attention for recent high profile work for music superstars like Beyonce, Eminem and Madonna.

We had the pleasure of talking to Tobman about his process, his time in music video, and how he got emotionally inside and outside of that tiny space to design it. 

NATHANIEL R: Room has such a memorably specific central set, how do you even know where to begin on a project like this?

ETHAN TOBMAN: The way I approach any project, but specifically Room, is to read the script and put it away for a week and think about the things that inspired me about it. The research begins immediately, but I need to allow myself to think pretty abstractly about some of the emotional and thematic concepts. [More...]

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Tweetweek: Clue, Star Wars, Awards Silliness

We weren't allowed to say this for fear of screening crashers but as you're reading this I'm probably watching the credits crawl at the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. More soon obviously.

The past week has been just crazy with awards announcements and it's easy to drop usual columns on accident but I can't not share these choice tweets that amused on actressexuality,.

Clue, Sir Patrick Stewart, Golden Globes and a lot of Star Wars silliness after the jump...

When Darwin wrote The Origin of Species, he really skimped on explaining the whole gays-and-actresses thing

— Tim Robey (@trim_obey) December 9, 2015

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On Trend

What's with the dick jokes on movie posters this month? Maybe it's a 2016 thing.

Contrarian Corner: Mad Max Fury Road

Lynn Lee test-drives a new, potentially recurring feature wherein TFE members voice dissent on Oscar hopefuls and critical darlings.

If you’re on this site, it’s safe to assume you pay attention to movie critics. It’s also a fair bet you’re likely—or at least more likely than the average person—to agree with the critics when they coalesce around a particular movie. But if you’re like me, every once in a while a film comes along that generates a level of critical enthusiasm you just don’t get. You’d like to share or at least understand it, but instead find yourself feeling like the lone non-believer in a church full of the radiant converted.

That’s how it’s been for me and Mad Max: Fury Road, which met with rave reviews and solid box office when it hit theaters this summer. More recently, it’s picked up a raft of critics’ awards and nominations that have kept it in the Oscars conversation - not just in the technical categories but the majors, including picture and director. Any doubt about its chances stems from the fact that it’s a “genre” film, not its intrinsic merits, which most agree transcend its genre. [More...]

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