19th Annual Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Awards Winners

Last night the Guild had their award ceremony with Birdman getting another honor to their collection and The Grand Budapest Hotel also winning in the Period Film category.

To check winners in all categories go to the guild official press release here.

Winners are in *BLUE.

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1/5/15
Today the guild announced their nominations via their official twitter account with not many surprises as by now we are clearly seeing a trend that tells about the same movies being honored this award season. Perhaps it is unexpected for some that Boyhood has no nominations in this category, but not for me as believe that Boyhood has an usual production design, nothing outstanding.  Then seems that film was NOT eligible (check rule #4 below).

These are the nominees in the three (3) feature film categories ADG use to honor the Production Design works. As been commented, in two of the previous four years, the winner in the period film category went to win the Oscar for production design, Hugo in 2012 and The Great Gatsby in 2014.

Contemporary Film
James J. Murakami and Charisse Cardenas for American Sniper
*Kevin Thompson for Birdman
Jess Gonchor for Foxcatcher
Donald Graham Burt for Gone Girl
Kevin Kavanaugh for Nightcrawler

Period Film
David Crank for Inherent Vice
*Adam Stockhausen for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Maria Djurkovic for The Imitation Game
John Paul Kelly for The Theory of Everything
Jon Hutman for Unbroken

Fantasy Film
Peter Wenham for Captain America: The Winter Soldier
James Chinlund for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
*Charles Wood for Guardians of the Galaxy
Nathan Crowley for Interstellar
Dennis Gassner for Into The Woods

Perhaps the most noticeable omission is in the Period Film where two films were snubbed: Mr. Turner and Selma. Also somehow I was expecting that maybe this year for the first time an animated movie could get a nomination but no, it didn't.

To learn the criteria used to define if film qualifies in any of the above categories let's review rule number four.

4. TO BE ELIGIBLE, A FEATURE FILM THAT IS MADE WITHIN THE U.S. MUST BE PRODUCED UNDER AN IATSE AGREEMENT. FOREIGN ENTRIES ARE ACCEPTABLE WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS.

Category I - Period Film
To qualify in this category, a feature film must have the majority of its sets and locations designed to portray a time period at least 20 years prior to the present awards year.

Category II - Fantasy Film
To qualify in this category, a feature film must have the majority of its sets and locations designed to portray places of an imaginative and inventive nature.

Category III - Contemporary Film
To qualify in this category, a feature film must have the majority of its sets and locations designed to portray places of a realistic nature within 20 years either side of the present awards year.

Press release is not yet available at official site so to check TV categories suggest you read the news here or wait a while and check the guild official site here.

Awards ceremony will be on January 31, 2015 at the Beverly Hilton International Ballroom. As previously announced, Christopher Nolan will receive the Guild’s Cinematic Imagery Award during the ceremony. Production designer Jim Bissell, senior illustrator Camille Abbott, senior set designer John P. Bruce and scenic artist Will Ferrell will be honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards. Hall of Fame inductees are John Gabriel Beckman, Charles Lisanby and Walter Tyler.