One Category at a Time: Production Design

Without a doubt, the toughest below-the-line awards to call this year are the design categories. The critics, the guilds, and BAFTA have unanimously lined up behind one film in both Costume Design and (today's topic) Production Design. But will the Academy really go there in either design field, let alone both?

My Awards nominations: Production Design

Had to omit some stellar work from my lineup this year. These hardworking production designers, set decorators, and art directors delivered settings and environments with so much personality, as did many others who just missed the cut. My top five films of 2012 for Production Design, Set Decoration, and Art Direction are:

Review - Prometheus

Off to probe the farthest corner of the galaxy for the origins of humanity flies the spacecraft Prometheus in Ridley Scott's ambitious prequel to the Alien franchise he himself spawned 33 years ago. That original classic is revered for being both a grade-A creature feature and a legit science fiction with strong thematic undertones, but while Prometheus reaches for the same proverbial stars (much like the ancient pictograms that lead our inquisitive scientists on their voyage), its philosophical quandaries and narrative ambiguities are as vexing as they are thought-provoking.

Noomi Rapace (sans dragon tattoo) headlines as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, who theorizes that the aforementioned pictograms – discovered in the art of different civilizations the world over – are evidence that humans were created by something beyond our world. “Engineers” is the term she and her husband (Logan Marshall-Green) coin for our hypothetical creators, and their thesis is enough to convince optimistically superstitious trillionaire Peter Weyland to finance an interplanetary mission to literally meet our maker. Anyone who's seen even one of the previous Alien films knows that going into space in search of answers is seldom a good idea, and indeed, this entry proceeds to follow many of the same beats as its predecessors. We are introduced to a mostly expendable crew of characters, including one synthetic personality, the robotic David, played with calibrated nuance by Michael Fassbender, the clear standout of the cast. Naturally, there's enough mistrust and hidden agendas to pique our suspicion until the bad stuff starts happening to these curious cats.