OVP: Best Art Direction (2000)
The Nominees Were...
Tim Yip, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Michael Corenblith & Merideth Boswell, Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Arthur Max & Crispian Sallis, Gladiator
Martin Childs & Jill Quertier, Quills
Jean Rabasse & Francoise Benoit-Fresco, Vatel
My Thoughts: We are finishing off the visual categories today with Art Direction (now called Production Design), and in many ways this is mirroring the Costume category we've already gone to (check the bottom of the page for links to past articles). The Costume & Art Directors branches were historically the same voting bloc until about a decade ago, and as a result of this, we generally saw a great deal of overlap between the two categories. In fact, only one of these films didn't make it into Costume, and is therefore on its only nomination, and we will start there.
Vatel is one of those forgettable period pieces that throughout the 1990's were littered in arthouse theaters. Merchant-Ivory's success with both the box office & (especially) with the Academy meant studios were clamoring to get the next Room with a View. Vatel is not a good movie (in fact, it's dreadful), but it looks marvelous. The film feels like it's a nice combination of 17th Century engineering and 20th Century magic, the modern & the historic combined into a sumptuous bounty of bed chambers & drawing rooms. The movie itself may be a total failure (as is Gerard Depardieu's performance), but we aren't judging this for Best Picture, and in this category, it is a smashing success.
The same can be said for Gladiator, a movie I think fails on a variety of fronts, but not when it comes to the art direction. The calling card here is the Colosseum, and the look around ancient Rome where we are immersed in a world we now know just from postcards and vacations, but at one point was a vibrant part of an active community. The reconstructions look incredible, but even some of the everyday scenes (the location scouting was strong for this one when it came to the muddy outdoor battles) is meticulous. Gladiator gets a great deal of its admiration from its size & scale, and that is rooted in its strong production design.
I'll totally own here, that while it's too much (I have heard "Best Art Direction" is misheard by Academy voters as "Most Art Direction" which is an apt criticism), even The Grinch is giving us some fun spots with its set design. Maybe it's because I've been in love with the Universal Studios Grinch on TikTok lately (or because it's the Christmas season), but I think there's something joyous in the way that they bring the looks of Theodore Geisel's communities to life. But the problem is that it's both too repetitive and sometimes too much (less is more when it comes to comical set work). But I won't deny that on its own, or just as an introduction to this world, that there's not something there.
Quills is less intriguing than the other films we've profiled. The prisons are the headline here, with the wandering French cells inhabited by the Marquis de Sade feeling properly authentic & complimentary to the movie, but every time we venture out of our cells, it becomes a disappointment. The fancy houses and estates here could have been taken from virtually any other movie, and I'll admit, even the prisons...they feel like they are kind of repetitive (it's still just a stone dungeon...something we've seen before). It's not bad, for sure, but it's also not Oscar-worthy.
This is overall a very good list, one that finishes strongly with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Here we have a spectacular series of buildings, both great reconstructions and fine location shooting for the outdoor scenes, so inventive that for the next decade they'd be the high-bar by which to judge martial arts movies or films out of China. Look at the wallpaper, with centuries-old designs but feeling brand new, or the way there's actual stuff throughout the houses rather than a porcelain museum display that you are seeing onscreen. This is gorgeous work, and gives you a feel for this heightened world we're entering as a viewer.
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 Gladiator winning atop Crouching Tiger, The Grinch, The Cell, & The Patriot, while Contemporary gave us Chocolat as the winner against Almost Famous, Billy Elliot, The Perfect Storm, & Wonder Boys. Gladiator also won the BAFTA, with Oscar nominees Crouching Tiger & Quills losing alongside Chocolat & O Brother Where Art Thou. I'm going to guess that given 102 Dalmatians (the only film that made it for Costume but not here) not really having much by-way of costume design, that we're looking at Chocolat as the likeliest sixth place, as it made both precursors and was a Best Picture nominee (I wouldn't protest Almost Famous or The Patriot if you made that argument, though).
Films I Would Have Nominated: I know that the film was definitely over-nominated, but it's hard not to think that Oscar missed an opportunity to give Chocolat a nomination it actually deserved, with its provincial French town and beautifully-recreated chocolate shop.
Oscar’s Choice: In a very close race, Crouching Tiger was able to beat the Roman sets of Gladiator to add to its awards tally.
My Choice: Oscar got it right here, though this is the rare category that Gladiator winning would've felt fine to me. I have (in order): Crouching Tiger, Vatel, Gladiator, The Grinch, and Quills as my rankings.
Those are my thoughts-how about yours? Is everyone on the same page here, wanting to join the Academy & I in the world of Crouching Tiger, or do you prefer something else? How much of The Grinch's adoration through the years is the way that it has become synonymous with a specific type of Millennial Christmas memory? And was it Chocolat, Almost Famous, or The Patriot in sixth place? Share your thoughts below!
Past Best Art Direction Contests: 2001, 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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