Better Luck Next Time, Nathan Crowley

by Cláudio Alves

If Sarah Greenwood wins the Oscar for Barbie, Nathan Crowley will officially become the most nominated production designer without a single win. You may be familiar with his name from many Christopher Nolan pictures since he's worked on most of them. But most is not all, and this past year, the British production designer was absent from the Oppenheimer credits. Ruth De Jong did that job and is now up for an Oscar thanks to it. Crowley, however, was less fortunate. Instead of the blockbuster biopic, he was busy re-imagining the wondrous world of Roald Dahl for Wonka – new on PVOD if you want a taste of Chalamet…

This season may prove that the Academy's Production Design branch wasn't necessarily in love with Crowley. Maybe they're just passionate about Nolan. Then again, Wonka is a very atypical Nathan Crowley project. Though some of his first film credits included Spielberg's Hook and Coppola's wild take on Dracula, he soon left fantasy for dark dramas and historical grittiness. Some of the directors he worked with in the 90s include Mel Gibson, Abel Ferrara, Richard Donner, Alan J. Pakula, and John Carpenter, oscillating between film and TV, primarily within realistic registers. The new millennium brought with it new opportunities, specifically Crowley's first collaboration with Christopher Nolan, fresh off Memento's success and ready for bigger things. 

Between 2002 and 2005, Crowley helped create the frozen noir of Insomnia and Batman Begins' vision of Gotham City. 2006 would be a turning point for the designer, when he worked on Nolan's Victorian nightmare, The Prestige, and The Lake House's dream of American Modernism. It seems silly to say so, but the romantic drama is almost more critical for Crowley's journey than the film that got him his first Oscar nomination. In it, he got to play with clean lines, a love song of glass and steel, boxes within boxes, spare décor within sets dominated by blocks, frames. It certainly looks like he embraced a new aesthetic moving into The Dark Knight and all the Nolan projects that came after.

Beyond that director, other notable titles include Mann's Public Enemies, the box office catastrophe of John Carter, the Westworld pilot, The Greatest Showman, and First Man, for which he earned his only non-Nolan Oscar nomination. He'll probably be back in the race with the Wicked movies, but it would be something if the first of the director's films to win the Best Production Design Oscar were one where Crowley wasn't involved. Oh well, as the title of this post states, better luck next time. In the meantime, why don't we look back at Crowley's six nominations, who they competed against, and what films bested him in the race for gold?

THE PRESTIGE (2006)
Set Decoration by Julie Ochipinti

Winner: Eugenio Caballero & Pilar Revuelta, PAN'S LABYRINTH

Other Nominees: DREAMGIRLS, THE GOOD SHEPHERD, and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
Set Decoration by Peter Lando

Winner: Donald Graham Burt & Victor J. Zolfo, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Other Nominees: CHANGELING, THE DUCHESS, and REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

INTERSTELLAR (2014)
Set Decoration by Gary Fettis

Winner: Adam Stockhausen & Anna Pinnock, THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

Other Nominees: THE IMITATION GAME, INTO THE WOODS, and MR. TURNER

DUNKIRK (2017)
Set Decoration by Gary Fettis

Winner: Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau & Jeff Melvin, THE SHAPE OF WATER

Other Nominees: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, BLADE RUNNER 2049, and DARKEST HOUR

FIRST MAN (2018)
Set Decoration by Kathy Lucas

Winner: Hannah Beachler & Jay Hart, BLACK PANTHER

Other Nominees: THE FAVOURITE, MARY POPPINS RETURNS, and ROMA

TENET (2020)
Set Decoration by Kathy Lucas

Winner: Donald Graham Burt & Jan Pascale, MANK

Other Nominees: THE FATHER, MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM, and NEWS OF THE WORLD

Did Nathan Crowley ever deserve to win the Oscar? Should he have more nominations than he's received? 

Comments

[ScottC]

I think he probably should've won for Dunkirk (although I can see an argument for Blade Runner 2049 - I'd take either over The Shape of Water). And while I've never seen The Duchess, I'd have picked him over any of the other nominees in the year of The Dark Knight.

[Wae Mest]

He should have won for the ingenious FIRST MAN, although that lineup was stellar. His noms for THE DARK KNIGHT and DUNKIRK are silly.

I hate that the lineups for production design and costume design match 5/5 this year, which is the first time ever? Certainly OPPENHEIMER belongs in neither!

[Peggy Sue]

Not over Budapest!

I really liked this piece. He was not on my radar but I think he's work in Dark Knight and First Man is very strong.

[Glenn Dunks]

I never would have remembered that TENET was nominated for production design.

[cal roth]

First Man, easily his best work

[Joe G.]

I really like Crowley and Nolan's work together.

Crowley has lost to some really worthy comeptitors. In particular, I think it's hard to argue against Grand Budapest and Black Panthers. Pan's Labyrinth is also incredibly strong and a great genre win.

I think I would have given it to Crowley for the Dark Knight. It's hard to overstate just how incredible the Tumbler batmobile and the room it was in. He also did a great job giving us a very different types of gotham than we'd seen before.

The Prestige is also really strong. I just saw that, and even though he had no chance to win, that movie really works because of its production design.

[Estella Seaton]

My favorite movie is INTERSTELLAR, I can say that I watched this movie with excitement, I think everyone who loves science fiction should watch this movie. basketball legends