Continuing our “IF THE OSCARS WERE TOMORROW” series, let’s take a closer look at the Production Design category, a race that outside of one sure-thing is still very much fluid. Here’s who we think would get a nomination if the race ended tomorrow.
Ground rules to keep in mind. For the best possible accuracy, we’ll be considering not just every film that’s opened theatrically to date, but also every film SCREENED thus far that has both secured distribution and is already dated for release. These screenings may include any of the big festivals from the first half of the year or earlier. Films exclusively screened privately for the industry or press will not count. *
Production Design
1 – Sinners (Warner Bros.)
2 – Train Dreams (Netflix)
3 – Nouvelle Vague (Netflix)
4 – Kiss of the Spider Woman (Lionsgate/Roadside)
5 – The Legend of Ochi (A24)
Hannah Beachler who won an Oscar for the production design on Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther” should easily be a lock here for “Sinners,” especially after being overlooked for the film’s sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Outside of that, the other strong contenders here will have to compete to keep their slots.
The extensive outdoor scenery of Washington state and the passage of time are both characters in the period drama “Train Dreams.” Spotlighting this natural beauty and recreating these transitioning moments in US history make the film a stand out in this category. Especially if enough voters manage to admire these qualities on a large enough screen the same way Sundance audience members did, expect it to linger in their memories by the time ballots are due.
Another Netflix title should also figure in this race. “Nouvelle Vague” drops the viewer right into the moody monochromatic world of the French New Wave. It’s a meticulously researched and crafted recreation, from reprinting graphics of the era to location scouting the original locales. Remember that, unlike “Train Dreams,” a lot of this visual reference can not only be studied by the film’s designers using the extensive footage available from the 1960s and the French New Wave, but also scrutinized by viewers and professionals who have access to the same material. Our gut says the work will hold up agains the real thing for members of the branch. It doesn’t hurt that its black-and-white visuals will help it stand out among the other contenders.
On the other side of the spectrum we have the vibrant Technicolor world of the Sundance premiering “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” Like “Nouvelle Vague,” this film is also referencing and memorializing a classic cinematic landscape – the grandeur and exuberance of the Golden Age Hollywood Musical. It’s a lush, ornate rendering that includes Art Deco ballrooms and sultry tropic exteriors. What’s more, because the film unfolds in a dual universe, the heightened, elaborate musical sequences function as a jarring visual counterpoint to the drab, linear, stone artifice of the enclosing prison. It’s a juxtaposition voters will likely admire. Best of all, the film also benefits from having a strong candidate in consideration for costume design. Costumes and production design behave like sister categories, wherein you’re bound to see crossover nominees in each. Some of the other titles who look good for a production design nomination may fall short of costume recognition, making “Kiss of the Spider Woman” one of the rare titles to have a foot in both races. It helps that of the projected production design nominees “Kiss of the Spider Woman” is the one that also caters most significantly to the costume design of a female character.
The final spot is the most open. An argument will be made for Oscar winner Adam Stockhausen and his intricate work on yet another Wes Anderson collaboration – “The Phoenician Scheme.” However, Wes Anderson’s films have strictly been all-or-nothing at the Oscars, despite the brilliance of their design and Stockhausen’s growing reputation among his colleagues. Unfortunately, it’s safer at this point to predict another snub for a Wes Anderson film in this category.
If voters were forced to dig a little deeper for a film to nominate, perhaps the best option to single out is A24’s overlooked “The Legend of Ochi.” Regrettably, the film did not make the splash that the mini-major originally intended when they premiered it at Sundance. Despite a warm reception there, it fell flat with the usually reliable niche of dedicated A24 ticket buyers. Nonetheless, it’s the kind of singular, imaginative world-building that production designers may find more worthy than other routine fare. It helps that “The Legend of Ochi” could also be championed by the visual effects branch. Like costumes, production design and visual effects are also sister categories, so one or two nominees should show up in both. Although we can count on blockbuster superhero flicks to show up in visual effects, it will be difficult for either “Superman” or “Fantastic Four: First Steps” to ever break into this category. Recently, the only time the high-budgeted work on superhero films have figured into the production design race was for the Best Picture-nominated “Black Panther” back in 2018. So even the retro-period work on “Fantastic Four: First Steps” is at a disadvantage.