‘House Of Gucci’ Largely Shut Out By Oscars Including Lady Gaga, But Make-Up Nomination Marks Gain In Representation

In another blow to mass-appealing movies at the Oscars, Academy voters decided to deplete MGM/UAR’s Ridley Scott-directed House of Gucci of all but one nomination, that being for Makeup and Hairstyling.

While adults have been sluggish to return to theaters during the pandemic, House of Gucci broke through, launching over Thanksgiving with a five-day domestic debut of $22M and grossing $53.5M stateside to date and $151.8M global. It has been by far the highest-grossing U.S. drama during the pandemic.

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Completely overlooked was Lady Gaga for her portrayal of Patrizia Reggiani, an AMPAS misstep that completely enraged Twitter world and Gaga’s Monsters, including one who pointed out all the rival award noms the 12-time Grammy winner racked up this past season. Gaga won the Original Song Oscar in 2019 for “Shallow” from A Star Is Born, which she shared with Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt. She also was nominated for Best Actress for the film and previously was nominated for Best Song for “Til It Happens to You,” the song from the documentary The Hunting Ground that she co-wrote with Diane Warren.

Also displaced was Jared Leto, who completely disappeared into his portrayal of chubby, balding, goofy designer Paolo Gucci.

That said, Leto’s prosthetic designers who got him into shape in a quite a short time — Göran Lundström and Anna Carin Lock — were recognized, as was Gaga’s longtime stylist Frederic Aspiras. He breaks through in the makeup/hairstyling category as the second Asian American to be recognized for his work in the craft after Kazuhiro Tsuji, the Japan-born American special makeup effects artist and visual artist who won twice for Darkest Hour and Bombshell.

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Aspiras drew inspiration for building three decades of looks from such Italian icons as Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida and other 1980s celebrities, designing 52 looks. With Leto, Lundström and Lock had three weeks to come up with Leto’s look, a process that started virtually before the team arrived on set, where they sprung their final Paolo creation to great approval from director Scott and Al Pacino.

So how did House of Gucci fall apart during awards season? Unfortunately, critics were divided on the 2 hour, 38 minute movie, with the pic only earning a 63% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. Major critics such as New York Times‘ A.O. Scott decimated the film, writing about the downfall of Reggiani, who was convicted of killing her ex, Maurizio Gucci, as “something is missing. A lot of things, really, but mostly a strong idea and a credible reason for existing,” while blasting Gaga’s performance as “the verve of an Anna Magnani avatar in a Super Mario video game.”

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