Art Director's Guild Nods: Mank, Mulan, Palm Springs, and more...

by Nathaniel R

Mank (in color on the actual set)

The Art Director's Guild have announced their nominations for the 2020 film year and 2021 ceremony which will be virtual on April 10th this year. As per usual the guild awards usually do a better job of showing us what the industry is actually watching and what's leading for Best Picture rather than what's happening in their own fields. Like Chicago 7 as one of the five very best Production designed Period films? Er okay Hollywood, but have you seen... Emma? Personal History of David Copperfield? First Cow? Shirley? Ammonite? This is not a knock on the talented designer but there just isn't as much to work with when you're doing courtrooms and offices.

But enough griping. Here are the nominees in their four categories after the jump and if Daniel has written a piece on this particular achievement in his column "The Furniture" it's linked...

Period Film 

MulanTrial of Chicago 7

• Mank – Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Production Designer: Mark Ricker
• Mulan – Production Designer: Grant Major
• News of the World – Production Designer: David Crank
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Production Designer: Shane Valentino

This is good news for Mulan (though how did they decide it was period rather than fantasy?) and Trial of Chicago 7. The other three were obviously going to land with this guild in this category regardless. Generally about 3 of these nominees each year transfer to Oscar nods.

Fantasy Film

Birds of PreyTenet

• Birds of Prey– Production Designer: K.K. Barrett
• Pinocchio – Production Designer: Dimitri Capuani
• Tenet – Production Designer: Nathan Crowley
• The Midnight Sky – Production Designer: Jim Bissell
• Wonder Woman 1984 – Production Designer: Aline Bonetto

Hmmm. We still haven't been able to see Pinocchio (only in theaters which are not open yet in NYC) but the industry obviously likes its look. Nominees in this category do show up in the Oscar race, though generally only one or two of them will make it. It's worth noting that the original Wonder Woman also received a nomination in this category from the ADG but it did not transfer to Oscar love so it would be a miracle if the less well regarded sequel did, even with the new design challenge of the 1980s.

Contemporary Film

Palm Springsi'm thinking of ending things

• Da 5 Bloods – Production Designer: Wynn Thomas
• I’m Thinking of Ending Things – Production Designer: Molly Hughes
• Palm Springs – Production Designer: Jason Kisvarday
• Promising Young Woman – Production Designer: Michael T. Perry
• The Prom – Production Designer: Jamie Walker McCall 

I don't know how you watch The Father with both eyeballs and a brain and then not include it in a contemporary film list for this particular craft but perhaps Hollywood has already resigned it to "acting triumph only" bin... which is a shame. Nice get for I'm Thinking of Ending Things (which almost made my 12 best list in this particular category) and a bit of a surprise with Palm Springs.

Rarely do any of these nominees cross over to Oscar; the Academy generally has trouble seeing worth in the "eye candy" categories (costume design / art direction) when it comes to contemporary-set films. 

Animated Film

Shaun the Sheep Farmageddon

• A Shawn the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon – Production Designer: Matt Perry
• Onward– Production Designer: Noah Klocek
• Soul – Production Designer: Steve Pilcher
• The Croods: A New Age – Production Designer: Nate Wragg
• Wolfwalkers – Production Designers: Ross Stewart, Tomm Moore, Maria Pareja

The guilds very rarely let us know what foreign animated titles are landing with the Academy so we'll maintain hope that something other than Hollywood fare will be nominated for Best Animated Feature. But perhaps Shawn the Sheep (Britain) and Wolfwalkers (Ireland) will be enough "international" flavor for the animated branch this year?  (Note that Over the Moon is missing. We're beginning to wonder if we've overestimated it in the Oscar competition since it also didn't make the Best Original Song finals.)

No animated film has ever been nominated in the Production Design Oscar category, not even stop-motion films which have 3D construction and actual set decoration.

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN FOR OSCAR?

If you're not nominated with the ADG it's very difficult to land an Oscar nomination. That's happened to only 3 films in the past 11 years. Here's what the crossover stats look like from 2010 through 2019. 

2019: Oscar chose 4 from ADG's period pieces, none from fantasy, 1 from contemporary
2018: Oscar chose 3 from ADG's period pieces, 2 from fantasy, none from contemporary
2017: Oscar chose 3 from ADG's period pieces, 2 from fantasy, none from contemporary
2016: atypical year Oscar chose 1 from ADG's period pieces, 3 from fantasy, and 1 from contemporary
2015: Oscar chose 3 from ADG's period pieces, 1 each from their contemporary and fantasy selections
2014: Oscar chose 2 from ADG's period pieces, 2 film from fantasy, none from contemporary. They filled the remaining spot with a film ADG had not selected (Mr Turner)
2013: Oscar chose 3 from ADG's period pieces, 1 each from their contemporary and fantasy selections
2012: Oscar chose 3 from ADG's period pieces, 2 from fantasy, none from contemporary
2011: Oscar chose 2 from ADG's period pieces, 1 from fantasy, none from contemporary, and 2 films the ADG had not selected (Midnight in Paris & War Horse)
2010: Oscar chose 2 from ADG's period pieces, 3 from fantasy, none from contemporary.

In case you missed it, here is my personal ballot for Best Production Design as well as our Oscar predictions which we might need to adjust given this new information.

Comments

[Nicolas Mancuso]

Do you have any idea why there's been no discussion at all of Jingle Jangle in this category? I thought the sets were as big and beautiful and colourful as the costumes.

[Suzanne]

Seeing that still of MANK now makes me wish the film had been colorized.

[Antônio]

I would switch Chicago 7 for Rebecca in the period category, and Midnight Sky for Jingle Jangle in fantasy/sci-fi. But at least we don’t have Hillbilly Elegy.

[Jesus Alonso]

I think that Oscar's biggest snub in Production Design, in the last 10 years, was the insanely detailed work at The LEGO Movie... I mean, think of the challenge and how successful and jaw-dropping the results were.

[Steve G]

I'd be predicting MANK, MA RAINEY and NEWS OF THE WORLD (from Period) and TENET and MIDNIGHT SKY (from Fantasy) for Oscar nominations, with MULAN as alternate.

[Glenn Dunks]

What a shame about THE FATHER, but I'm really hoping BIRDS OF PREY can get *something*. Really disappointing if something that visually committed couldn't get anything because WB decided to not campaign.

As for JINGLE JANGLE... I wonder if it has to do with the way the film is *lit*, which is to say it's overlit like almost everything on Netflix that doesn't come from a Fincher or a Scorcese. Which doesn't help the sets which are a lot but also look very much like sets which probably doesn't help.

[NATHANIEL R]

Glenn -- i dont know... "serious" filmmakers love under-lighting so much that at times I'm (slightly) relieved when things are overlit. I wish there was more of a balance out there since dark/hard to see shoudln't b considered artful automatically and overlit does tend to flatten things in dull ways.