FINAL 2021 Oscar Nomination Predictions: PRODUCTION DESIGN

Mank and News of the World should be good to go here, they’ve hit what they needed to and Mank looks to be in line with last year’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with production design wins and nominations and sail through easily to a win.

Other than that, what a mess this category is. Precursors have been little help, with shocking snubs from the Art Directors Guild (no Emma., no The Father) and BAFTA this morning going suuuper British with its choices (chosen by chapter not a small jury like acting and directing) that don’t seem like they’re going to make an impact at the Oscars.

I’m tempted to go with the ADG/BFCA four of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Mank, News of the World and Tenet then either Mulan (ADG), Emma. (BFCA), The Father (BAFTA), The Midnight Sky (ADG) or The Personal History of David Copperfield (BFCA). But which one…

Here are my final 2021 Oscar nomination predictions in Production Design.

• 1. Mank (Netflix) – ADG, BAFTA, BFCA
  Donald Graham Burt (production designer), Jan Pascale (set decorator)
• 2. News of the World (Universal Pictures) – ADG, BAFTA, BFCA
  David Crank (production designer), Elizabeth Keenan (set decorator)
• 3. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix) – ADG, BFCA
  Mark Ricker (production designer), Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton (set decorators)
• 4. Tenet (Warner Bros) – ADG, BFCA
  Nathan Crowley (production designer), Kathy Lucas (set decorator) 
• 5. The Personal History of David Copperfield (Searchlight Pictures) – BFCA
  Cristina Casali (production designer), Charlotte Dirickx (set decorator)

Watch out for: Mulan (Walt Disney) – ADG

Photo credit: Dean Rogers/20th Century Studios

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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