‘Wicked’ looking good to pull off Oscar hat trick in design categories
Universal’s movie adaptation of the hit musical “Wicked” is flying into theatres this year and brings with it a flurry of stars including Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum, and Michelle Yeoh. But those stars aren’t the only ones who may shine bright in the film as the movie’s trailer displayed a dazzling array of designs that could mean it’s set for Oscar attention. In particular, it could be a key player for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
Paul Tazewell is on costuming duty here. He was nominated for Best Costume Design in 2022 for another musical, “West Side Story.” Although he lost to Jenny Beavan for “Cruella,” musicals are often nominated in this category. Along with “West Side Story,” movie musicals such as “Cyrano,” “Mary Poppins Returns,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “La La Land,” “Cinderella,” and “Into the Woods” have all been nominated for their costumes in recent years.
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Nathan Crowley is in charge of production design on “Wicked.” The artist has six Oscar nominations to his name so far: “The Prestige” in 2007 with Julie Ochipinti, “The Dark Knight” in 2009 with Peter Lando, “Interstellar” in 2015 with Gary Fettis, “Dunkirk” in 2018 with Fettis again, “First Man” in 2019 with Kathy Lucas, and “Tenet” in 2021 with Lucas again. It’s interesting that Crowley has largely been nominated for science-based works, while five out of six nominations came for Christopher Nolan movies.
His work on “Wicked” is of a completely different style, swapping out cold science for technicolor fantasy. It’s a nice change of pace that could demonstrate to voters Crowley’s versatility. Fantasies or films with fantastical qualities do well in this category, too, with movies like “Poor Things,” “Barbie,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Mary Poppins Returns,” “Black Panther,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Shape of Water,” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” all earning Best Production Design bids in recent years.
The potential nominees for makeup and hairstyling have yet to be determined but, again, fantasies both do well in this category. Fantasies that have been nominated here include “Poor Things,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Pinocchio,” “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” “Star Trek Beyond,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”
We fully expect “Wicked” to be a key contender in all three categories. In fact, it could follow several films to land nominations in two of — or even all three of! — the categories. Here’s a little breakdown.
“Poor Things” (2024) — won all three
“Oppenheimer” (2024) — nominated for all three
“Elvis” (2023) — nominated for all three
“Dune” (2022) — nominated for Costume Design and Makeup/Hairstyling, won Production Design
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (2021) — nominated for Production Design, won Costume Design and Makeup/Hairstyling
“Darkest Hour” (2018) — nominated for Costume Design and Production Design, won Makeup/Hairstyling
“Mad Max: Fury Road” (2016) — won all three
“The Revenant” (2016) — nominated for all three
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2015) — won all three
But let’s go a little further and take a look back at the last two decades in these three categories. Here’s a handy chart below.
As you can see, in the past two decades, there have been 11 instances where a film has won at least two of these three design categories.
Eight films have won both Costume Design and Production Design: “The Aviator” in 2005, “Memoirs of a Geisha” in 2006, “Alice in Wonderland” in 2011, “The Great Gatsby” in 2014, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” in 2015, “Mad Max: Fury Road” in 2016, “Black Panther” in 2019, and “Poor Things” in 2024. This is the most common combination and strongly suggests that if you win one of them, you have a great chance at taking the other one home, too.
Five movies have claimed both Production Design and Makeup and Hairstyling: “Pan’s Labyrinth” in 2007, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in 2009, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” in 2015, “Mad Max: Fury Road” in 2016, and “Poor Things” in 2024. Again, there’s a decent link here.
Four movies have prevailed for both Costume Design and Makeup and Hairstyling: “The Grand Budapest Hotel” in 2015, “Mad Max: Fury Road” in 2016, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” in 2021, and “Poor Things” in 2024. This is somewhat surprising. Costumes and makeup and hair are the closest linked to each other out of these three categories. In fact, you could suggest makeup and hair design are an extension of costume in many cases. It’s intriguing, then, that there hasn’t been much overlap between these two categories in the last 20 years.
Only three films have won all three of these design awards: “The Grand Budapest Hotel” in 2015, “Mad Max: Fury Road” in 2016,” and “Poor Things” in 2024. The profile of these films are all the same, too, as they were all contenders for Best Picture (although none of them won). Plus, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” both won the most Oscars overall in their respective years (“The Grand Budapest Hotel” won the joint-most along with “Birdman”). “Poor Things” won four Oscars but “Oppenheimer,” that year’s Best Picture winner, won seven.
Could “Wicked” join any of these movies by winning any mix of these awards? Let’s find out this Oscars season.
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