Art Directors Guild Winners: The Revenant crawls out in front?
Monday, February 1, 2016 at 9:00AM David here to wish a happy 20th anniversary to the Art Directors Guild’s annual Excellence in Production Design Awards! The group handed out their 2015 awards last night, and their three film categories saw all three winners taken from this year’s pool of Oscar nominees. The Revenant, in the Period category, beat out the remaining two Oscar match-ups, Bridge of Spies and The Danish Girl, while The Martian triumphed in the Contemporary category and Mad Max: Fury Road took the Fantasy gong.
We’ve spoken to The Revenant’s PD, the legendary Jack Fisk, on this very website, but it’s still worth questioning whether the larger Academy body, all voting on disciplines they may not have such detailed knowledge of, will see The Revenant as worthy, given how dominated it is by the natural vistas of Canada, Argentina, Mexico and the USA rather than more obvious set design. The Period Film winner at ADG has gone on to win the Oscar four out of nine times since the ADG split their Period/Fantasy category in half in 2006, which gives The Revenant the edge in the stats, but Mad Max’s dazzling apocalyptic decoration still seems like the better bet. The ADG Contemporary champ has never won the Oscar.
Regardless of all this Oscar conjecture, it’s great to see a working legend like Jack Fisk recognised again by his guild; he previously won for the towering achievement on There Will Be Blood (with art director Adam Crank) but his CV includes much of Terence Malick’s filmography and Mulholland Drive. Aussie Colin Gibson was previously best known for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Babe, so the love is strong there too. The Martian’s Colin Gibson is a multiple Oscar and ADG nominee, with a win at the latter for Gladiator (Oscar chose Crouching Tiger).
There were also lots of awards given out for television, with Game of Thrones inevitably winning again. And the Oscars themselves, of course.
FILM
Period Film
The Revenant
Production Designer: Jack Fisk
Fantasy Film
Mad Max: Fury Road
Production Designer: Colin Gibson
Contemporary Film
The Martian
Production Designer: Arthur Max
TELEVISION
One-Hour Period or Fantasy Single-Camera Series
Game of Thrones (“High Sparrow,” “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,” “Hardhome”)
Production Designer: Deborah Riley
One-Hour Contemporary Single-Camera Series
House of Cards (“Chapter 29,” “Chapter 36”)
Production Designer: Steve Arnold
Television Movie or Limited Series
American Horror Story: Hotel (“Checking In”)
Production Designer: Mark Worthington
Half Hour Single-Camera Series
The Muppets (“The Ex-Factor,” “Pig’s in a Blanket”)
Production Designer: Denise Pizzini
Multi-Camera Series
The Big Bang Theory (“The Skywalker Incursion,” “The Mystery Date Observation,” “The Platonic Permutation”)
Production Designer: John Shaffner
Awards Or Event Special
The Oscars: 2015
Production Designer: Derek McLane
Short Format: Web Series, Music Video or Commercial
Apple Music (“The History of Sound")
Production Designer: Jess Gonchor
Variety, Reality or Competition Series
Key & Peele (“Ya’ll Ready For This?” “The End”)
Production Designer: Gary Kordan
Reader Comments (17)
Not thrilled with The Revenant but it's beautifully designed and I support any campaign to send another Oscar to the Spacek residence.
No offense to Jack Fisk, but his win here (and subsequent Oscar nomination) is pretty offensive to all the other contenders. I know more goes into art direction/set decoration for films predominantly outdoors than just shooting nature, but... come on. This isn't a location scout's aware. Ridiculous. And lazy. And reeks of favouritism. Maybe the production designers know more than we do, but for it to WIN? Yikes.
I also don't know how THE MARTIANS qualifies as "contemporary" also (it is the very definition of a fantasy since, ya know, none of it could actually be real).
i know people are expecting MAD MAX to sweep the techs but i'm not sure. I think the night might be a nail biter in the below the line categories
I also don't know how THE MARTIANS qualifies as "contemporary" also (it is the very definition of a fantasy since, ya know, none of it could actually be real).
The same way Gravity is not really a sci-fi movie.
I don't understand the love for The Revenant's production design either. I can think of maybe five setpieces in the entire 150 minute movie that were constructed by man-- a boat, a Native American village, that church seen above, a French camp, and a fort. Compare this to the intricately designed interiors of Bridge of Spies, The Danish Girl, Crimson Peak, and Trumbo.
At least we can't fault them for equating "Best Production Design" with "Most Production Design" this time?
i know people are expecting MAD MAX to sweep the techs but i'm not sure. I think the night might be a nail biter in the below the line categories
Heartbreak all over this site :'(
Can someone PLEASE explain the love for outer space movies in the Production Design category? Nearly every space ship/station/command center I've seen in the movies looks the same.
By that rationale Denny every Victorian house in a period piece looks the same. It goes for castle in fantasy movies too.
I agree with others here, due respect to Jack Fisk, but this award to "The Revenant" smacks of rewarding the biggest budget.
It isn't just Oscar voters who are a bit lazy and opting for a big budget choice. I thought "Brooklyn" did an amazing job on 1/10 of the budget.
Mad Max should win Direction, Production Design, Costumes, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Make-up, the Sound Categories and Editing, IMO.
I think it will win at least 5 out of these nominations.
Everyone assumes crafts people simply care about the crafts. Many times they vote for the movie not the specified work.
/3rtful -- while that is probably true it's very silly of them (at least when it comes to Oscar) since they have a separate ballot for Picture. But it's true they don't have that when they're doing their guild awards.
Cal -- it it won all of those it would tie Cabaret (!) for most wins without Best Picture.
Glenn -- but location scouting does fall under them too technically since they're responsible for the overall look of the movie.
"I can think of maybe five setpieces in the entire 150 minute movie that were constructed by man..."
That's your problem. Production design entails far more than sets or props or things "constructed by man." It encompasses the entire look of a movie, and that includes, yes, how mountains or trees or streams are placed within the frame, how the cutting emphasizes graphic elements, how colors and textures are presented. Production design is often, in this way, hard to separate from cinematography, which also so integrally contributes to the look of a movie. If this were merely an award for best set dressing, then that would be different, but it's about overall design *period,* and "The Revenant" is quite gorgeous.
I hate that Game of Thrones is always winning below the line awards. I feel like its technical aspects are impressive only in scale rather than in design or execution.
Thanks for the clarification, Jonathan. And you knew just what I was thinking as I read your response-- that what you describe ("how mountains or trees or streams are placed within the frame" and "how colors and textures are presented") really starts to diverge into the realms of direction and cinematography. I understand that these fields are intricately tied together, but if you're going to reward them individually (this applies more to the Oscars than the guilds, obviously), then it seems important to subdivide what goes where. Otherwise, you're just awarding different people for the same thing.
Is the location scout winning an award though?
/3rtful, I'm not even sure what that means. GRAVITY was a fantasy film nominee at the art director's guild.
I didnt know that life on mars is something contemporary.