Every year, leading up to the Oscars, I break down every single category. It’s essentially a precursor to my picks. I explain all the stuff that needs to be explained in detail, so when the time comes to make my picks, I can refer to it as a shorthand.
In the articles, I’ll go over each category’s history, show previous winners and nominees, then list the current year’s nominees, talk about the guild history, if it’s important, what the guilds went with this year, whether that means anything for that particular category — all the background you need to know to make an informed decision. And then, once that’s all done, I’ll rank the nominees in that category in order of their likelihood to win, based on how I see it at the present.
The only difference between this year and previous years is that this year, I’ll be doing only one category a day instead of multiple categories. This is so I can take more time with each category and not stuff a bunch into a single article for information overload, and, simply, so I don’t have to do as much work. Though it is also easier this way. One category, one day.
Today we do Best Production Design, one of my favorites of the “lesser” categories. Because who doesn’t love a good set or location? Typically this is an interesting category, since it doesn’t always go the way you expect. (See: Academy Award Winner Alice in Wonderland.) Last year, there were three choices people thought would win, and the winner was something nobody expected. This year could end up being one of those same scenarios.
|
Year |
Best Production Design Winners |
Other Nominees |
|
1927-1928 |
The Dove & Tempest |
Seventh Heaven Sunrise |
|
1928-1929 |
The Bridge of San Luis Rey |
Dynamite Alibi The Awakening The Patriot Sunrise |
|
1929-1930 |
King of Jazz |
Bulldog Drummond The Love Parade Sally The Vagabond King |
|
1930-1931 |
Cimarron |
Just Imagine Morocco Svengali Whoopee! |
|
1931-1932 |
Transatlantic |
À nous la liberté Arrowsmith |
|
1932-1933 |
Cavalcade |
A Farewell to Arms When Ladies Meet |
|
1934 |
The Merry Widow |
The Gay Divorcee The Affairs of Cellini |
|
1935 |
The Dark Angel |
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer Top Hat |
|
1936 |
Dodsworth |
Anthony Adverse The Great Ziegfeld Lloyd’s of London The Magnificent Brute Romeo and Juliet Winterset |
|
1937 |
Lost Horizon |
Conquest A Damsel in Distress Dead End Every Day’s a Holiday The Life of Emile Zola Manhattan Merry-Go-Round The Prisoner of Zenda Souls at Sea Vogues of 1938 Wee Willie Winkie You’re a Sweetheart |
|
1938 |
The Adventures of Robin Hood |
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Alexander’s Ragtime Band Algiers Carefree The Goldwyn Follies Holiday If I Were King Mad About Music Marie Antoinette Merrily We Live |
|
1939 |
Gone With the Wind |
Beau Geste Captain Fury First Love Love Affair Man of Conquest Mr. Smith Goes to Washington The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex The Rains Came Stagecoach The Wizard of Oz Wuthering Heights |
|
1940 |
Black and White: Pride and Prejudice Color: The Thief of Bagdad |
Black and White: Arise, My Love Arizona The Boys from Syracuse Dark Command Foreign Correspondent Lillian Russell My Favorite Wife My Son, My Son Our Town Rebecca The Sea Hawk The Westerner Color: Bitter Sweet Down Argentine Way North West Mounted Police |
|
1941 |
Black and White: How Green Was My Valley Color: Blossoms in the Dust |
Black and White: Citizen Kane The Flame of New Orleans Hold Back the Dawn Ladies in Retirement The Little Foxes Sergeant York Son of Monte Cristo Sundown That Hamilton Woman When Ladies Meet Color: Blood and Sand Louisiana Purchase |
|
1942 |
Black and White: This Above All Color: My Gal Sal |
Black and White: George Washington Slept Here The Magnificent Ambersons The Pride of the Yankes Random Harvest The Shanghai Gesture Silver Queen The Spoilers Take a Letter, Darling The Talk of the Town Color: Arabian Nights Captains of the Clouds Jungle Book Reap the Wild Wind |
|
1943 |
Black and White: The Song of Bernadette Color: Phantom of the Opera |
Black and White: Five Graves to Cairo Fight for Freedom Madame Curie Mission to Moscow The North Star Color: For Whom the Bell Tolls The Gang’s All Here This Is the Army Thousands Cheer |
|
1944 |
Black and White: Gaslight Color: Wilson |
Black and White: Address Unknown The Adventures of Mark Twain Casanova Brown Laura No Time for Love Since You Went Away Step Lively Color: The Climax Cover Girl The Desert Song Kismet Lady in the Dark The Princess and the Pirate |
|
1945 |
Black and White: Blood on the Sun Color: Frenchman’s Creek |
Black and White: Experiment Perilous The Keys of the Kingdom Love Letters The Picture of Dorian Gray Color: Leave Her to Heaven National Velvet San Antonio A Thousand and One Nights |
|
1946 |
Black and White: Anna and the King of Siam Color: The Yearling |
Black and White: Kitty The Razor’s Edge Color: Caesar and Cleopatra Henry V |
|
1947 |
Black and White: Great Expectations Color: Black Narcissus |
Black and White: The Foxes of Harrow Color: Life with Father |
|
1948 |
Black and White: Hamlet Color: The Red Shoes |
Black and White: Johnny Belinda Color: Joan of Arc |
|
1949 |
Black and White: The Heiress Color: Little Women |
Black and White: Come to the Stable Madame Bovary Color: Adventures of Don Juan Sarabond for Dead Lovers |
|
1950 |
Black and White: Sunset Boulevard Color: Samson and Delilah |
Black and White: All About Eve The Red Danube Color: Annie Get Your Gun Destination Moon |
|
1951 |
Black and White: A Streetcar Named Desire Color: An American in Paris |
Black and White: Fourteen Hours House on Telegraph Hill La Ronde Too Young to Kiss Color: David and Bathsheba On the Riviera Quo Vadis The Tales of Hoffmann |
|
1952 |
Black and White: The Bad and the Beautiful Color: Moulin Rouge |
Black and White: Carrie My Cousin Rachel Rashomon Viva Zapata! Color: Hans Christian Andersen The Merry Widow The Quiet Man The Snows of Kilimanjaro |
|
1953 |
Black and White: Julius Caesar Color: The Robe |
Black and White: Martin Luther The President’s Lady Roman Holiday Titanic Color: Knights of the Round Table Lili The Story of Three Loves Young Bess |
|
1954 |
Black and White: On the Waterfront Color: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
Black and White: The Country Girl Executive Suite Le Plaisir Sabrina Color: Brigadoon Désirée Red Garters A Star is Born |
|
1955 |
Black and White: The Rose Tattoo Color: Picnic |
Black and White: Blackboard Jungle I’ll Cry Tomorrow The Man with the Golden Arm Marty Color: Daddy Long Legs Guys and Dolls Love is a Many-Splendored Thing To Catch a Thief |
|
1956 |
Black and White: Somebody Up There Likes Me Color: The King and I |
Black and White: Seven Samurai The Proud and the Profane The Solid Gold Cadillac Teenage Rebel Color: Around the World in 80 Days Giant Lust for Life The Ten Commandments |
|
1957 |
Sayonara |
Funny Face Les Girls Pal Joey Raintree County |
|
1958 |
Gigi |
Auntie Mame Bell, Book and Candle A Certain Smile Vertigo |
|
1959 |
Black and White: The Diary of Anne Frank Color: Ben-Hur |
Black and White: Career The Last Angry Man Some Like It Hot Suddenly, Last Summer Color: The Big Fisherman Journey to the Center of the Earth North by Northwest Pillow Talk |
|
1960 |
Black and White: The Apartment Color: Spartacus |
Black and White: The Facts of Life Psycho Sons and Lovers Visit to a Small Planet Color: Cimarron It Started in Naples Pepe Sunrise at Campobello |
|
1961 |
Black and White: The Hustler Color: West Side Story |
Black and White: The Absent-Minded Professor The Children’s Hour Judgment at Nuremberg La Dolce Vita Color: Breakfast at Tiffany’s El Cid Flower Drum Song Summer and Smoke |
|
1962 |
Black and White: To Kill a Mockingbird Color: Lawrence of Arabia |
Black and White: The Music Man Mutiny on the Bounty That Touch of Mink The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm Color: Days of Wine and Roses The Longest Day Period of Adjustment The Pigeon That Took Rome |
|
1963 |
Black and White: America America Color: Cleopatra |
Black and White: 8 ½ Hud Love with the Proper Stranger Twilight of Honor Color: The Cardinal Come Blow Your Horn How the West Was Won Tom Jones |
|
1964 |
Black and White: Zorba the Greek Color: My Fair Lady |
Black and White: The Americanization of Emily Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte The Night of the Iguana Seven Days in May Color: Becket Mary Poppins The Unsinkable Molly Brown What a Way to Go! |
|
1965 |
Black and White: Ship of Fools Color: Doctor Zhivago |
Black and White: King Rat A Patch of Blue The Slender Thread The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Color: The Agony and the Ecstasy The Greatest Story Ever Told Inside Daisy Clover The Sound of Music |
|
1966 |
Black and White: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Color: Fantastic Voyage |
Black and White: The Fortune Cookie The Gospel According to St. Matthew Is Paris Burning? Mister Buddwing Color: Gambit Juliet of the Spirits The Oscar The Sand Pebbles |
|
1967 |
Camelot |
Doctor Dolittle Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner The Taming of the Shrew Thoroughly Modern Millie |
|
1968 |
Oliver! |
The Shoes of the Fisherman Star! 2001: A Space Odyssey War and Peace |
|
1969 |
Hello, Dolly! |
Anne of the Thousand Days Gaily, Gaily Sweet Charity They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? |
|
1970 |
Patton |
Airport The Molly Maguires Scrooge Tora! Tora! Tora! |
|
1971 |
Nicholas and Alexandra |
The Andromeda Strain Bedknobs and Broomsticks Fiddler on the Roof Mary, Queen of Scots |
|
1972 |
Cabaret |
Lady Sings the Blues The Poseidon Adventure Travels with My Aunt Young Winston |
|
1973 |
The Sting |
Brother Sun, Sister Moon The Exorcist Tom Sawyer The Way We Were |
|
1974 |
The Godfather Part II |
Chinatown Earthquake The Island at the Top of the World The Towering Inferno |
|
1975 |
Barry Lyndon |
The Hindenburg The Man Who Would Be King Shampoo The Sunshine Boys |
|
1976 |
All the President’s Men |
The Incredible Sarah The Last Tycoon Logan’s Run The Shootist |
|
1977 |
Star Wars |
Airport ‘77 Close Encounters of the Third Kind The Spy Who Loved Me The Turning Point |
|
1978 |
Heaven Can Wait |
The Brink’s Job California Suite Interiors The Wiz |
|
1979 |
All That Jazz |
Alien Apocalypse Now The China Syndrome Star Trek |
|
1980 |
Tess |
Coal Miner’s Daughter The Elephant Man The Empire Strikes Back Kagemusha |
|
1981 |
Raiders of the Lost Ark |
The French Lieutenant’s Woman Heaven’s Gate Ragtime Reds |
|
1982 |
Gandhi |
Annie Blade Runner La traviata Victor Victoria |
|
1983 |
Fanny and Alexander |
Return of the Jedi The Right Stuff Terms of Endearment Yentl |
|
1984 |
Amadeus |
The Cotton Club The Natural A Passage to India 2010 |
|
1985 |
Out of Africa |
Brazil The Color Purple Ran Witness |
|
1986 |
A Room with a View |
Aliens The Color of Money Hannah and Her Sisters The Mission |
|
1987 |
The Last Emperor |
Empire of the Sun Hope and Glory Radio Days The Untouchables |
|
1988 |
Dangerous Liaisons |
Beaches Rain Man Tucker: The Man and His Dream Who Framed Roger Rabbit |
|
1989 |
Batman |
The Abyss The Adventures of Baron Munchausen Driving Miss Daisy Glory |
|
1990 |
Dick Tracy |
Cyrano de Bergerac Dances with Wolves The Godfather Part III Hamlet |
|
1991 |
Bugsy |
Barton Fink The Fisher King Hook The Prince of Tides |
|
1992 |
Howards End |
Bram Stoker’s Dracula Chaplin Toys Unforgiven |
|
1993 |
Schindler’s List |
Addams Family Values The Age of Innocence Orlando The Remains of the Day |
|
1994 |
The Madness of King George |
Bullets Over Broadway Forrest Gump Interview with the Vampire Legends of the Fall |
|
1995 |
Restoration |
Apollo 13 Babe A Little Princess Richard III |
|
1996 |
The English Patient |
The Birdcage Evita Hamlet William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet |
|
1997 |
Titanic |
Titanic Gattaca Kundun L.A. Confidential Men in Black |
|
1998 |
Shakespeare in Love |
Elizabeth Pleasantville Saving Private Ryan What Dreams May Come |
|
1999 |
Sleepy Hollow |
Anna and the King The Cider House Rules The Talented Mr. Ripley Topsy-Turvy |
|
2000 |
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon |
Gladiator How the Grinch Stole Christmas Quills Vatel |
|
2001 |
Moulin Rouge! |
Amélie Gosford Park Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers |
|
2002 |
Chicago |
Frida Gangs of New York The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Road to Perdition |
|
2003 |
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |
Girl with a Pearl Earring The Last Samurai Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Seabiscuit |
|
2004 |
The Aviator |
Finding Neverland Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events The Phantom of the Opera A Very Long Engagement |
|
2005 |
Memoirs of a Geisha |
Good Night, and Good Luck. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix King Kong Pride & Prejudice |
|
2006 |
Pan’s Labyrinth |
Dreamgirls The Good Shepherd Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest The Prestige |
|
2007 |
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street |
American Gangster Atonement The Golden Compass There Will Be Blood |
|
2008 |
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button |
Changeling The Dark Knight The Duchess Revolutionary Road |
|
2009 |
Avatar |
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus Nine Sherlock Holmes The Young Victoria |
|
2010 |
Alice in Wonderland |
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Inception The King’s Speech True Grit |
|
2011 |
Hugo |
The Artist Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Midnight in Paris War Horse |
|
2012 |
Lincoln |
Anna Karenina The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Les Misérables Life of Pi
|
Best Production Design
American Hustle
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
12 Years a Slave
First, to talk about the category — I think we were all surprised that Her got on. It’s somewhat pleasant, since I like to see that film get nominations, but I also wasn’t completely blown away by the design there. Saving Mr. Banks seemed like a lock until it got completely shut out of everything except Score. And The Hobbit is normally a lock for such things and also got left out. Otherwise, the category went pretty much as expected.
Historically, it’s hard to look at what ADG does with their awards, because they separate into three separate categories (Period, Fantasy and Contemporary), and the Oscar category mixes all three. Contemporary never wins, and in fact, Her is the first contemporary film to be nominated since The Birdcade in 1996.
And of the ADG winners since 2001:
Moulin Rouge matched.
Chicago did not (Two Towers won ADG, but that was before they separated Period and Fantasy).
Return of the King did.
The Aviator did not. (Lemony Snicket won ADG. But again, before they separated the categories.)
Memoirs of a Geisha did.
Then they split the categories. And…
Pan’s Labyrinth matched.
Sweeney Todd did not. (ADG went There Will Be Blood.)
Benjamin Button matched.
Avatar matched.
Alice in Wonderland did not.
Hugo matched.
And Lincoln did not. (ADG went Anna Karenina for Period.)
So last year is really the only year where Production Design didn’t match in a major case. The other two were Tim Burton wins, and they seem to love voting for Tim Burton movies in Production Design.
The ADG Awards happened a few days ago, and your winners were:
Period: (Gatsby, American Hustle, 12 Years, Mr. Banks, Llewyn Davis)
Fantasy: (Gravity, Hobbit, Oblivion, Star Trek, Elysium)
Contemporary: (August: Osage, Blue Jasmine, Captain Phillips, Her, Wolf of Wall Street)
So that does help with the rankings a bit.
Rankings:
5. Her – Contemporary never wins this category, and you’d have to be either playing a really big hunch, or crazy to vote for this. No way does this win. No freakin’ way. It’s easily #5, and that’s the only easy thing about this category.
4. American Hustle – I honestly had trouble with 4 through 1. I really don’t know where it’s going to go. There’s your three-way Best Picture logjam here, plus the “Tim Burton” nominee, of sorts. Theoretically, this could win this category, but I feel like it’s the weakest of the remaining nominees, and the fever that was around for this film a month ago seems to have faded. So it seemed like an obvious #4 of the remaining choices. Nothing would shock me in this category (though a Her win might), but I just can’t see this one walking away with Production Design given the other choices. That’s a lot of sweep voting going on. I don’t know. Maybe some people have this higher, but I don’t see it happening.
3. Gravity – Honestly, this should be #4, but people might actually sweep vote the tech categories for this one. I’m talking now in terms of likelihood to win, and not quality, since I think the thing that’ll keep this from winning (if it’s not sweep voted, and in that scenario, what are you gonna do?) is the same reason people might put it below American Hustle, which is, people will look at their ballots, and if they think about the category at all, they’re gonna go, “Well most of the movie was done CGI and green screen, and all there really is, production-wise, are a few model space shuttles. And only then, we’re in like, two. So I can’t really see them going for this in an open vote (outside of the sweep factor), just because so much of the film takes place in open space. I’m not shocked it was nominated, but I would be a little surprised to see it win, because then it means they didn’t think at all when they filled out their ballots. Though I will say, if this award does somehow go this film’s way, I’d keep my eyes peeled for a Best Picture win. This could be a swing category if it goes a certain way. Potentially.
2. 12 Years a Slave – Outside of Supporting Actress and Screenplay, this is really the only other category I can see this taking, outside of Picture, of course. I’ll leave Picture out, since that’s still a crap shoot. Right now, we assume no matter which way Picture goes, Director is going to Cuaron. And if it doesn’t, then that tells us which way Picture is going. This should win Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actress, based on precursors and all that. It’s not winning Supporting Actor (does anyone think that upset is coming? Anyone at all?), and it probably won’t win Editing (though that too would be a big sign of how the night is going to turn out). Which only leaves two categories — Production Design and Costume Design. So if they’re going to look to reward it somewhere, these are the two categories where it could happen. Plus, it’s 1870s America — they like that sort of thing. If anything has a chance at beating the #1, this is it, I feel. Personally, I don’t see what made the production design particularly award-worthy here, but that’s not my job right now. I’m only picking its likelihood to win. And I think this has a shot at being the winner of the category. It’s too early to tell, and the lack of an ADG win hurts, but I still think this has a shot in an open Oscar category. But I won’t consider it the favorite, because…
1. The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin won Production Design and Costume Design for Moulin Rouge! That film, though, was nominated for Best Picture. This is not. That said, the Production Design looked incredible here, and on achievement alone, this should probably be the winner. Will they go here? I don’t know. But I assume that Luhrmann might be on that Tim Burton level where they might know what his films look like and vote for it based purely on that. Plus, with the Best Picture logjam, what happens? Do they vote for the film they liked of the three, or does the vote go somewhere else? (Here.) The ADG win helps, since that tells you where the guild is leaning, and that’s enough to make me consider this the favorite. I don’t know if it wins, but for now, I have to consider this the favorite since it’s the one that sticks out the most for pure production design. If they gave it to Alice in Wonderland over Inception, you have to consider this to be a contender.
- – - – - – - – - -
So that’s Production Design. Tomorrow, we do Costume Design, the sibling category to this one. Which may or may not end with a similar result as this one.
