OVP: Best Makeup & Hairstyling (2015)
The Nominees Were...
Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega, and Damian Martin, Mad Max: Fury Road
Love Larson and Eva von Bahr, The 100-Year-Old-Man who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, and Robert Pandini, The Revenant
Love Larson and Eva von Bahr, The 100-Year-Old-Man who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, and Robert Pandini, The Revenant
My Thoughts: The Oscars are weird. Like, there's no denying this fact, and it's backed up pretty ferociously by the reality that the only category that doesn't mandate three nominees is one of the few film arts that literally every movie ends up having. Like-there is no major movie, or even really an independent movie, that doesn't have hairstyling or makeup. There are movies without visual effects, or music, or hell even female actors (looking at you Lawrence of Arabia), but every movie has makeup. It might not always be particularly noteworthy makeup or hairstyling, but it's just bizarre we only get three nominees here, making the honor even more heightened because instead of competing against everyone for five slots, you compete against everyone for three.
That being said, let's dive into our perennial first category that we discuss (in large part because it does have so few nominees, it feels like a good place to take off from), and we'll begin with the only nominee we won't revisit, The 100 Year Old Man..., a film very similar in nature to the following year's nominated A Man Called Ove. The movie is poor-it's a less ambitious version of Forrest Gump, and I have to say that while the makeup is well-done, it's kind of boring in that there's nothing new here. The old age work is impressive, and you would generally believe that Swedish comedian Robert Gustafsson is in fact a man of 100 just from his face (though his acting never imparts that he's older than, say, 70), but who really cares? This is stuff Rick Baker has been doing for twenty years, and while competent, it feels like a repetitive nomination and one that it's hard to justify giving out every single year. It may be different films getting the honor, but honestly it feels a bit like the Emmys the way that Oscar always picks the same old-age latex work for Best Makeup.
You cannot claim the same for Mad Max: Fury Road, a gargantuan picture. Despite the movie being the fourth in a series, the makeup on-display here is something to behold, a true, grotesque achievement. Think of how little needs to be said about a character like Immortan Joe, who has few speaking parts but whose villainy is literally painted across his face. Combined with terrific makeup work on Nic Hoult, as well as some fascinating wind-swept hairstyling for Immortan Joe's five brides, we get a marvelous picture filled with terrific, unique characters. It may be occasionally hard to look at, but Mad Max: Fury Road is both believable and iconic, a rare feat for a nominee in this category. That it's also in a great movie is just icing.
The final nominee is the other major nomination grabber of 2015, The Revenant. Here, like 100-Year-Old Man, we're stuck with impressive if "done-before" sorts of work, with Leonardo DiCaprio's face covered in ice, blood, and occasionally flesh-styled makeup. The movie is hyper-realistic, which it deserves some points for, but again there's nothing special going on here that we haven't seen in most other pictures. While 100-Year-Old Man is completely in Oscar's wheelhouse, this feels like one of those default nominations that happens when a Best Picture has a prominent element, even if it isn't that good. Overall a disappointing, if admittedly competent nomination.
That being said, let's dive into our perennial first category that we discuss (in large part because it does have so few nominees, it feels like a good place to take off from), and we'll begin with the only nominee we won't revisit, The 100 Year Old Man..., a film very similar in nature to the following year's nominated A Man Called Ove. The movie is poor-it's a less ambitious version of Forrest Gump, and I have to say that while the makeup is well-done, it's kind of boring in that there's nothing new here. The old age work is impressive, and you would generally believe that Swedish comedian Robert Gustafsson is in fact a man of 100 just from his face (though his acting never imparts that he's older than, say, 70), but who really cares? This is stuff Rick Baker has been doing for twenty years, and while competent, it feels like a repetitive nomination and one that it's hard to justify giving out every single year. It may be different films getting the honor, but honestly it feels a bit like the Emmys the way that Oscar always picks the same old-age latex work for Best Makeup.
You cannot claim the same for Mad Max: Fury Road, a gargantuan picture. Despite the movie being the fourth in a series, the makeup on-display here is something to behold, a true, grotesque achievement. Think of how little needs to be said about a character like Immortan Joe, who has few speaking parts but whose villainy is literally painted across his face. Combined with terrific makeup work on Nic Hoult, as well as some fascinating wind-swept hairstyling for Immortan Joe's five brides, we get a marvelous picture filled with terrific, unique characters. It may be occasionally hard to look at, but Mad Max: Fury Road is both believable and iconic, a rare feat for a nominee in this category. That it's also in a great movie is just icing.
The final nominee is the other major nomination grabber of 2015, The Revenant. Here, like 100-Year-Old Man, we're stuck with impressive if "done-before" sorts of work, with Leonardo DiCaprio's face covered in ice, blood, and occasionally flesh-styled makeup. The movie is hyper-realistic, which it deserves some points for, but again there's nothing special going on here that we haven't seen in most other pictures. While 100-Year-Old Man is completely in Oscar's wheelhouse, this feels like one of those default nominations that happens when a Best Picture has a prominent element, even if it isn't that good. Overall a disappointing, if admittedly competent nomination.
Other Precursor Contenders: The BAFTA Awards have always been better about remembering the "hairstyling" part of this award (they also honor five films with nominations, which is what a sane person would do), as in addition to the victorious Mad Max: Fury Road and The Revenant, they chose Carol, Brooklyn, and The Danish Girl as their other nominees. The Saturn Awards (notably just for Makeup, not Hair) found room for their victorious Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as well as Mad Max, Black Mass, Crimson Peak, The Hateful Eight, and Sicario. The Oscars do make a "bakeoff" list for this category, meaning that Mr. Holmes, Black Mass, Legend, and Concussion all were close to nominations here, and looking at this list I'm kind of surprised that we didn't see Mr. Holmes triumph over 100-Year-Old-Man as they were doing similar things but McKellen's transformation was subtler and the work was on-display in the film more prominently (both old and much older Ian McKellen to compare-and-contrast). Honestly, though, I think I did predict this right at the time so maybe it wasn't a close contest at all.
Films I Would Have Nominated: Carol deserves a nomination here, for sure. The hairstyling in that movie is flawless, and matches in a large part the characters on-display (one could make a similar argument for Crimson Peak). I probably would have made room for Legend, as well, a film that features some terrific work from Tom Hardy (better than what he did in The Revenant), and the challenge of making distinctive twins played by the same actor look alike, but not identical. In the final nomination (I'd have five on my ballot), maybe the underrated Man from UNCLE, a movie with a plethora of impeccable looks (I'm going to be recommending the costumes when we get to that category) that heightens the already significant beauty of Henry Cavill, Alicia Vikander, and Armie Hammer.
Oscar’s Choice: This had to have been an easy choice for Oscar once they got over the genre bias-Mad Max took it by being the showiest and the best of the nominees.
My Choice: It's an easy win for Mad Max for me, with probably 100-Year-Old Man next & The Revenant in last place. Honestly it's a coin toss between the two-fine, but uninspiring nominations.
And those are my thoughts-what are yours? Is everyone in agreement that it should have been Mad Max, or do we have some dissenters? Who do you think was in fourth place (note you can only pick from the bakeoff)? And why is it that this category can't finally get two more nominations? Share your theories below!
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