The April Fool Oscar predictions are coming right along. I call them April Fool not because I'm joking but because who the hell knows. It's a foolish practice. Yet foolish can be fun. If you're curious about how well I do before any of the films are seen you can see the past year scores below the predictions. I do pretty well just by imagining what might come to pass. Everyone is good at predicting right before the Oscars (we've seen months of winnowing down and precursors to study) but it's a much tougher game before you even fully know the players.
Robert Redford with actors on the set of The Conspirator. Costumes by Louise Frogley, still waiting for Oscar nomination #1
In Costume Design, I'm curious whether Colleen Atwood (Alice in Wonderland, Rum Diary) and Sandy Powell (The Tempest, Shutter Island), Oscar's favorite working designers, can keep up their constant friendly battle for another year. They've both been nominated 8 times within the last 16 Oscar years. Which means that 50% of the time they're nominated. But check out this weird siamese twin Oscar statistic: Atwood and Powell have amassed a total of 5 wins between them, always in years when they were both nominated. And they've only competed directly 5 times. Which means that neither of them win unless the other one is nominated. That's so weird. And delightful. It's deweirdful.
Is that siamese twin soundtrack uptop done playing, now? If it is, I highly recommend another siamese twin themed musical... "Evelyn Evelyn" by Amanda Palmer (of the Dresden Dolls) and Jason Webley. I SO want it to be a stop motion movie or short, right now. It's so strange and winning and creepy and I love that Amanda is officially with Neil Gaiman (Coraline, Stardust) because what an obviously sympatico match that is, you know?
But where were we? Yes, costume design.
Beyond the twin golden powerhouses (Atwood & Powell) whom the cinema would obviously be naked without, my main costume design preoccupation each year is this: which longtime fab designer will nab their first nomination? Consider the following fab five worth rooting for (should they prove worthy this year, I mean) who have remarkably never been Oscar nominated...
- Kym Barrett (The Green Hornet)
She famously put angel wings on Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet and was a crucial player in the influential iconography of The Matrix. She even does animated costumes. Still no nomination. What will it take? - Louise Frogley (The Conspirator)
This British designer has an intimate knowledge of George Clooney's measurements and you don't. Her filmography includes 5 Clooney movies (including black and white beauties Good Night, and Good Luck. and The Good German and those aren't easy to costume) And who doesn't love the costuming choices in Bull Durham? Someone had to choose that striped underwear for Tim Robbins "Nuke LaLoosh". - Michael Kaplan (Burlesque)
He recently gave the Federation uniforms a reboot for Star Trek. And he often does brilliant, clever and stylish work on contemporary films like Fight Club, Mr & Mrs Smith or Big Business to name a few. But yeah, Oscar doesn't like contemporary work. But here's the real failure of Oscar discernment. He costumed freaking Blade Runner (1982) and didn't win. Adding insult to injury, he wasn't even nominated!!! I hope this costuming assignment (Christina Aguilera and Cher!) really inspires him this time around.
- Mary Zophres (True Grit, Iron Man 2)
A lot of the technical crew from the Coen Bro's enviable filmography have been recognized for their efforts. Not so with Zophres who put that bowling ball bra on Julianne Moore in The Big Lebowski among other visual triumphs from their ouevre. She's costumed 10 of their 15 features including costume heavy assignments like The Man Who Wasn't There and O Brother Where Art Thou? - Penny Rose (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time)
She's done British period pieces (Carrington, Another Country), big budget musicals (Evita) and one behemoth franchise in which she definitely aided in shaping one of the screen's most indelible and beloved characters (Pirates of the Caribbean). So there's versatility, bait and plentiful inspiration in her filmography. What gives with the Oscar shunning?
the costume design page
