The Best Day on the Set of "Saving Mr Banks"

Costume Designer Daniel Orlandi is guest-blogging all day!

by Daniel Orlandi

I had been preparing for the high-pressure two days of shooting at DisneyLand for several months. There were about 800 extras including 250 kids that had to be costumed and the research had been surprising. People used to actually dress up for a day in the park back in 1962. We had everyone in colorful 1960s California finery. When dressing extras I like to give everyone a character — so no souvenirs or T shirts!  We found a website where people posted their old personal photos of Disneyland. That was invaluable.

We also had to dress the park employees. Recreating Disney’s 1960s walk-around characters proved even more challenging...

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Costume sketches for film characters

Costume Designer Daniel Orlandi is guest-blogging all day!

by Daniel Orlandi

I thought I'd share a few random sketches from past movies and TV specials.

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Busty Rusty in Flawless
Director Joel Schumacher was a former costume designer. So he was great to work with. He gave me a lot of confidence as a designer. Robert DeNiro recommended me for the job...

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Near Misses: Emma Thompson in "Saving Mr. Banks"

by Cláudio Alves

As we know, the precursors don't always matter. Many an actor was Oscar-nominated without a SAG, Golden Globe or BAFTA nod to recommend them. Of course, for every surprise inclusion, there's a shocking snub to contend with. There are those performers that seemed like near locks up until nomination morning. When they failed to stick the landing, predictors were surprised and fans thrown into paroxysms of outrage. These near misses can be precious jewels of acting that were unforgivably shortchanged, while, other times, we can count ourselves spared a nomination for mediocre work.

In 2013, Emma Thompson was nominated for the SAG, the Globes, the BAFTA, the Critics Choice Award and even won the National Board of Review prize for her performance as P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks. The Academy, however, ignored her. Compared to some of the actual Oscar nominees, Thompson's work is, at the very least, an impressive achievement and deserving of recognition…

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7 Costume Sights to See Before The Oscars

I sent Anne Marie to the FIDM Museum to check out this year's costume design exhibit. Here's her report. (I'm seething with jealousy right now!) -Nathaniel

Michael Wilkinson with some of his Oscar nominated costumes for American Hustle

The advantage to being a cinephile in Los Angeles is that there’s a wealth of Oscars-related activities around this time to check out. Costume lovers, rejoice! The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Museum has launched the 22nd Annual Art Of Motion Picture Costume Design. Here are 7 things you’ll see if you get a chance to go:

1) Sydney’s physics-defying gown from American Hustle - Which is, upon closer inspection, almost see-through. Kudos to Amy Adams and Michael Wilkinson (Oscar-nominated) for pulling off Sydney’s daring looks, which seem all the more daunting to flaunt in person. (There just must have been so much boob-tape.) It's impossible to tell the period pieces from the original creations, which is more than can be said for...

2) Jay Gatsby’s surprisingly striking pink suit - Away from the noisy CGI of Baz Lurhman’s anachronistic adaptation, I was shocked to realize that this suit is dapper as hell. The color is absolutely beautiful, not the alternately washed-out-or-bubblegum pink it had seemed to be in the film. DiCaprio should ask Catherine Martin (nominated for The Great Gatsby) to design his Oscars tux, because otherwise I guarantee he won’t look nearly so good.

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Editors' Picks.

Jose here. Today we have the announcement from the American Cinema Editors who - shocker - went for more of the same movies! For almost 40 years, the Eddies were awarded to a single motion picture (their first winner was The Parent Trap and their last was the acclaimed Saving Private Ryan) but then they decided that they too needed to include as many movies as possible and split their award into Drama and Musical & Comedy. Now excuse me if I sound ignorant (I did go to film school and all...) but isn't editing exactly the same for both? It's not like you use different equipment and/or need to have different skills to do each, right? Isn't the editor's job actually (along with the director of course) to decide just how funny or how dramatic each movie will be? So I really don't get why guilds need to invent such categories. I don't see the ASC doing that, but god I love the cinematographers for being the classiest guild...anyway enough with my complaining.

Here are the nominees for this year's Eddies:

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