24th Annual Art Directors Guild Awards Nominations

Yesterday the Art Directors Guild (ADG) announced the nominations in theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials, music videos and animated features for the 2020 edition and becomes the first Industry organization (i.e. Academy voters) to announce their nominees.  Tomorrow the second Guild (SAG) will announce what's going to be honored by the actors who definitively are Academy voters and are the largest group of all.

As previously announced by the ADG, Syd Mead, the “visual futurist” and concept artist known for his design contributions to science-fiction films such as Star-Trek: The Motion Picture, Aliens, and Blade Runner, has been named the recipient of the William Cameron Menzies Award.

The ADG Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to outstanding individuals in each of the guild’s four crafts.  Joe Alveswill receive the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Directors Council (AD), Denis Olsenfrom the Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists Council (STG) Stephen Myles Bergerfrom the Set Designers and Model Makers (SDMM)Council, and Jack Johnson from the Illustrators and Matte Artists (IMA) Council. Additional honorees for Cinematic Imagery will be announced at a later date.

As every year comment on how simple and clear ADG's categories are as there is no confussion nor misconception and this year all films belong to period category, to fantasy category, to contemporary category and to animation category.  See, very easy-to-understand.  Unfortunately all is mixed again when considering the one Oscars category, consequently there is no clear correlation between guild's and Oscars winners and this year again, Oscar winner could come from any of the categories.   For example, last year Oscar Production Design winner was Black Panther which won ADG's Fantasy Film award but in the previous 5 years 3 came from Period, 1 from Fantasy and 1 from contemporary; again, no clues here for a "sure" winner.

As clearly stated in their press release, there is a tie resulting in six nominees in the following two categories: Period Film and Fantasy Film.

Nominees for Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film

Period Feature Film
Dennis Gassner for 1917
Francois Audouy for Ford V Ferrari
Ra Vincent for Jojo Rabbit
Mark Friedberg for Joker
Barbara Ling for Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood
Bob Shaw for The Irishman

Fantasy Feature Film
Kevin Thompson for Ad Astra
Gemma Jackson for Aladdin
Charles Wood for Avengers: Endgame
Rick Heinrichs for Dumbo
Patrick Tatopoulos for Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Rick Carter for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Contemporary Feature Film
Jade Healy for A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood
Kevin M. Kavanaugh for John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
David Crank for Knives Out
Lee Ha-jun for Parasite
Ruth de Jong for Us

Animated Feature Film
Max Boas for Abominable
Michael Giaimo for Frozen II
Pierre-Olivier Vincent for How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
James Chinlund for The Lion King
Bob Pauley for Toy Story 4

To check all nominations, including television, go official site here or check press release in pdf file here.  The producer of this year's ADG Awards (#ADGawards)is Production Designer Scott Moses, ADG. Winners will be announced at the dinner ceremony on Saturday, February 1, 2020.  ADG Awards are open only to productions when made within the U.S. by producer’s signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.