OVP: Best Art Direction (2001)
The Nominees Were...
Aline Bonetto & Marie-Laure Valla, Amelie
Stephen Altman & Anna Pinnock, Gosford Park
Stuart Craig & Stephanie McMillan, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Grant Major & Dan Hennah, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Catherine Martin & Brigitte Broch, Moulin Rouge!
My Thoughts: I mentioned this when we kicked off this season of the OVP (look at the bottom of this article for links to all of our past contests), but in my opinion 2001 is one of Oscar's best vintages, and one of my favorite years for cinema. That is certainly on-display in the Art Direction category. I place the contenders in each field on a scale of 1-5 stars to prep for how I will rank these (a little peak behind the curtain), and this is one of the only years for Art Direction where every single one of these contenders got at least 4-stars. All five of these make worthy nominees, and most of them would make strong winners, so picking a favorite is a "can't lose" situation.
We'll start with Moulin Rouge!, which Oscar picked as their winner. Similar to what Catherine Martin (who also was the costume designer) did for the frocks of the movie, we get a taste of the modern, the absurd, and the classical in the look of the Moulin Rouge. I've never been inside the Parisian institution (I've just seen it from the outside), but I have seen photos, and I like the clear inspiration Martin took from the real-life spot, while adding in modern flourishes, signature red fabrics (it's a Baz Luhrmann film, after all), and the way that it feels lived in-this looks like an actual stage run through by dozens of performers a night, and in a film bursting with fantasy, those touches of realism ground a very serious plot line.
Speaking of the color red, we surely need to do Amelie next (is red just a popular color in France?). I don't think any technical aspect of Amelie works quite as well as the way they use Amelie's apartment to ground us in the character herself. Everything is quite busy, but nothing is entirely out-of-place. There are some who have accused Amelie of being too precious (in the same way that Wes Anderson's films get that label), but I think this is just right. Amelie as a character reads like the sort of figure that would use her home to be an extension of how she wants to see the world, and this does that beautifully.
World-building goes beyond the confines of just one-home in The Fellowship of the Ring, though you could get this nomination solely on Bilbo Baggins little hole-in-the-wall in Bag-End, brimming with the sorts of things that decades of living in something of isolation might entail (maps, books, furniture, dishes stacked in different decorations). But of course Fellowship is more than just Hobbiton, it's also Rivendell and the Mines of Moria and Isengard...all of which are filled with characteristic flourishes and brought to life from Tolkien's books.
Speaking of bringing to life from beloved fantasy novels, Harry Potter gives us another world with the genius of Stuart Craig & Stephanie McMillan. I remember being a teenager, and audibly gasping when I first saw Diagon Alley unveiled for the first time-it felt as if I had walked into a dream I'd had every night for months while pouring over the novels. This is true throughout the movie. Every scene from Hogwarts to Privet Drive to the Quidditch Pitch is drawn as if you're walking into a theme park it feels so immersive (I mean that as a compliment, and you should take it as nothing but that).
On the other end of the British prism is Gosford Park. Here, we have the start of what would eventually become Downton Abbey, and like Downton, the drawing rooms and mechanics of a classic English manor are on-display. What I love about Gosford Park (I recently rewatched the movie) is that it feels very lived-in and like the rooms are connected. You get to see the way that these places are linked (I love the focus on stairs & doorways, so vital when solving the pathways in a mystery), which of course becomes crucial when you understand just how much overlap there is between the upstairs and the downstairs of this house.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Art Directors Guild was only separating their categories two ways in 2001, between Period/Fantasy and Contemporary. Period/Fantasy (where most Oscar nominations happen) we have the victorious Moulin Rouge! against AI: Artificial Intelligence, Harry Potter, Fellowship of the Ring, and The Man Who Wasn't There, while Contemporary gave us Amelie (the winner, and a rare translation to Oscar for this category) atop Black Hawk Down, The Royal Tenenbaums, Ocean's Eleven, and The Shipping News. BAFTA picked the exact same lineup as Oscar, but they went with Amelie as their winner. In terms of sixth place, I'll be honest...no clue on who was in sixth place. A Beautiful Mind is the Best Picture winner (and has all of those universities and period bars), so that makes sense. The ADG nominations give me pause for either AI or Man Who Wasn't There, and the Best Costume Design citation at least puts The Affair of the Necklace into the conversation. But the sixth place-I'll defer to your judgment.
Films I Would Have Nominated: Honestly, while this isn't my exact lineup, it's such a good field I'm not going to complain-well done, Oscar.
Oscar’s Choice: Catherine Martin went 2/2, besting Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings (which probably split the vote).
My Choice: I went Moulin/Harry/LOTR for Costume's medals, and we're going to reverse that exactly here, with the worlds of Middle Earth too big to ignore, though in most years Harry or Moulin Rouge would've been victors. Behind these three I'll go Gosford Park, then Amelie.
Those are my thoughts-how about yours? Do you agree with me that this should've gone to the land of Tolkien or do you want to dance the night away at the Moulin Rouge? Which Harry Potter film deserved to get this trophy the most (if any)? And seriously-who was in sixth place of this crew? Share your thoughts below!
Past Best Art Direction Contests: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
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