OVP: Best Makeup (2011)

OVP: Best Makeup (2011)

The Nominees Were...

Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight, and Lisa Tomblin, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, The Iron Lady

Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston, and Matthew W. Mungle, Albert Nobbs

My Thoughts: I find Makeup one of the most difficult categories to judge, so don't ask me why I decided to start with this category.  My problem is that I don't always understand the difficulty behind the Makeup on-screen, and oftentimes they seem to be employing such similar techniques that it's difficult to attempt and decipher what ranks one above the other, but I'm going to try.

The most obvious chore on-screen here is that there are three iconic movie stars that are being transformed into completely different versions of themselves.  While there are goblins and creatures a-plenty alongside him in Deathly Hallows, Ralph Fiennes is by far the most impressive makeup effect to come out of the Harry Potter franchise.  While taking gorgeous leading men and transforming them into monsters is nothing new for the screen, let's not let the routine mar the difficulty.  The slanted nose, the white pallor, both create a villain instantly recognizable, not just for the franchise, but for anyone who spent hours-upon-hours welcoming themselves into the world of J.K. Rowling.  Rowling's (and here, Dudman/Knight/Tomblin's) creations are vivid and tangible, and all a marvel, though I have to dock some points in that we've been here before-this is the eighth film in the series, and while obviously still impressive, there's nothing truly new here.

There's less to rely upon for the maestros behind Albert Nobbs, however.  While the story had been onstage previously, this was its first incarnation on the big-screen, and the makeup artists do a serviceable job of recreating the looks and hairstyles of 19th Century Ireland.  However, that's not the reason they received the Oscar nomination-that was due to the heavy prosthetics that actress Glenn Close sports to transform her into a woman pretending to be a man.  While the work is to be admired, it's difficult not to see Close, with her movie star profile, easily through the makeup and therefore the entire premise of the movie, which is that no one has identified Closes's Nobbs, is made suspect to the audience.  Had they done the same transformative work they did on Janet McTeer's Hubert (who is rendered nearly unrecognizable), I would have given them more points.

That leaves the fine work of The Iron Lady, where Meryl Streep becomes both the younger and the older former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher.  Whatever your feelings of Thatcher's politics, it's difficult to deny the woman had a look that had to be perfect in order to make Streep believable onscreen.  Here, Coulier and Helland do not fail-Helland, who has done Streep's hair and makeup for thirty years, is able to make his muse a dottering old woman and a ferocious and vital leader of England.  While they're aided by having a muse to work with and not just the imagination of a reader that their competitors are saddled with, Helland and Coulier have the difficultly of transforming their lead characters (in this case Margaret and Denis Thatcher) through decades and different actors, and yet there is a strong continuous semblance between the time periods, and while I am loathe when a critic says an actor "becomes" a famous person (since strong mimicry doesn't mean strong acting), I am delighted when I can say it in regards to to their makeup and hairstyling, and in this case, I have to say that Helland and Coulier delivered.  It's fitting that in her Oscar acceptance speech, Streep thanked Helland rather than her director and writer, who were doing her little favors when she ultimately won, in comparison to her makeup team.

Other Precursor Contenders: I'm trying hard to find these (it's difficult with the techs, so feel free to mention any I missed in the comments), but the only major precursor award show I can find that consistently honors Hair and Makeup is the BAFTA Awards, which gave the top trophy to The Iron Lady, and like Oscar, nominated Harry Potter; however, they also found time for the iconic looks of Norma Jean in My Week with Marilyn, the French 1920's glamour of Hugo, and the black-and-white style of The Artist.  

Films I Would Have Nominated: I don't want to focus too much on this, for two reasons.  One, the purpose of the Oscar Viewing Project is to see what the Oscars would have looked like if I was a voter, and to see if I would have made the same mistakes/pitfalls that Oscar voters are always accused of-that doesn't work if I don't go with the same nominees that they're given. And two, I can't possibly be a completist and see all of the films from 2011, and as I move further back, it's going to be a lopsided argument favoring only the classic films and Oscar-nominated films than a true representation of all of the movies of the year.  That being said, I can't completely ignore a shout-out for the aforementioned Marilyn, as I thought the Makeup was the best element of the film, and the even better Super 8, where Makeup plays a huge part in the overall feel of the film (not working within the confines of the category, I think I would have given "Best of the Year" honors to this movie).  My third nominee would be my Oscar winner, which we'll get to in a second.

Oscar's Choice: Oscar decided to go with the iconic transformation of his favorite leading lady into Britain's Iron Lady, in a race I suspect wasn't even that close.

My Choice: As you may be able to tell from above, there's no film that truly calls out "Oscar Winner!" in bright bold letters in my mind, but if I had to choose one of them, I'd probably side with Oscar-The Iron Lady has less reliance on past hits and truly creates a transformative look for its leading lady, something Albert Nobbs simply cannot do.  So the vote (and trophy) goes to Helland Coulier, with HP7.2 getting second and Albert Nobbs getting the bronze.

And now, of course, I welcome you to discuss in the comments-of the three films, what movie deserved the trophy?  What films should have been nominated?

Also in 2011: 2011 Recap