by Nathaniel R
"Cyrano" with Peter Dinklage was a hit Off Broadway. Will this musical version transfer well to the screen?
By now you've gotten a sense from the predictions for most of the craft categories which films we think Oscar voters might be fond of come January when they're voting on nominations. Now let's talk more in depth about two of our favourite races to keep eagle eyes on each year: Costumes and Cinematography.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Of Oscar's four favourite living costume designers -- Sandy Powell (15 nominations and 3 wins), Colleen Atwood (12/4), Jenny Beavan (10/2), Milena Canonero (9/4), and Jenny Beavan (10/2) -- only Colleen Atwood is sitting out this cinematic year...
Beavan is best positioned for a return to the Oscar stage at the moment given that her film, Cruella, is a veritable FYC ad for this particular category. It's a risky call but at this VERY early juncture, we think Beavan is the only member of that beloved quartet that will be nominated this year. Why? It's not for reasons of quality -- we haven't seen the films yet and few have -- but because the other films arriving this year are offering up potentially grand sartorial showcases for less famous designers.
Consider Massimo Cantini Perrini who was up for the Oscar just last year for the Italian production of Pinocchio. We haven't yet seen any production stills from his latest, Cyrano, starring Peter Dinklage but they'll surely be reinventing the show with its transfer to the screen (they went for a minimalist look onstage). Two previous film versions of the story have scored with the Oscars: The 1950 American version won Best Actor (Jose Ferrer) and the 1990 French hit starring Gérard Depardieu scored an incredible 5 nominations (including Best Actor and Best Foreign Film) and won for Costumes.
Then there's Tony winner Paul Tazewell (Hamilton), who recently began to work in TV and movies. He did fine work on Harriet and is chasing that with the remake of West Side Story (the 1961 film was a champ in this category). He could easily factor in. If nominated he'd be the first black man to score in the category (Sharen Davis and Ruth E Carter, both nominated multiple times with Carter winning once, are the only previous black nominees).
Ridley Scott's favourite designer, fellow Brit Janty Yates, has only been up for the Oscar once a long time ago (Gladiator, and she won) but she could return with House of Gucci because films ABOUT fashion houses and designers often factor into this category for obvious reasons. Phantom Thread and Coco Before Chanel are good examples of this.
Canadian costume designer Luis Sequiera recently nabbed his first nomination for The Shape of Water and he could repeat with Nightmare Alley which gives him a much more versatile and glamorous costuming milieu (circuses and nightclubs and three stellar actresses to costume). His previous collab with Del Toro took place mostly in science labs and apartments with cleaning ladies as its main characters.
Those are just a few of the possibilities in what could be a fantastic competition.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Most of Oscar's "always a threat" DPs (Lubeszki, Richardson, Deakins) are sitting out this cinematic year which theoretically could make this race hotly competitive. We always hope the craft categories are nail-biters as lazy voting (Best Picture for everything!) is the worst.
Last year's hard-to-fathom win for Mank over the gloriously expressive natural light of Nomadland reminds us that members of the Cinematography branch are suckers for black and white cinema They'll even stump for a provoking strange homosocial nightmare movie if it's in black and white; Not that The Lighthouse didn't deserve the honor. So we have to consider both Joel Coen's The Tragedy of MacBeth (shot by frequent nominee Bruno Delbonnel) and Rebecca Hall's Passing (shot by Eduard Grau of A Single Man fame) as viable contenders even though their films are sight unseen.
Otherwise we're most curious about how the following efforts will fare...
The sci-fi epic Dune is shot by Australian DP Greig Fraser. His list of credits since breaking through is truly impressive and shows a shocking versatility in light, feel, and composition. Bright Star, Let Me In, Snow White and the Huntsman, Zero Dark Thirty, Lion, and Vice were all shot by the same man. We look forward to everything he does but we must admit that Oscar has been stingy. He's received just one nomination thus far (Lion). Dune might lead to his second nomination but, then again, it might not.
Edgar Wright must be a fan of South Korean cinema because he hired the great Chung Chung-hoon (The Handmaiden, Thirst, Stoker, Oldboy) to shoot his nightmarish 60s themed Last Night in Soho. The project might be too out there for voters but we're getting Black Swan vibes from the trailer so if it wins hearts in the mainstream, perhaps the Cinematography branch will notice this overseas master of the craft?
Speaking of masters of the craft, French DP Claire Mathon, recently scored a double-whammy breakthrough after years of mostly under the radar work (at least here in the US) with Atlantics and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Both were more than worthy of cinematography accolades to go along with their rave reviews overall. Before that she notably shot the visually expressive sexually explicit Stranger by the Lake. Can she become the second woman to score a Cinematography nod for her work on the Princess Diana biopic Spencer ? (It's been four years since Rachel Morrison finally busted up that historically all male Best Cinematography party with Mudbound.)
What do you think of the predictions thus far? Best Picture & Best Director are up next.