How Oscar Nominee Paul Tazewell Got Ready for the Academy Awards

"When I’m designing a film or production, awards are not my focus," says Paul Tazewell. "It’s somewhere hovering, but not what I’m thinking about in terms of making the work happen."

That may be true, but this week Tazewell's focus couldn't help but be drawn to gold statues. After all, the Emmy and Tony winner is nominated for an Academy Award for the costume design of West Side Story—his first nomination for an Oscar, and also the first-ever nomination for a Black man in the category. "As all the buzz started and I realized we had the potential of being nominated, it blew my mind," he says. "I was really taken aback and so very excited by the honor of being acknowledged by my peers and everyone working in the film industry."

West Side Story is nominated for a total of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Tazewell—who designed the costumes for MJ The Musical, currently on Broadway, and Mr. Saturday Night, opening on Broadway March 31—is thrilled to be reunited with the colleagues who made one of the year's most nominated films.

"It’ll be a celebration for all of us. It was a huge undertaking for Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner and everyone involved, and it turned out so beautifully. I couldn’t have asked for a better representation of my work," he says. "To celebrate with people I’ve worked with before, like Ariana DeBose, as well as people I have new relationships with, is so exciting and it’s so deserved for each of them to be acknowledged. We’ll all feel very warm and connected being there celebrating each other. It’s going to be a very exciting evening."

So, how did Tazewell prepare for the big night? Here, he tells us.