2024 Oscars: Which movies will dominate design categories – ‘Barbie,’ ‘Oppenheimer’ …

The Oscars for design — Costume Design, Production Design, and Makeup and Hairstyling — are often awarded together to reward movies that have excelled in their costume creations, set building, and distinct makeup work. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” won all three while “Black Panther” won both Costume Design and Production Design. Those two are fantasy films, which is a leading genre in the design categories. But period pictures (“Cruella,” Mank”), historical epics (“All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), sci-fi flicks (“Dune,” “Avatar: The Way of Water”), and even distinct contemporary films (“La La Land,” “Parasite”) have also done well in these races.

With that in mind, here’s a breakdown of the eight films we expect to be the strongest contenders across the three categories.

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“Barbie”
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. The trailers have flaunted pretty pastels and plastics in both the sets and the costumes and the full film does not disappoint. The legendary Jacqueline Durran is in tour de force mode here — every single one of both Barbie and Ken’s outfits knock it out of the park from the rollerblade outfits, the beach outfits, the cowboy/cowgirl outfits, and that incredible fur coat Ryan Gosling‘s Ken dons. Plus, the reference to “Grease” in the “I’m Just Ken” sequence is inspired, while even the costumes in the real world are simple but so effective. It’s gorgeous — and so are the sets. Production designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorators Katie Spencer and Ashley Swanson have brought Barbie Land to life in spectacular style. It’s like a Barbie theme park come to life while the details of the pained inside of the fridge, the faux pool, the milk cartoon, and that stunning car just put a smile on your face the whole time.

It’s masterful stuff and Durran, Greenwood, Spencer, and Swanson could all be swapping pink for Oscar gold next year. Durran has been nominated for eight Oscars, winning for “Anna Karenina” in 2013 and “Little Women,” in which she also worked with “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig, in 2020. Meanwhile, longtime collaborators Greenwood and Spencer have both been nominated for six Oscars together: “Pride & Prejudice” in 2006, “Atonement” in 2008, “Sherlock Holmes” in 2010, “Anna Karenina” in 2013, and “Beauty and the Beast” and “Darkest Hour” in 2018. Swanson is hoping for her first Oscar bid.

“Oppenheimer”
The second half of Barbenheimer will also be looking for Costume Design and Production Design bids. Ellen Mirojnick dresses her cast in immaculate period suits and military uniforms, with lead actor Cillian Murphy cutting a striking figure in his suit and hat. Murphy’s intense stare with the brim of his hat pressing down against his brow as the weight of Oppenheimer’s task presses down upon him is one of the cinematic images of this year (along with Gosling’s Ken, of course). Meanwhile, production designer Ruth De Jong and set decorators Claire Kaufman, Olivia Peebles, and Adam Willis all impressively recreate the Los Alamos town that Oppenheimer and his team worked in.

Mirojnick, who did the costume for “The Greatest Showman” and “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” has never been nominated for an Oscar before although she did win an Emmy in 2013 for her work on “Behind the Candelabra.” Kaufman, Peebles, and Willis are all also looking for their first Oscar bids, as is De Jong.

“The Color Purple”
This one has a strong Oscars history. The first film was nominated for Best Costume Design (Aggie Guerard Rodgers), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (J. Michael Riva, Bo Welch, and Linda DeScenna), and Best Makeup (Ken Chase) in 1986. The upcoming musical version, which is helmed by Blitz Bazawule will hope to go the same way. Production designer Paul D. Austerberry, set decorator Larry Dias, and costume designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck will all be looking to recreate the American South in the early 1900s with this remake. Jamison-Tanchuck has never been nominated for an Oscar, but Dias was nominated for Best Art Direction for “Inception” in 2011 and Austerberry won Best Production Design” for Guillermo del Toro‘s fantastical period film “The Shape of Water” in 2018.

“Dune: Part Two”
Denis Villeneuve‘s movie also did well in the design awards, but it’s much more recent. “Dune” won six Oscars and one of those was for Production Design – with Patrice Vermette and Zsuzsanna Sipos winning. The film was also nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Donald Mowat, Love Larson, and Eva Von Bahr) and Best Costume Design (Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan). Vermette continues with production design duties while Shane Vieau takes over from Sipos. West also designs the costumes by herself for this second and final installment of Villeneuve’s “Dune” adaptation, which presents science-fiction costumes in desert landscapes and technology-filled constructions.

To go with his 2022 “Dune” win, Vermette was also nominated for Best Production Design in 2017 for Villeneuve’s “Arrival” (shared with Paul Hotte) and 2010’s “The Young Victoria” (shared with Maggie Gray). Vieu won Best Production Design for “The Shape of Water” alongside Austerberry and Jeffrey A. Melvin while he was also nominated in 2022 for “Nightmare Alley” (alongside Tamara Deverell). Meanwhile, West is a bit of an Oscars bridesmaid — four nominations, zero wins. The bids came for “Quills” in 2001, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in 2009, “The Revenant” in 2016, and that aforementioned “Dune” bid in 2022.

It’s unclear at the moment who exactly would be up for a potential Best Makeup and Hairstyling bid but Mowat returns for the second movie while Larson and Von Bahr do not. Expect Mowat to be in the mix for another Makeup and Hairstyling bid for his team’s prosthetic work.

“Killers of the Flower Moon”
From one kind of epic to another. Martin Scorsese‘s upcoming movie will depict the USA in the 1920s, a prime slice of history that the Oscars love. There are some familiar names here, too. West does the costumes for this one, while Willis is the set decorator. We know their Oscars history already. Jack Fisk is the production designer and he has a good Academy Awards background himself. He was nominated in 2008 for “There Will Be Blood” (shared with Jim Erickson) and in 2016 for another Leonardo DiCaprio movie, “The Revenant” (shared with Hamish Purdy). Don’t rule out a Makeup and Hairstyling bid for this period movie, too — Robert DeNiro, Brendan Fraser, and DiCaprio all undergo minor transformations by the looks of the trailer, although its unclear who would be on the billing for this category.

“Maestro”
One of three major biopics on this list (the others being “Oppenheimer” and “Napoleon”), this one could be looking at a famous Oscars pairing — Best Actor and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Bradley Cooper, who also directs co-writes, and produces, takes on the lead role of Leonard Bernstein while he is transformed into that Bernstein by an excellent prosthetics and makeup team. These two awards have gone hand in hand a number of times — recently for “The Whale” earlier this year when Fraser won Best Actor and in 2018 when Gary Oldman won for “Darkest Hour.” It’s unclear who would be nominated for Best Makeup hear but Cooper is in our predicted five for Best Actor, so this pairing is once again on the cards.

Meanwhile, Mark Bridges does the costumes, Kevin Thompson is the production designer, and Liz Ainley and Rena DeAngelo are the set decorators. Bridges has been nominated for four Oscars, winning two — in 2012 for “The Artist” and in 2018 for “Phantom Thread.” DeAngelo has been nominated twice for Best Production Design — for “Bridge of Spies” in 2016 (shared with Adam Stockhausen and Bernhard Henrich) and “West Side Story” in 2022 (shared with Stockhausen). Ainley and Thompson are both searching for their first Oscar bids.

“Napoleon”
A good ol’ history epic is a great way to land some design awards. Ridley Scott‘s previous film, “Gladiator,” won Best Costume Design for Janty Yates and was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration for Arthur Max and Crispian Sallis. Yates and Max reunite with Scott for this one, with Yates on costume duty alongside David Crossman and Max serving as the production designer. He’s joined by Elli Griff and Storm Woodroffe as set decorators. Griff, Woodroffe, and Crossman have never been nominated for Oscars but Max has two more Oscar bids to his name alongside that “Gladiator” nomination. He was also nominated for two more Scott movies — “American Gangster” in 2008 (shared with Beth A. Rubino) and “The Martian” in 2016 (shared with Celia Bobak). Yates’ “Gladiator” win is her sole Oscar nomination.

“Poor Things”
And last but not least is Yorgos Lanthimos‘ latest, which takes place in the Victorian era, although Lanthimos seems to give that setting his own, other-worldly style the same way he did with 18th Century Britain and “The Favourite.” That movie was nominated for Best Production Design (Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton) and Best Costume Design (Sandy Powell). This time, Holly Waddington is the costume designer, Shona Heath and James Price are the production designers, and Zsuzsa Mihalek and Naomi Rozsa are the set decorators. All of them are looking for their first Oscar nominations. But Lanthimos’ style with period films proved successful the last time — it could happen again. And Willem Dafoe‘s doctor, by the looks of the trailer, has a striking makeup design. It’s unclear, again, who exactly would be on the ballot for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, but expect this film’s prosthetic work to impress the Academy.

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