Oscar Predix Updates: Costumes, Make-Up, Visual F/X, Sound
Friday, August 12, 2011 at 4:00PM Have you seen the Vanity Fair gallery of costumes from Madonna's W.E. designed by Arianne Phillips? Will she be Oscar nominated this year? Hmmmm.
James D'Arcy and Andrea Riseborough modelling the costumes
That's always a tough call given that the costume branch of the Academy sometimes goes their own way entirely, embracing films no one else cares about or have forgotten, and sometimes they just stick with general Oscar buzz or their default choices (Seriously you won't find someone who loves Sandy Powell more than me but that Tempest nomination was ri-dic-u-lous).
Here are my newly updated predictions in the visual categories.
Testify Leo!You'll notice that I've also added J. Edgar to the predicted Make Up Nominees but it wasn't because of this official still of Leonardo DiCaprio. Why then? Well, it was the accompanying text in Entertainment Weekly which read.
The movie traces Hoover's life from his childhood in Washington, D.C., through his ascent to power in the 1920s, his 50-year reign over the FBI, and his death in 1972 — with Leonardo DiCaprio donning prosthetic makeup to portray the man well into his bulldog-like elderly years.
Prosthetic makeup. Bulldog-like. Elderly. DingDingDing. Though, really before I get to settled on this prediction I need to recall my own words on the Make-Up branch within the Academy. I just copy and paste this every year onto my charts because it never ceases to be true.
About the Make Up Category
Nearly impossible to predict... even up until the last moment. They like werewolf movies except when they don't. They love Rick Baker except when they don't. They admire old age makeup except when they don't. They eliminate films with extensive CGI work except when they don't. They never vote based on awesome period hairpieces and makeup (though that's part of the equation) except when they do. They disapprove of multiple nominations for the same series except when they don't. It's almost as if their membership is entirely dismissed and reformed from scratch each year.
But back to J. Edgar. I must say that synopsis signals that I have official worry for the movie. Covering fifty years in someone's life usually means the very traditional kind of biopic. The kind that is all "....and then this happened and then this happened and then this happened", the Greatest Hits Biopics. Those are always the least focused and the most boring kind of biopics.
Visual Category Prediction Updates
Aural Category Prediction Updates
Unfortunately there's still many films that have not announced their composer so Original Score punditry is still nothingness.
You'll notice that Rise of the Planet of the Apes suddenly, well, rises in Sound categories and Visual FX. (Once films start showing themselves these things always change.) In visual effects in particular it's obviously become the instant frontrunner. You know that Andy Serkis's trailblazing motion capture acting will help the FX team win, though the FX team will not help Andy Serkis get recognition. It doesn't go both ways, though I think we can all agree that they make a beautiful team.
Reader Comments (16)
what do you think about We Bought a Zoo's Best Original Score chances? I mean, Jónsi from Sigur Ross is the composer and he makes beautiful songs and melodies and Cameron Crowe (a big music lover) is the director...
Ed, that was one of the film's that hadn't announced -- or at least that IMDb hadn't updated. thanks for sharing the who's who
Can't help but notice that you took Hugo out of the upper reaches of quite a few categories. Did the trailer leave you thinking it wasn't an oscarable movie, so to speak, or is there another reason?
Joe K -- it looks very much like a gawdy kids movie to me, yes. the trailer.
Dude, War Horse is set during WWI, not WWII.
I would definitely include Iron Lady in makeup category.
I've read J. Edgar script and it does cover 50 years of Hoover's life. But the film exclusively focus on Hoover's 'very close' relationship with Clyde Tolson(Armie Hammer's character) and his own psychological problem(anticommunism, homophobia, or whatever that is.) I don't it's going to be those boring, unmanageable biopic.
I don't think it's going to be one of those boring, unmanageable biopics, that is.
The prediction of "The Help" for costume design sounds an awful lot like "Made in Dagenham" last year, which sadly never caught a whiff of a nomination. :(
With the expanded visual effects category, I'd love for the branch to nominate something like "The Tree of Life", wouldn't you?
:O Those costumes for W.E. look beyond stunning.
LOL the Makeup category. Such a crap-shoot every year. Though J. Edgar and The Iron Lady totally 'seem' destined for nods but no one ever knows. However, I'm terribly disheartened with this category now after Black Swan's awful dismissal last year. Though, one some level, I've always been.
Oh, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close should be in Visual Effects category. It will be heavily CGIed.
I don't think the 4th Pirates will get in on Make-Up. They only added some mustaches on some Spanish Conquistadors (and they were fine mustaches, but not flashy at all) and added elements to the mermaids. The mermaids were mostly visual effects. It feels like that same in-between space that stopped Splice from getting in on either category last year. I'd go out on a limb and predict The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or even something smaller like Insidious over another entry in the Pirates series at this poin.
Robert G -- but odd as it may sound they're not big on horror films in that category, unless they involve werewolves.
Glenn -- i could see that sure. But Made in Dagenham couldn't find two dimes to rub together and The Help is already a big hit. Who knows. As usual, costume design is overflowing with valid competitors. and that's before you even look at contemporary films which are sadly always ignored (loved the costuming of DRIVE for example)
I know the horror bias. It's just there's so much highly detailed practical make-up going on in Insidious that I could see it at least making it to the first round of the bake off. There have to be at least 15 recognizable and unique ghost designs all done with actual make-up, not to mention the injuries and illness inflicted upon the main child. If the studio (big if) actually pushes for technical nominations, I can't see it missing the 15 list.
And if I'm being honest, I feel like Jane Eyre could slip in, too. If the campaign goes big enough, it could snag make-up and costumes without a problem. Period make-up, injuries, and disfigurement.
I saw that Vanity Fair spread and all I could think was that that actress is way too pretty to play Wallis Simpson who was considered very "plain" (although really, she would have been rather attractive but for a less-than-perfect nose.) I guess I'm tired of seeing too-pretty people onscreen, especially in biopics? (Or actresses, at least, men are allowed to be "ordinary").