Hello, Gorgeous: Best Actress of 2020

A new series by Juan Carlos Ojano

Women are at the center of the Oscars conversation*. Two female nominees for Best Director. Chloé Zhao making Oscar history. Highest number of female-directed films nominated at the Oscars as well as highest number of eligible films at the Oscars in total. Maybe it’s too early to say, but this year is looking like the bellwether of a significant change that is about to happen in the cinematic experience and landscape in the years to come. In a time when cinema as we know it was changing right in front of our collective eyes, this year in film has shown that the future is female indeed.

As for Best Actress - save for one co-lead situation - women are also the center of their respective films’ narratives (longtime Oscar fans know that’s not always the case). The roles nominated during this time exemplify the complex emotions of the year. Social unrest and grief are big forces that confronted us that year. And look at what we have: their nominees’ character introductions are reflective of that.

Are you ready? *The year is 2020...

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ICYMI - Ann Roth reacts to her Oscar win

This has been making the rounds but perhaps you missed it as we initially did. Veteran costume designer Ann Roth, who we've discussed at length before, wasn't at the Oscars. Like Hopkins, the oldest man ever to win Best Actor, she's the oldest to win in her field and the second oldest of all time; only James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name, was older in winning a competitive Oscar and by just a matter of weeks.

Roth seems very happy about the second Oscar, which was almost a quarter century coming after The English Patient. Her daughter wrote about it, saying...

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What's Oscar's all-time favorite Costume Design era?

by Cláudio Alves

The legendary Ann Roth is our reigning Best Costume Design Oscar queen, having won her second statuette for the jazz age designs of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. I'm ecstatic about her victory. Both because it's an outstanding artistic achievement and because hers is a filmography that undoubtedly deserves more than one Oscar. That being said, this year's Costume race (which I previously reviewed in depth) did remind me of a pet peeve I've long had with the category—namely, the overwhelming predominance of period films and the rarity of recognition for contemporary-set narratives. As usual, all of this year's nominees featured period costuming, with even the lone fantasy film, Pinocchio, basing most of its look in mid-19th-century fashion.

With all this in mind, I decided to do some research and find out what era is most common in Best Costume Design Oscar winners. From Ancient Egypt to post-war London, this category has rewarded many styles, though some do stand out as AMPAS' favorites… 

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93rd Academy Awards: Best Production Design

by Daniel Walber

Is it a good year for the Best Production Design category at the Oscars? Is it a bad year? What does the word “good” even mean? Or, for that matter, the word “year”? Certainly not the same thing as “eligibility period,” given the way things have shaken out with the 93rd Academy Awards. Pour one out for First Cow.

But I digress. We have five films nominated for Best Production Design, and they’re a relatively modest batch. There’s the eternal joke about the Oscars nominating movies for “most” rather than “best” design, but by some miracle that hasn’t happened this year...

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5 days til Oscar. Will Ann Roth win again for her 5th nomination?

by Nathaniel R

Ann Roth on the set of "Ma Rainey"

With five days until Oscars we were looking for a way to celebrate the number five today that related to this year's Oscars. The only fifth time nominee we could find (though perhaps we missed someone) is Ann Roth who we've celebrated before. The 89 year-old costume designer has somehow won only one Oscar and one Tony despite a prolific and eye-poppingly rich career on both stages and screen. Her Tony win came for the Nathan Lane play The Nance (which we think would make a pretty great movie) and these are the film designs for which she was nominated...

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