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The Oscar shortlists were released on December 17, the results of which are analyzed in Anne Thompson’s overview. Here, we’re covering the crafts of makeup and hairstyling, original score, sound, and visual effects.
“Wicked” was the big winner — appearing on all four lists. This was followed by three-listers “Emilia Pérez” (MUAHS, score, sound), “Dune: Part Two” (MUAHS, sound, visual effects), “Gladiator II” (score, sound, visual effects), and “Alien: Romulus” (score, sound, visual effects).
Scoring two noms were “Nosferatu” (MUAHS, score), “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (MUAHS, score), “Blitz” (score, sound), “Deadpool & Wolverine” (sound, visual effects), and “The Wild Robot” (score, sound).
The rest of the nominees were broken down by the following:
MUAHS: “The Apprentice,” “A Different Man,” “Maria,” “The Substance,” and “Waltzing with Brando.”
Score: “Babygirl,” “Blink Twice,” “The Brutalist,” “Challengers,” “Conclave,” “The Fire Inside,” “Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1,” “Inside Out 2,” “The Room Next Door,” “Sing Sing,” “The Six Triple Eight,” and “Young Woman and the Sea.”
Sound: “A Complete Unknown” and “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
Visual Effects: “Better Man,” “Civil War,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” “Mufasa: The Lion King,” “Twisters.”
The biggest snubs were Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys,” and Osgood Perkins’ “Longlegs.”
Makeup and Hairstyling
“The Substance,” Coralie Fargeat’s body horror fairy tale, is the favorite, conjuring a series of bizarre transformations for Demi Moore’s Elisabeth, who is reborn as twenty-something Sue (Margaret Qualley), courtesy of prosthetics makeup designer Pierre Olivier Persin.
“A Different Man,” the black comedy from Aaron Schimberg, stars Sebastian Stan as an aspiring actor who undergoes experimental facial reconstructive surgery to cure his Neurofibromatosis (NF). Oscar-nominated prosthetic makeup designer Mike Marino (“The Batman,” “Coming 2 America”) provides the authentically detailed work.
“Nosferatu,” director Robert Eggers’ reworking of F.W. Murnau’s legendary silent vampire film, is built around Bill Skarsgård as the infamous Count Orlok. His carefully manicured 19th-century hairdos and facial hair devolve into full body work from prosthetic & makeup FX designer David White.
Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” is a frontrunner, with Oscar winners Frances Hannon (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”) and Mark Coulier (“Poor Things,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Iron Lady”) handling makeup/hair and prosthetics for Elphaba’s (Cynthia Erivo) complicated green skin, in particular.
For “The Apprentice,” with Stan portraying Donald Trump during his reality TV heyday, prosthetic and makeup artist Brandi Boulet applied the transformation. And for “Waltzing with Brando,” prosthetics designer Jerry Constantine and co-prosthetics designer Michael Mekash and transformed the unrecognizable Billy Zane into the iconic movie star during his early ’70s comeback in “The Godfather” and “Last Tango in Paris.”
Original Score
The newly expanded list of 20 contains a diverse range of musical offerings. Among the standouts are Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross’ techno score for Luca Guadagnino’s tennis-themed “Challengers”; Hans Zimmer’s inspired score of terror and chaos for “Blitz,” Steve McQueen’s harrowing reenactment of the German aerial bombing of London during World War II; Volker Bertelmann’s (“All Quiet on the Western Front” Oscar winner) experimental score for “Conclave,” Edward Berger’s religious thriller, balancing sacral cues with thrilling ones; Clément Ducol and Camille’s operatic score for “Emilia Pérez,” the genre-defying crime musical from Jacques Audiard; Robin Carolan’s abstract score of terror, dread, and tragedy for “Nosferatu”; and Daniel Blumberg’s haunting score highlighted by jazz and brass for Brady Corbet’s epic “The Brutalist.”
The surprises include Benjamin Wallfisch’s eerie “Alien: Romulus” score, which pays tribute to Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner; Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s mesmerizing score for the “Babygirl” erotic thriller; Chanda Dancy’s unusual mix of classical, Japanese, and Indonesian styles for Zoë Kravitz’s “Blink Twice” exotic island thriller; John Debney’s orchestral throwback score for Kevin Costner’s Western, “Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1”; and Aaron Zigman’s rousing score for Tyler Perry’s “The Six Triple Eight,” the historical drama about the all-Black, all-female battalion in World War II.
There are two animated entries as well: Kris Bowers’ sublime score for Chris Sanders’ “The Wild Robot,” incorporating robot Roz’s (Lupita Nyong’o) transformation and sense of community, and Andrea Datzman’s emotional roller coaster of a score for Kelsey Mann’s “Inside Out 2” (as Pixar’s first woman composer).
Sound
Musicals “Wicked,” “Emilia Pérez,” “Joker: Folie à Deux,” and “A Complete Unknown” dominate the category. However, “Wicked” and the operatic “Emilia Pérez” have spectacle going for them. “Wicked” was led by supervising sound editor/sound designer/re-recording sound mixer John Marquis, supervising sound editor/sound designer Nancy Nugent-Title, and Oscar-winning re-recording mixer Andy Nelson (“Les Miserables”), and supervising music editor Jack Dolman. “Emilia Pérez” comes off as a fever dream, led by supervising sound editor Aymeric Devoldère, who handled the musical numbers with re-recording sound mixer Cyril Holtz.
“Blitz” offers the intense spectacle of war (bombings and a flood) along with its own musical performances, led by supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Paul Cotterell. Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” boasts an array of Colosseum battles, led by supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Matthew Collinge, supervising sound editor Danny Sheehan, and Oscar-winning re-recording mixer Paul Massey (“Bohemian Rhapsody”).
For “Dune: Part Two,” Oscar-winning supervising sound editor/sound designer Richard King (“Dunkirk,” “Inception”) reunited with re-recording mixers Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill on Denis Villeneuve’s more action-packed sequel.
The inclusion of “The Wild Robot” is another surprise, with the organic sounds of Roz and the island led by legendary sound designer Randy Thom (director of sound design at Skywalker Sound), supervising sound editor Brian Chumney, and supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Leff Lefferts.
Visual Effects
Apes dominate, led by “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” “Better Man” (both done by Wētā FX), the baboons in “Gladiator II” and the flying monkeys in “Wicked” (both done by ILM). However, this could shape up as a battle between “Kingdom” and “Better Man.”
For Wes Ball’s action-packed “Kingdom” (33 minutes are entirely digital), Wētā greatly upgraded its photoreal performance capture animation and VFX, leveraging tech from the previous “Apes” trilogy along with the Oscar-winning “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
For Michael Gracey’s unconventional Robbie Williams biopic, “Better Man,” Wētā turned the English pop star into a chimp because he felt like a performing monkey. But he acts more human than simian. There are five different versions of the digital Williams (performance-captured by Jonno Davies), wearing 226 different costumes. The musical highlight consists of the “Rock DJ” music video-like spectacle, filmed on London’s Regent Street throughout four evenings and stitched together like a single shot.
“Dune: Part 2” is a strong contender. It’s more exciting and emotional, with Paul (Timothée Chalamet) leading the nomadic Fremen in a holy war on Arrakis. VFX supervisor Paul Lambert and his Oscar-winning “Dune” DNEG team ramped up everything with much more visceral action, particularly with Paul and the Fremen riding the massive CG sandworms into battle against the Sardaukar.
“Wicked” has ILM doing Oz with CG work that includes hundreds of animals (besides the monkeys), displays of sorcery, atmospherics, lots of augmentation for Munchkinland, Shiz University, and The Emerald City, and special effects work (including a 16-foot high Wizard puppet head).
Another standout is “Alien: Romulus” (mostly done by ILM), which contains a combination of animatronics and CG, in a throwback to the original. There’s the return of the Facehuggers and Xenomorphs, a hybrid human/Xenomorph from Wētā, and a diabolical android named Rook that resembles Ash (Ian Holm) from “Alien” (using a Legacy puppet and generative AI from Metaphysic for the face).
The biggest surprise is Alex Garland’s “Civil War,” the dystopian actioner handled by Framestore, with the climactic attack on Washington, D.C. (shot in Atlanta), including the White House and all of its detailed work.
English (US) ·