Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominates makeup artists and costume designers for three different films released that year. The award doesn’t receive as much fanfare as the headlining Best Picture or Best Actor awards, but they do highlight films with excellent design that might not otherwise be recognized.
The first film nominated was The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. If you’ve never heard of it before, it’s a Swedish comedy based on a novel of the same name by Jonas Jonasson, an adventure about the aforementioned hundred-year-old man who escapes from his retirement home and travels as far as he can with whatever money he has. Love Larson and Eva von Bahr are the artists nominated for this film.
The second film was 2015 action film Mad Max: Fury Road, the latest in the post-apocalyptic Mad Max series. This installment follows Imperator Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, as she steals the wives of the evil Immortan Joe in an attempt to lead them to freedom from his cultish leadership. The movie received high marks from critics upon release, and the makeup design is a huge part of what makes the film successful. The artist team on this film includes Damian Martin, Lesley Vanderwalt, and Elka Wardega.
The last nominated film is a western adventure from previous Oscar winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Revenant. The film is loosely based on a novel of the same name by Michael Punke. It follows Hugh Glass, played by the Leonardo DiCaprio, as he seeks revenge for the death of his son. During production, it was widely known that the stunts being directed were very dangerous, peaking interest in the final product. Before the Oscar awards ceremony, DiCaprio won Best Actor in a Drama at the Global Globes for his role in The Revenant, and during his acceptance speech, he thanked his makeup artist, Siân Grigg, for her part in his role. She is nominated alongside Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini for the Oscar.