The Academy doesn’t always get it right…at least, if you’re asking the film critics.
14.02.2024 - 03:05 / deadline.com
Poor Things took a pair of prizes including Best Picture at the Set Decorators Society of America‘s 2023 SDSA Awards, which were handed out today. Yorgos Lanthimos’ film starring Emma Stone also won for Best Achievement in Décor/Design of a Period Feature Film.
The film’s set decoration was by Zsuzsa Mihalek, with production design by James Price & Shona Heath.
The year’s top-grossing film and fellow Best Picture Oscar nominee Barbie, from director Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, scooped the Fantasy or Science Fiction Film award for set decorator Katie Spencer and production designer Sarah Greenwood. Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn won for Contemporary Feature Film, with the hardware going to set decorator Charlotte Dirickx and production designer Suzie Davies.
The teams behind Poor Things and Saltburn also picked up trophies at the 28th annual Art Directors Guild Awards over the weekend. The Poor Things and Barbie folks also will face off for Best Production Design at the Academy Awards next month. They’ll go up against the production designers and set decorators behind Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon — all of which were SDSA Award nominees.
Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City picked up the statuette for Comedy or Musical Feature.
The Set Decorators Society of America, which is an international group, annually celebrates outstanding work on a wide range of productions in film and television. Here are the winners of its 2023 SDSA Awards:
Best Picture
Poor Things
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, Set Decoration by Zsuzsa Mihalek with Production Design by James Price & Shona Heath
Best Achievement In Décor/Design Of A Contemporary Feature Film
Saltburn
Set Decoration by Charlotte Dirickx
Produ
The Academy doesn’t always get it right…at least, if you’re asking the film critics.
The Academy Awards are happening this weekend!
Zack Sharf Digital News Director The summer movie season is still two months away, but it’s about to be a blockbuster month on streaming platforms. From holiday tentpoles to major Oscar contenders and the highest-grossing concert film off all time, streaming platforms are delivering the goods and then some this month. Top of mind for many Disney+ subscribers in March will be the arrival of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” which is making its streaming debut with a special “Taylor’s Version” that includes five songs not included in previous releases of the concert film.
Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Yorgos Lanthimos‘ “Poor Things,” spans five different major locations — London, Paris, a ship, Alexandria and Lisbon — which meant production designers James Price and Shona Heath had a considerable undertaking ahead of them when they signed on. Creating Lisbon proved to be one of the biggest jobs for cinematographer Robbie Ryan and even Lanthimos. As Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter departs her black-and-white world of Victorian-era London and Godwin’s (Willem Dafoe’s) home, the movie transitions into a pastel-colored world — there’s a soundstage with a water tank for the scenic sea view, and a giant picturesque backdrop.
The box office may still be doing its best to return to its pre-pandemic heights, but there continue to be encouraging signs all around. The latest is Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” crossing $100 million at the global box office.
Emma Stone has revealed that her role in Poor Things required her to eat 60 Portuguese tarts in one scene.The film, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, sees the actress play Bella Baxter, a dead woman brought back to life by a mad scientist in Victorian London after having the brain of an unborn baby put in her head, before going on a journey of sexual discovery.At a recent panel discussion, Stone was asked whether playing an “explicitly sexual” character was a challenge, but she said the most difficult part was in fact some of the character’s other traits, including her eating habits.“Figuring out how to walk or eat 60 Portuguese tarts, which the first bite is delicious, but by the end you really want to puke,” she said (via People). “Or her seeing death and decay for the first time, much more challenging than the nudity, which is the only thing people want to seem to ask me about.”Stone is nominated for an Oscar for her performance in the film, and also recently won the BAFTA for Best Actress.
Emma Stone is revealing how much she ate while filming Poor Things!
Refresh for latest…: Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love continued to sing sweet tunes in its sophomore session, adding $15M from 59 international box office markets for a drop of 37% from its above-expectations stellar opening. The overseas cume is now $49.4M for $120.6M worldwide.
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Score one for true love! Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s romantic comedy “Anyone But You” hit a notable box office milestone with $200 million globally. It stands as the highest-grossing romantic comedy in years, outperforming recent star-driven entries in the genre like Julia Roberts and George Clooney’s “Ticket to Paradise” ($168 million) and the Sandra Bullock-led “The Lost City” ($192 million). “Anyone But You” is the first rom-com in half a decade to cross $200 million, since 2018’s PG-13 “Crazy Rich Asians” ($239 million), and the first of the R-rated variety since 2016’s “Bridget Jones’s Baby” ($211 million).
Saltburn, One Life and Poor Things are all winners in the film categories of the British Film Designers Guild Awards, whose annual prizes were handed out Saturday evening in London.
2024 SAG Awards – instead, Pedro Pascal beat them in an upset. Pascal, 48, who was nominated for his role in HBO’s bleak apocalyptic epic, “The Last of Us,” took home the award in the category of “best male actor in a drama series” during Saturday night’s ceremony, which streamed live on Netflix. He beat Billy Crudup, 55 (“The Morning Show), and Brian Cox, 77, Kieran Culkin, 41, and Matthew MacFadyen, 49, who were all nominated for “Succession.” Culkin and MacFadyen both won Golden Globes and Emmys this year, making them the clear favorites to win the SAG, too.
Mark Ruffalo has taken a turn. “I’m so sick of being so well-behaved,” he says. “I just want to take the ship as close to the reef as I can without actually crashing it. And maybe I’ll crash it too. I don’t give a sh*t anymore.”
EXCLUSIVE: TV and film writers will want to circle this one in their calendars: Poor Things and The Favourite producer Element Pictures is launching Storyhouse, a new Dublin-based screenwriting festival that will celebrate storytellers and storytelling.
Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “Barbie” and “Poor Things” led the 26th Costume Designers Guild Awards. In the excellence in period film category, Oscar nominee Holly Waddington won for her work on “Poor Things.” Jacqueline Durran, who is also an Oscar nominee, was recognized for her work on “Barbie,” winning the excellence in sci-fi/fantasy film award. In contemporary costume, “Saltburn’s” costume designer Sophie Canale won there.
The race for the Costume Design Academy Award is still up in the air, but no matter what happens, Holly Waddington and Jacqueline Duran will always have their 2024 Costume Designer Awards wins. The pair took Excellence in Period Film for “Poor Things” and Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film for “Barbie,” respectively.
Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards and Features Editor Actors often talk about how freeing it is to play characters that live in the moment — a sentiment that “Poor Things” screenwriter Tony McNamara understands. In writing the character of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a woman who has an infant’s brain implanted in her body, McNamara says he was working with a blank slate. “The fingerprints of childhood and society weren’t on her as a character,” McNamara tells Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast.
Poor Things” director Yorgos Lanthimos will reteam with Element Pictures on a remake of South Korean fantasy comedy “Save the Green Planet,” Variety has learned. Lanthimos — whose latest film, “Poor Things,” is nominated for 11 Oscars and just won five BAFTAs (including best actress for Emma Stone) — is expected to start shooting the movie in the U.K. and New York this summer.
Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor With just four days remaining until final Oscar voting officially opens, the race has taken a few unexpected turns at the BAFTA Awards. Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” a biographical drama about the father of the atomic bomb, has continued to surge ahead after seven wins, including best film and director. Its trajectory towards a triumphant night on the Dolby Theatre stage on March 10 seems assured.
K.J. Yossman Emma Stone thanked her mother for giving her life and her “Poor Things” screenwriter Tony McNamara for the line “I must go punch that baby” when she accepted her leading actress BAFTA award on Sunday evening. “Tony, thank you for the line ‘I must go punch that baby.’ It was life-changing for me,” Stone said on stage, while also thanking director Yorgos Lanthimos, her fellow cast and crew and her dialect coach Neil Swain.
77th British Academy Film Awards on Sunday. Gothic fantasia “Poor Things” took five prizes.Christopher Nolan was named best director for “Oppenheimer,” and Cillian Murphy won the best actor prize for playing J.