OVP: Makeup (2009)

OVP: Best Makeup (2009)

The Nominees Were...

Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano, Il Divo

Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, and Joel Harlow, Star Trek

Joe Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore, The Young Victoria

My Thoughts: It has been WAY too long since we've done one of these!  One of my New Year's resolutions is going to be that we have at least 6-7 of these in the new year, and hopefully more.  They're my favorite thing about my blog, and I know that the rest of you like it (traffic always picks up).  If you're a fan of these write-ups (click here for all of the previous ones), please participate in the comments-discussion of these categories are definitely motivation to get through more of the project and move on to past years (and with 2013 almost done, future ones!).

But enough of that-let's get into the nominees.  Like nearly all of the Best Makeup lineups, we have three different contenders of various quality and eclecticism.  We'll start off with the one that everyone expected to make the lineup: Star Trek.  While the other two films were in the "Makeup Branch being the Makeup Branch" bucket, Star Trek had an entire world to recreate.  Since this was the first time that the Makeup team wasn't dealing with a cast of actors who had made the jump from television to the big screen, theoretically this was a more impressive feat.  We have actors like Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine, and Zoe Saldana being transformed into the iconic characters that we've been familiar with for decades.  On the other hand, part of this transformation really has to do with the casting director (who should have been thanked in Burnam/Hall/Harlow's acceptance speech), who did a superb job of pairing up the actors in this franchise with the 1960's stars of the series (particularly Anton Yelchin and Karl Urban, am I right?).  The makeup therefore is relying mostly on a couple of key effects, principally Eric Bana's villainous Nero.  This is all something that the Makeup branch has done before, but nothing about this is completely exceptional.

As we've already discussed, Il Divo is not a good movie-in fact, it's a boring, plodding drag of a film that wouldn't have been noticed by anyone outside of the Italian peninsula were it not for this nomination.  The film does a remarkable job, however, of aging its lead actors, principally Toni Servillo as he becomes one of Italy's most noted and iconic politicians.  Two years after this film came out, we all saw Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland win an Oscar for doing something very similar, with Meryl Streep "becoming" Margaret Thatcher.  Had Giulio Andreotti had the same international recognition as Thatcher, we could well have seen a precursor to the Iron Lady's trophy, but one actor who no one has heard of becoming a Prime Minister everyone is vaguely familiar with probably cost the film.  In my estimation, they're roughly of the same quality-not necessarily grand, but certainly not worth scoffing at.  The technique is, however, not new to either film (this sort of aging makeup has been going on since Dick Smith picked up a brush) and isn't something that needed to be pulled from such obscurity.

Finally, there's The Young Victoria.  Though the category didn't officially start recognizing hairstyling until two years later (in its name, at least), it's hard to imagine this film getting in on makeup alone.  The film relies quite hardily on heavy rouge and pancake powder to keep Emily Blunt looking demure, and the hairstyling is surely how it landed on this list.  The elegant coifs sported by Blunt and her troop of subjects isn't enough to merit this inclusion, though, and while Il Divo was out-of-nowhere, at least you can readily justify it being cited.  Any number of period films do the exact same thing that The Young Victoria does, and we don't even have an aging Victoria and Albert to give us a slap on the forehead and a "that's why it's nominated."  One of the odder citations of 2009, and the least of the three inclusions.

Other Precursor Contenders: The Saturn Awards don't quite cover all genres, but usually most of the films that this field touches upon (though Il Divo and The Young Victoria admittedly wouldn't have been included).  They chose to give the top prize to the mountain of work in Star Trek, though their nominated field included District 9, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, The Book of Eli, Drag Me to Hell, and Terminator: Salvation.  The BAFTA Awards have always honored hairstyling in this category, and therefore pride in country allowed The Young Victoria to triumph over Coco Before Chanel, An Education, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, and Nine.  Finally, I did track down the shortlist from 2009, and so just missing to these three films were Imaginarium (which feels like the fourth place, doesn't it?), District 9, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, and The Road.

Films I Would Have Nominated: Since it's been a while since I've done an OVP year rundown, I'll include this addendum (which has become a bit of a tradition): the focus of this project isn't about the films I would have nominated. While I can watch all of the nominees of a given year, seeing all of the films of a year is an impossible feat, and therefore I can never give a perfect picture of what I would have done (but if you comment on a film I haven't seen that you think should have made it, I'll try and seek it out).  Also, the ultimate goal of this project is to see if I make the same sorts of mistakes as the Oscars so I have to work within the confines of the nominations.  However, I cannot help but at least poke a bit, and particularly with such a weak lineup and such a strong overall year for Makeup.  District 9 should have won this award-I know that it's questionable between the visual effects and the makeup effects in the film, but surely the branch could distinguish enough to warrant giving the breathtaking team behind this film some due.  Also, considering that it made it into two other categories (Costume and Art Direction), shouldn't the Academy have made room for the subtle similarities between the four Tony's, as well as the decrepit Christopher Plummer?  The fact that both of these films made the shortlist but couldn't translate makes me seriously question what the Makeup branch is ever thinking.

Oscar's Choice: Oscar, like the Saturn Awards, made the showiest and most obvious choice of Star Trek.

My Choice: I'm not blown away by any of these nominees (seriously-District 9, people!), but I know Victoria is in third place.  My gut is saying that I should go with Star Trek, which I will, as there are larger accomplishments throughout instead of one singular achievement, which is basically what Il Divo is.

Those are my thoughts-what are yours?  Did you also side with AMPAS/myself and reward Star Trek?  Do you think that Parnassus and District 9 deserved inclusion?  And what is your vote for Best Makeup of 2009?  Share in the comments!

Also in 2009: Previously in 2009

Past Best Makeup Contests: 2010, 2011, 2012