2023 Oscar Predictions: PRODUCTION DESIGN (October)

Often, you only have to look to Costume Design predictions to help guide Production Design (or vice versa, for that matter) as the two so often have so much crossover. Whether it’s an elaborate period piece, a sci-fi juggernaut from a respected designer or even art direction that’s heavily assisted by CGI, production design encompasses a wide range of film genres and styles.

But one area this Academy branch has been hesitant to recognize is stop-motion animation. As with many of the technical categories like film editing, cinematography and costume design, production designers tend to go for the ‘most’ and the ‘biggest’ designs, ones that have either massive scope or elaborate period details. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. So why has the world of stop-motion animation, which creates all of the same worlds as live action films do, sometimes with painstaking detail, been constantly swept aside for a nomination?

Some recent stop-motion animated films have flirted with the possibility of a nomination. Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) won production design honors from the International Cinephile Society and the National Society of Film Critics but the Academy said no, stopping with animated feature and original score nods. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) made Oscar history when it earned a visual effects nomination along with its animated feature nod but again, the production design branch somehow didn’t see what the Annie Awards did (the Art Directors Guild did not have an animated section for its awards until 2017.

Can that finally change this year? Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is looking like a strong contender in several categories, including animated feature, original score and original song (some even think it has a shot at being the first animated film nominated for best picture in over a decade) but del Toro and his team of animators have been bringing their creations to red carpets and detailed behind the scenes videos to show audiences and voters the amount of time, detail and work that goes into even a single frame. While Netflix seems ready to forge a campaign for the film’s production design, it will be critics’ groups, guild and industry that has to ring the bell, and do so to an undeniable degree, to get the notion and reality of a production design Oscar nomination to go from imagination to the real thing.

Here are my 2023 Oscar predictions in Production Design for October.

1. The Fabelmans – Rick Carter, production designer; Karen O’Hara, set decorator (Universal)
2. Elvis – Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, production designers; Shaun Barry, Beverly Dunn, Daniel Reader, set decorators (Warner Bros)
3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Hannah Beachler: production designer; Lisa K. Sessions, set decorator (Marvel Studios)
4. Babylon – Florencia Martin, production designer; Anthony Carlino, set decorator (Paramount Pictures)
5. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Guy Davis, Curt Enderle, production designers (Netflix)

6. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Rick Heinrichs, production designer; Elli Griff, set decorator (Netflix)
7. Bardo, or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths – Eugenio Caballero, production designer; Daniela Rojas, set decorator (Netflix)
8. Avatar: The Way of Water – Dylan Cole & Ben Procter, production designers; Vanessa Cole, set decorator (20th Century Studios)
9. All Quiet on the Western Front – Christian M. Goldbeck, production designer; Ernestine Hipper, set decorator (Netflix)
10. Empire of Light – Mark Tidlesley, production designer; Kamlan Man, set decorator (Searchlight Pictures)

Other contenders (alphabetical)

Amsterdam – Judy Becker, production designer; Patricia Cuccia, Erin Fite, set decorators (20th Century Studios)
Armageddon Time – Happy Massee, production designer (Focus Features)
The Banshees of Inisherin – Mark Tildesley, production designer; Michael Standish, set decorator (Searchlight Pictures)
The Batman – James Chinlund, production designer (Warner Bros)
Blonde – Florencia Martin, production designer; Erin Fite, set decorator (Netflix)
Catherine Called Birdy – Kave Quinn, production designer; Stella Fox, set decorator (Amazon Studios)
Don’t Worry Darling – Katie Byron, production designer; Rachael Ferrara, set decorator (Warner Bros)
Downton Abbey: A New Era – Donal Woods, production designer; Linda Wilson, set decorator (Focus Features)
Emancipation – Naomi Shohan, production designer; Cynthia La Jeunesse, set decorator (Apple Original Films)
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Jason Isvarday, production designer; Kelsi Ephraim, set decorator (A24)
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Living – Helen Scott, production designer; Sarah Kane, set decorator (Sony Pictures Classics)
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On – Liz Toonkel, production designer; Ahmed Delgado, set decorator (A24)
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris – Luciana Arrighi, production designer; Istvan Margit, Nóra Talmaier, set decorators (Focus Features)
Nope – Ruth De Jong, production designer; Gene Serdena, set decorator (Universal Pictures)
The Northman – Craig Lathrop, production designer; Robert Cowper, Paul Ghirardani, set decorators (Focus Features)
RRR – Sabu Cyril, production designer (Variance Films)
TÁR – Marco Bittner Rosser, production designer (Focus Features)
Thirteen Lives – Molly Hughes, production designer; Emma Rudkin, set decorator (Amazon Studios)
Till – Curt Beech, production designer; Cassaundra Marie, set decorator (UAR/Orion Pictures)
Triangle of Sadness – Josefin Åsberg, production designer (NEON)
The Whale – Mark Friedberg, production designer; Lisa Scoppa, set decorator (A24)
White Noise – Jess Gonchor, production designer; Claire Kaufman, set decorator (Netflix)
The Woman King – Akin McKenzie, production designer; Renee Filipova, set decorator (Tri-Star)
Women Talking – Peter Cosco, production designer; Friday Myers, set decorator (UAR)
The Wonder – Grant Montgomery, production designer; Margot Cullen, set decorator (Netflix)