Here’s a fun fact about me: I’ve seen two real Oscar statuettes in the flesh. The first was Shelley Winters’ best supporting actress Oscar for “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which Winters donated to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. A few days later, while visiting the Peace Palace in The Hague, I caught a glimpse of Herman Rosse’s art direction Oscar from the 3rd Academy Awards. These days, over 90 years after Rosse won his award, achievements in art direction fall under the category of production design.
If you’ve been keeping up with Sam’s Oscar Outlook, you’ll recognize the name Catherine Martin. She’s a previous Academy Award winner and “Elvis” director Baz Luhrmann’s wife. She’s nominated for her costume design and production design this year on “Elvis.” If she wins in production design this year, she’ll be just the second woman to ever win in the category three times. So just to recap, Catherine Martin is a two-time Oscar winner in both costume design and production design. Not bad.
“Avatar: The Way of Water” received an unsurprising nomination in production design, but I question its reason for being in this lineup. Because the film is so reliant on its visual effects, I wonder how many of the sets were organically crafted and how many were rendered. At what point is this just an animated film with scattered live action sequences? Regardless, the world that is built here is impressive. I think I just prefer a more clearly tangible approach.
Production designer Rick Carter won an Oscar 13 years ago for his work on the original “Avatar” film, but he did not return for the sequel. Instead, he lent his talents to the production design of “The Fabelmans.” In the film, Carter, Karen O’Hara and their team created faithful recreations of Steven Spielberg’s childhood and teenage memories. It’s probably the most subdued production design accomplishment among these nominees, though not necessarily the least impressive.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” is an expertly crafted film on all counts, and the production design is no exception. From the horrors of the trenches to the deadly craters of no man’s land, World War I becomes real once more. To properly sell the protagonist’s journey, one must understand the terrors of his surroundings. The production design of “All Quiet” does a lot of heavy lifting in selling the eye-opening brutality of war.
The production team behind “Babylon” is hoping to follow in the footsteps of others who have created Hollywood dreamscapes. In just the past six ceremonies, “La La Land,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Mank” have used scenes of Southern California to snag Oscars in production design. “Babylon” seems to check many of the same boxes these prior winners have. Even against very innovative competition, films about Los Angeles have had good odds in this category as of late.
Production designers have a difficult job. On one hand, they need to create a captivating sense of awe in audiences. On the other, their work must be so seamless that it does not distract from the story and the other filmmaking disciplines. To be nominated here is to strike that perfect balance between the extravagant and the minutiae.
To read more of Sam Zavada’s Oscar coverage, click here.
