In this week’s third Rundown article, we take a look at Art Direction, a category that so frequently favors period dramas that it’s almost become a joke, especially when the best candidate doesn’t win (see Sweeney Todd over There Will Be Blood)

ART DIRECTION

• Alice in Wonderland
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
• Inception (H)
• The King’s Speech (Ja) (H) (O)
• True Grit

Runners-Up

• Inception (Ja) (H) (H)
• The King’s Speech (H)

KEY:

Wesley Lovell: In its short history, the Art Directors guild has failed almost every other year to pick the eventual Best Picture winner. The last time was in 2007 when Sweeney Todd beat out The Golden Compass and There Will Be Blood for the Oscar. Other Oscar winners to fail to win the guild prize were The Aviator in 2004, Chicago in 2002, Crouching Tiger in 2000 and Shakespeare in Love in 1998). In every case (except Sweeney Todd), the winner was a major Best Picture contender. Of this year’s three guild winners, only two are also Oscar nominees: Inception and The King’s Speech. Since The King’s Speech is a Best Picture frontrunner, it has to be considered the most likely winner in the category. You must watch out for Tim Burton whose films have won a number of Oscars in this category, which may allow Alice in Wonderland to sneak in making this a potentially interesting race even if it is a fairly ugly film to look at. Then again, King’s Speech is too, so Inception might be able to turn its slick and inventive design into a winner.

Peter J. Patrick: Period art direction tends to win out over contemporary or near contemporary design almost all the time. Personally I found the art direction of The King’s Speech problematic. For example, wallpaper of the 1930s which looks old now was fresh and new at the time but you’d never know it from the ugliness of the art design in the film. However, I’m probably in the minority on this.

The sleekness of Inception was the year’s most inventive, so if there is an upset, that would be the likeliest beneficiary.

Tripp Burton: The King’s Speech seems like it is setting up a grand sweep, and this should be an easy win for it. Best Picture nominees that are period pieces can do really well at this category. However, Inception had the most talked about design of the year, and is a strong contender in the category. In the end, I think that The King’s Speech ekes by in the category, but wouldn’t be surprised either way.