Costume Honors Announced for Oscars

Accolades for costuming in a motion picture have been announced. I couldn't find the list of names of the designers, only the films nominated. (i will look for them)

The nominated films for achievement in costume design are:

THE AVIATOR (Miramax)
FINDING NEVERLAND (Miramax)
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS (Paramount Pictures)
RAY (Universal Pictures)
TROY (Warner Bros.) Best Documentary Feature


Many vintage eras plus the ancient greek era are represented.

Has anyone seen these and would like to comment on the costume design? I find myself as a former student some of the best designs are when you don't notice you are looking at a costume....

Chris

 

And the nominees are...

THE AVIATOR (Miramax)

Sandy Powell

Previous nominations, and wn:
GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002) -- Nominee, Costume Design
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998) -- Winner, Costume Design
VELVET GOLDMINE (1998) -- Nominee, Costume Design
THE WINGS OF THE DOVE (1997) -- Nominee, Costume Design
ORLANDO (1993) -- Nominee, Costume Design


FINDING NEVERLAND (Miramax)
Alexandra Byrne
(previously nominated for Hamlet (1996 Kenneth Branaugh version)
and Elizabeth


LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS (Paramount Pictures)

Colleen Atwood

Previous Oscars and nominations:
CHICAGO (2002) -- Winner, Costume Design
SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999) -- Nominee, Costume Design
BELOVED (1998) -- Nominee, Costume Design
LITTLE WOMEN (1994) -- Nominee, Costume Design



RAY (Universal Pictures)
Sharen Davis
(Her first nomination)


TROY (Warner Bros.)

Bob Ringwood

Previous nomination:
EMPIRE OF THE SUN (1987) -- Nominee, Costume Design

 

<i>ancient greek era </i> mmmm, in the broadest possible sense (or maybe it was the hairstyles that threw me??)
Look forward to seeing the others when I manage to venture back to the cinema!

L

 

I saw Lemony Snickett. Fabulous art direction with amazing sets and really unusual costume. My money is on Sandy Powell for the Aviator, though.

 

I haven't seen "The Aviator" yet, but Sandy Powell did a <i>fabulous</i> job with the costumes for "Wings of the Dove". If you've never seen this movie, please rent it. It takes place about 1915. You'll see a Fortuny Delphos gown and the most gorgeous green opera cape with a huge embroidered design on the back. And the hats....sigh.

Jody

 

Jody, thanks for the movie recommendation. I will have to check it out.

I am a bad person. I have seen NONE of these movies yet. It wasn't a heavy movie going year for me. I watched a lot on satellite, but did see a lot of films that are nominated for the smaller categories. Some films just never come to West Frogstump But then again, a few are still out or were released late.

I have not seen the Lemony Snickett movie. I was intrigued by the concept of the books. Just like the Harry Potter books, I have heard/observed that they have really grabbed kids' imaginations. I think maybe because the book starts off on something like "You don't want to read this, its a terrible book/story." I know if I were 10 years old again, a statement like that would definitely compel me to read it!

 

Book One - The Bad Beginning

"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book...."

 

A ha! that's it.

It reminds me of like my mother used to say right before christmas (in an exasperated voice) "If you are looking to snoop for Christmas presents, don't go in my closet because nothing is there. So go outside and play in the snow" Yeah right.

 

Ooo - can't wait to watch the Oscars. Are we having an Oscar Party so we can dish the dirt about the clothes? ;)

I haven't seen any of the nominees either. Actually the only movie I think I have seen that has been nominated in one of the "main" categories is Closer (Clive Owen & Natalie Portman are each nominated for Best Supporting Actor & Actress). I thought the movie was great and Clive and Natalie each won the Golden Globe for their roles - I'm crossing my fingers for them to take home the Oscars, too. They both blew Jude Law and Julia Roberts out of the water acting-wise, in my opinion.

Also, I think I'll have to check out that recommendation Jody. Sounds like the clothing is to die for.

 

That's a great idea, Justine....a red carpet watching party!

It will be much better than Joan and Melissa Rivers

 

I've seen both Finding Neverland and Lemony Snicket. The Lemony Snicket set is amazing. The mood is very Edward Gorey. The only costume I really recall was Violet's. The movie is worth the price of the ticket for the visual effect itself.

I was seriously unimpressed with Finding Neverland's costumes particularly since the Edwardian period is my favorite era. I swear I thought I saw a zipper on one of Kate Winslet's dress. One thing I did like about it was I felt that they tried to keep the costumes realistic. Wings of the Dove was so gorgeous, but I wonder how authentic. Despite all that, Finding NEverland is a wonderful movie. Take a hankie or three.

Ilove the movies, and thank goodness my son does too.

 

I always thought it was very unfair to have historical period films play against fantasy films. You are not limited by authenticity and recreation in a fantasy film.
So far I have only seen Troy and the Aviator. Troy is a disaster for authenticity. Its little better than the costumed biblical epic dramas of the 1950s. The sets are ridiculous too. Everything is to the nth degree. It is not a faithful reproduction of Ancient Greece. The armour is also off by a few hundred years...

The Aviator was well done re: the costumes (although the storyline in this case is WAY off the truth). I got confused for a while in the film, when Hughes is dating Katherine Hepburn because I wasn't sure how long their affair went on for due to the clothes which covered the mid 30s to early 40s when in reality they dated for a little over a year. Turns out that that was a flaw of the storyline because they did insinuate that they dated for 7 years, so it wasn't the costumer's fault. I have had issues wtih Sandy Powell's costuming before, but it is usually due to problems regarding budget. Costumers need money in order to be authentic! Orlando had problems with the costuming but apparently she did that film on a shoe-string budget, so it isn't fair to blame her there. I thought she was also nominated for her work on Pleasantville, set in the 50s, which I thought she did a splendid job on.

 

It will be much better than Joan and Melissa Rivers

Well goodness it culdn't be any WORSE! hehehe! Well, us fashion mavens can be quite catty, so maybe... lol

I love movies, too and my best girlfriend and I are on a mad dash to catch the nominated movies before the event. This weekend we're going to see "Sideways". In case anyone's interested here's a link to the nominees:

77th Annual Academy Award Nominees

 

I remember the Pleasantville clothing and thought it was done so perfectly.

I think on Troy is that some of those tales are so wrapped up in legend, that they folks will accept or not pick up on inaccuracies, or it behaves more within the liberties of fantasy versus reading like a more typical historical epic. For the average individual with no costuming study, or no in depth classical studies on the period, it is probably not too dissonant from what someone would picture as "ancient greek people" wearing.

 

I think you are right. Because there isn't a lot of information about Ancient Greek costume, the designer went with a bit of fantasy to top it up. I noticed that Helen of Troy's jewellery was a quite faithful reproduction of the jewellery found on the site in the 19th century which was nice to see. But why or why do the actresses have to spend 3 hours in the make-up chair with Max Factor! This is ancient greece - the make-up shouldn't look like it was applied by VOgue magazine.

 

They do have their public you know.

But don't they know not wearing heavy makeup adn wearing prostethic noses might spell Oscar? Or gain 60 lbs for a role

 

What ever happened to simply acting?

I like Nicole Kidman, but was not too impressed with eithe rthe nose or the performance in The Hours. But, I was appalled that Gwynetth Paltrow beat out Cate Blanchett a few years ago.

Kelly

 

Reminds me of an anecdote from Sir Laurence Olivier. When Dustin Hoffman was preparing for Marathon Man and stayed up all night because he played a scene where he was up all night, Sir Laurence said "why not just act" or something to that effect.

 

I remember the quote. An equally good one from Spencer Tracy was when asked for advice on how to act was, "Learn your lines, and make your mark."

If I hear one more actor talk about a how "courageous" someone's performance was I may scream! I think September 11 cured a lot of them of that idiocy.

 

Well, I will say about method acting, if someone is a true trained method actor and not just a weight gainer/nose putty wearer, it can really take a toll on your psyche if you are not extremely experienced, mature, and careful.

But I agree 100% with you. It is a professional actor's job description to take risks - choices of character, motivation choices, etc. Just like a chef is not courageous for using a sharp knife. Bold is 100% possible though.

On the other end, I think it is VERY courageous for someone, who is afraid of their own shadow and nervous about the world or saying a word to someone, to somehow be able/learn to control enough fear to get up on a stage and be in a community production, etc without bolting out the door.