If you enjoyed reading about the films nominated for best costume design yesterday, get ready for another round of that. “Barbie,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Napoleon,” “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things” doubled up in costume design and the subject of this piece, production design. I think this is a strong field, with any one of these options being a worthy contender for the win in just about any other year.
On that note, the lack of buzz for “Oppenheimer” being the winner in this category is puzzling. The Los Alamos set is one of the most impressive feats of production design of the year, and I would argue that it is the best. The real town of the same name was built in service of the Manhattan Project, and some of the film was shot on location. The rest of the town we see on screen was built from the ground up, a recreation that is worthy of awards recognition. There’s not a single set piece throughout the rest of “Oppenheimer” that feels out of place.
“Barbie” is a great nominee and would be an excellent winner as well. Barbieland is the most iconic set of the year, from the beach to Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa House. The film also offers one of the most muted depictions of Los Angeles that you’ll see, which, when contrasted with Barbie and Ken’s vibrant outfits, creates a clear distinction between the two colliding worlds. Finally, when Rhea Perlman is on screen, you know the production design is about to get trippy. Love that.
And then there’s “Poor Things,” yet another elite option in this category. Each phase of Bella’s journey has a different feel, as discussed in other categories, but nothing sells that quite like the production design. I think my favorite set piece is the Lisbon one. It’s like a Pepper-era Beatles song came to life or something, but it’s made more grotesque and aggressive. Bella is seeing this world with so much wonder, and the audience is likewise taken along for the tour.
“Killers of the Flower Moon” is a good-looking movie, just like all of Scorcese’s work. Besides the areas of the film that we return to regularly, there is a one-off room that really sticks out to me. It’s the place where Leonardo DiCaprio gets spanked by Robert De Niro. Yeah, you read that right. How often is De Niro spanking people in there? What else goes on in that room? There are the answers that I will never receive (and maybe I don’t actually want them), but the design of this location makes the mind run wild.
The production design of “Napoleon” serves the film well, taking the audience back to a very specific place and time. If nothing else, Ridley Scott’s movies usually look incredible, whether the action takes place in a sci-fi future or Napoleon’s France. Longtime Scott collaborator Arthur Max teamed up with Elli Griff to make the production design of “Napoleon” one of the film’s strongest aspects.
This is a nice crop of nominees, and a varied one at that. I appreciate the diversity of the design in each film. Los Alamos and Princeton. Barbieland and Mattel’s corporate office. Alexandria and Godwin’s surgery room. The train station and the prison. The battlefield and Notre-Dame. There’s a lot going on here.
