35 days til Oscar nominations. 35 years of Make-up
Tuesday, December 19, 2017 at 11:00PM by Nathaniel R
Since there are 35 days left until Oscar nominations --well perhaps 34 by the time this is published. Damn you, ever ticking clock! -- let's look back back at the 35 films that have won the regular Achievements in Makeup Oscar. We should admit straightaway that that's fudging the number a bit for the sake of a trivia countdown. In truth 37 films have won this prize but two were before the category was an official competitive one. The first two films to be Oscared for their Makeup effects were The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964) and the original Planet of the Apes (1968). Nevertheless it took quite some time for a category to emerge and title changes and such until it became the character we know today (which is also sure to change again!)...
In 1980 the lack of recognition of The Elephant Man's prosthetic achievements was said to have spurred action within the Academy and the next year we had a category. Sort of. In the early days it was only 2 nominees and on the third year they skipped it altogether! It's still something of a redheaded stepchild category since it's the only category that isn't allowed five nominees. Isn't that crazy? The lack of consistency from the Academy here is not just annoying but it's insulting... like the makeup artists are deemed lesser than since they're the only ones. There have been random years with 2 nominees, and one strange year with 4 but mostly it's been 3. And when it comes to their winners there's just no clear pattern. Sometimes they like a period piece, other times a Best Picture player, occasionally they go nuts for heavy duty genre prosthetics, and sometimes they're just wig crazy. They love old age makeup, though, regardless.
35 OSCARS FOR MAKEUP SINCE THE CATEGORY OFFICIALLY BEGAN.
If we've written about the movie's makeup before it's linked in bold below.
1981 An American Werewolf in London
1982 Quest for Fire
1983 for some reason in the third year no nominees at all. Films they could have honored that year included Krull, Videodrome, Return of the Jedi, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Yentl, etcetera.
1984 Amadeus
1985 Mask
1986 The Fly
1987 Harry and the Henderson's
1988 Beetlejuice
1989 Driving Miss Daisy
1990 Dick Tracy
1991 Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1993 Mrs Doubtfire
1994 Ed Wood
1995 Braveheart
1996 The Nutty Professor
1997 Men in Black
1998 Elizabeth
1999 Topsy-Turvy
2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas
2001 Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2002 Frida
2003 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2004 Lemony Snicket
2005 The Chronicles of Narnia
2006 Pan's Labyrinth
2007 La Vie En Rose
2008 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2009 Star Trek
2010 The Wolfman
2011 The Iron Lady
2012 Les Miserables
2013 The Dallas Buyer's Club
2015 Mad Max: Fury Road
2016 Suicide Squad
How many of these have you seen and do you understand Oscar's predilections in this category at all? Can you spot any hidden patterns besides the fact that Tilda Swinton has been in three winners (Narnia, Budapest, and Benjamin Button) !?!
Reader Comments (14)
I loved this post.
Best Actress, Best Makeup: 1989, 2007, 2011.
I believe it was introduced officially after people demanded it for THE ELEPHANT MAN. At least that's the story I heard, anyway.
This year will probably go to DARKEST HOUR, won't it?
I've seen 25 of these.
Good category. But it should have 5 nominees like all the others (except Picture...).
By the way, the seven shortlisted contenders for this year's Oscar have been announced. They are:
Bright
Darkest Hour
Ghost in the Shell
Guardians Vol. 2
I Tonya
Victoria & Abdul
Wonder
Let's campaign for this category to have 5 nominees!
Still can't believe Suicide Squad won last year ugh
It tickles me that Harry And The Hendersons is an Oscar-winning film. It's a classic!
A genuine question how does the Academy decide on the number of nominees per category, is it down to the Academy at large or down to each branch within?
Had to go look up The Wolfman - from only 7 years ago and I cannot recall this film at all. How strange.
Now that we know what we know about the making of Friday, it's amazing that it got made at all, much less won Oscars.
Also, Nat: I believe that's supposed to be Mad Max, not Max Max. ;)
My main quibble with the category is the same that I have with visual effects. Sometimes the Academy confuses most with best. Much of the time subtlety clearly is lost on the voters. Having said that, there have been some really deserving winners.
Ah, yes, the Best Makeup category. It has featured a lot of excellent winners over the years. I esp like when they give it to films like Grand Budapest Hotel & Iron Lady - where the makeup called for subtlety and finesse.
@DJDeeJay: The only thing I remember about The Wolfman is that it was a bad movie, memorable only for being tonally all over the map.
"The Wolfman" had some very impressive make up and fx-
THE WOLFMAN's win gave us the great gif of Cate Blanchett saying "That's gross", so...
My main quibble with the category is the same that I have with visual effects. Sometimes the Academy confuses most with best. Much of the time subtlety clearly is lost on the voters. Having said that, there have been some really deserving winners.
The larger the voter bloc whatever catches the consensuses immediately captures the bulk of the vote. It happens in all categories except when narrative and agenda dictate.
I remember reading about Ve Neill in a "Batman Forever" book I had as a kid. She was nominated for "Batman Returns" and "Mrs. Doubtfire."
The year of "Dallas Buyers Club" was great because they achieved it on such a miniscule budget. Also nominated that year was the "Jackass" Grandpa movie, as the artists had to create a look that would look real on film but also real in person or else the pranks wouldn't work.
Thank you for articles like this and features like Blueprints and The Furniture that help us celebrate all of the different elements that make films so great!