OVP: Best Art Direction (2004)
The Nominees Were...
Dante Ferretti & Francesca Lo Schiavo, The Aviator
Gemma Jackson & Trisha Edwards, Finding Neverland
Rick Heinrichs & Cheryl Carasik, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Anthony Pratt & Celia Bobak, The Phantom of the Opera
Aline Bonetto, A Very Long Engagement
My Thoughts: Today we will finish off the "visual" tech categories with a look at the sets that adorned our cinematic dreams in 2004. I want to start out, right away, by mentioning that I am genuinely excited to look at these movies. While the films themselves vary in quality, this is possibly the best lineup of category-specific nominees that Oscar assembled in 2004, and as a result we have (while not my exact lineup) a list of movies that all deserve a conversation about their work here, though we're going to start out with the film that finally turned Dante Ferretti from bridesmaid to bride.
It's hard to imagine now, considering he's a three-time winner, but there was once a time that Dante Ferretti numbered alongside people like Thomas Newman or Kevin O'Connell as a perennial tech nominee who had never won. The Aviator was his 7th nomination (and fourth for a film with Martin Scorsese), and it was the movie that finally put him over-the-top. It's easy to see why. This is one of those rare cases of "most" and "best" art direction intersecting, as Ferretti & Lo Schiavo's designs recreate a meticulous Hollywood glamour while giving in to the era's opulence. The true passion, though, might be the way that they bring all of Hughes' planes to life, all having their own idiosyncrasies, and bringing alive the pioneering flying contraptions.
Similar to Best Costume Design, the work in Lemony Snicket is challenging to recreate mostly because it doesn't apply to a specific era. The books don't give much guidance on where or when we are (other than "steampunk Britain"), but Heinrichs & Carasik run with the look, creating Count Olaf's & Aunt Josephine's houses as both reflections of their characters, as well as messy, improbable creations that could only exist in Daniel Handler's cheeky imagination. The movie's other sets feel shortchanged, if only because the three guardians' houses are supposed to take up the bulk of our collective purview, but that's nitpicking-this is fun design work.
Finding Neverland might have benefited a bit more from that level of imagination. While not an adaptation of the JM Barrie novel, it could use more winks to the source material the biopic is supposedly inspiring. The bed-jumping room is cute, but it just doesn't feel like quite enough amidst a series of plain, alabaster drawing rooms. Still, the theaters are lovely, and this isn't bad work-it's just in the company of some films that are shooting for the moon, and feels a bit vacant by comparison.
I know that this might be a minority opinion (I've read some say that Phantom of the Opera's art direction is "too much" or "gaudy"), but I had more fun with it than others, and certainly more than I did with the collective movie. The auction house is properly gloomy, the graveyard in the end is over-the-top in a "this will inspire Twilight in a few years" sort of way, and the giant opera house germinated a lot of inspired motifs, particularly the catacombs below the building. All-in-all, this is my favorite of Phantom's Oscar nominations, and the one that feels the most worthy of the OVP.
A Very Long Engagement is in a similar boat where this is its most worthy nomination, and a better character than the film itself is really providing. I love how every house feels like it's actually lived in, with it clean but overstuffed, like people reluctant to throw away anything, but who don't have enough storage for all of their knick-knacks. The library, as well, is daunting & the kind of place you want to explore, and lends itself to one of the movie's better moments. The prisons are the only real disappointment, with them feeling too empty & without character, but this is a small complaint-overall the film rarely feels like a staged set & more transportive than we would assume based on the rest of the film's attitude to World War II.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Art Directors Guild in 2004 broke up its nominees into Contemporary and Period/Fantasy. Only one of these really sticks with Oscar, so while Period/Fantasy had time for almost all of Oscar's pets (they gave the trophy to Lemony Snicket, but otherwise just subbed The Incredibles in place of A Very Long Engagement), Contemporary honored a diverse group of Collateral, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Million Dollar Baby, The Life Aquatic, and the victorious The Terminal. BAFTA went almost completely on its own with Production Design (BAFTA in 2004 was making a statement, it seems), with The Aviator winning over Finding Neverland, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, House of Flying Daggers, and Vera Drake. In terms of who was sixth place, I have to assume it was some tossup between House of Flying Daggers (which feels like it was close in a few Oscar categories) and Troy (which made it for Costume Design, and therefore was definitely in the conversation here).
Films I Would Have Nominated: I'm honestly so impressed with Oscar, that I don't really want to complain much. I will say, though, that House of Flying Daggers not making it was a mistake-that movie has unbelievable set design (both indoor & out), and perfectly frames the film. I'd have also liked some mention of the claustrophobic bunkers of Downfall, but considering that film made virtually no impression anywhere else, that would have been a tougher sell with AMPAS.
Oscar’s Choice: A closer race than one would have expected against Lemony Snicket, but Dante Ferretti gets his trophy.
My Choice: I'll also give this to Ferretti, getting his second OVP statue from me, over Lemony Snicket. Following them would be Very Long Engagement, Phantom, and Neverland in a (respectable) fifth.
Those are my thoughts-how about yours? Do we all love the Old Hollywood worlds of Aviator best, or does someone want to make the case for a different field? Why do you think it took AMPAS so long to give Dante Ferretti a trophy? And who do you think was in sixth place here? Share your thoughts below!
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