6 Days Till Oscar. Remember When...?
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 5:00PM Remember when costume designer extraordinary Sandy Powell won her third Oscar for Young Victoria and she was so over it, dedicating it to costume designers on contemporary films who never get recognized? That was kind of great and terrible simultaneously.
Um. I already have two of these."
Sandy Powell is one of the greatest designers in the history of the movies, previously winning for The Aviator (2004) and Shakespeare in Love (1998). But if you ask me she won her first for the wrong film. She beat herself in 1998 as she was double nominated. Velvet Goldmine. Come on.
Winning for the Aviator (2004) and Shakespeare in Love (1998)Do you think Powell can pull off Oscar number four on Sunday?
Consider...
- Oscar loves period pieces, the older the period the better, which gives Anonymous and Jane Eyre the edge.
- Oscar loves gorgeous costume work and a whole unmistakable heap of them, which gives Arianne Phillips work on W.E. the edge.
- Oscar loves royalty porn which gives Anonymous and W.E. the edge.
- Oscar loves Best Picture frontrunners which gives The Artist the edge.
- Oscar loves Sandy Powell and Best Picture nominees in general which gives Hugo the edge.
With such a wide range of possibilities that might be attractive to the voters, I'm guessing it's a five way race which slides this over into the win column for The Artist. But you never know on the below the line categories. Weird things can occur.
Jane Eyre. Formidable competition? Tough to say.
OH. I ALMOST FORGOT. Here are my costume design nominees! which completes the traditional Oscar-like categories in The Film Experience's annual Film Bitch Awards so I've added in the tallies at the end of that page. I'll announce my winners tomorrow I think. Let me sleep on the tough calls.
I'll also start the Final Oscar Predictions tomorrow. Wheeeee, we're almost there.
Costume Design, Hugo, Oscars (11), Royalty Porn, Sandy Powell, Young Victoria
Reader Comments (27)
What, no Shame?
I was trying to forget that cringe-inducing acceptance speech, thank you very much!
Ugh, everyone has been talking about Powell's speech for the past 2 years but its nowhere to be seen, it's not on youtube! On an unrelated note (but probably not since they are perfect models for film costume design btw) you might want to google Tropfest 2012, the short film fest in Sydney the judges were The Kidman and The Blanchett along with Collette and Rush.
And the first few pics here http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Cate+Blanchett are dying for a FE caption contest! Thats my shameless suggestion plug of the day!
Well, Colleen Atwood is not there, so I don't think she is getting the fourth one....
I didn't mind Powell's speech. I think she thought having three Oscars was so ridiculous given some people never win one, and I loved her acknowledging contemporary work which never gets recognised.
Mad props for Sandy Powell for that speech, I love her but she didnt really need that 3rd Oscar and she knew it. I think maybe The Artist being in black and white might hurt its chances here? My gut feeling says that W.E. will win here.
I love that Sandy Powell is so revered that she is also an OBE.
My favorite is Jane Eyre, but I'm guessing "The Artist" will get this one (and many others).
I love that sandy powell had the balls to say that. It's true and so much fun!
I hope The Artist loses this category.
mark bridges mark bridges mark bridges mark bridges mark bridges
Don't we all wish we could give that speech, and in front of a billion people? The Oscars are more than a little ridiculous, as is a good costume designer. Why not just say it?
re: Costume design category
In general, this is one category that doesn't really give a hoot. Box office flop? Critical megadisaster? Indifference from all corners? Who cares?
I wonder if the historical revisionism (Shakespeare didn't write the plays, says Independence Day director) hurts Anonymous. I think The Artist takes it.
I dubbo, Nate I know you nominated him as well, but I just don't get the Mark Bridges fandom. I really didn't the costumes for The Artist were anything other than perfectly serviceable. Nothing more, nothing less and certainly not designated special enough to get in over the likes of Captain American, Immortals and TTSS.
I say W.E. or Jane Eyre wins. Hell, even Anonymous isn't totally out of the question. I really don't see either of the BP nominees scooping this one up and it would kinda be a waste if they did.
BTW I love your shout-outs to Drive, Skin and Young Adult.
*I dunno* LOL
If we go by logic in this category, there's nothing these folks love more than period pieces and Royalty Porn. Sandy needs Colleen to win (I love that bit of trivia that they only win when both are nominated) so she's out.
W.E. fits the bill only partly, so I think the race is between Jane Eyre and Anonymous.
I actually believe Anonymous has a very good shot at an upset and win the prize, but if we're playing it safe, I vote for Jane Eyre.
The only real question to ask is this: do we have a sweeper in THE ARTIST? I don't think so. I think it'll upset in Screenplay but nothing else. Even Editing I think it has a real shot at losing to Thelma Schoonmaker.
I love the Sandy Powell speech. Hollywood hates honesty.
Since the voting block of the Academy are a bunch of straight white males over the age of 50 none of them were looking too long at her work for Velvet Goldmine.
Nah, The Artist is like Slumdog - it can applaud itself for tackling a challenging film right inside it's wheelhouse. It'll likely win a lot on centrifugal force alone.
I really like The Artist but I can't say the costumes made an impression on me. I was too dazzled by Jean Dujardin's big expressive face to take any notice.
"Velvet Goldmine. Come on."
This.
Nathaniel: you mis-counted the tally for the following film: Young Adult, Money Ball (4 noms each), and Hugo (2 noms).
Hmmmm. Ric. i shall look again.
I have read her several interviews. I must say that Sandy is a very interesting and ekstraordinary woman.
the best work this years in achivment on costume design is the fabulous Arianne Phillips's talent on Madonna's W.E., for me there is no competition...Arianne you really deserve an Oscar!!!!!!
That was such a great moment. It was part of the still ongoing royalty porn thing they have. And you could tell she was not having it, using the moment to be a diva bitch!
For a variety of reasons I think The Artist will win costumes this year. I would not be surprised if Arianne Philips won for W.E.
I doubt many Academy members will watch W.E. screeners to vote for it. I actually think "Jane Eyre" will win - they hardly care about vote tallies in this category, and while I'm unsure (nor can I be bothered to check) as to what films movies like "Marie Antoinette", "Young Victoria", "The Duchess" and "Elizabeth 2: Armed & Fabulous" were up against, I think the recent history of that category errs on the side of "Jane Eyre" and "Anonymous", with "Jane Eyre" having more respectability about it for the win.
Sandy Powell is a bad bitch. Love her. It was about time someone call voters out on their royalty porn fetish. Wouldn't it have been awesome and refreshing to see some contemporary fare nominated there, like the costumes for "Precious" or "Up in the Air," instead of more stodgy period pieces? She said what needed to be said. I'd be perfectly fine with her winning again, though I'd rather see her go against her archnemesis Colleen Atwood to keep that storyline going. I'm so completely over "The Artist," so I'd be fine with that losing. It'd be nice to see Arianne Phillips finally win here, but voters might take their Madonna hatred out on her unfairly.