This past weekend Catherine Martin, the production designer for the Great Gatsby - as well as the film's costume designer in addition to being director Baz Luhrman's wife and partner - took home the Art Directors Guild award for a period film. Ms. Martin bested stunning, if less deliciously glamorous work, from the designers of 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Saving Mr. Banks and Inside Llewyn Davis. Martin's fellow ADG award recipients were K.K. Barrett for Her in the Contemporary Film category and Andy Nicholson for Gravity in the Fantasy Film category. How Her, set in the not too distant future, qualifies as a 'contemporary' film I haven't got a clue, but those futuristic sets were fabulous. (As were the pants.)
Ms. Martin and set decorator Beverly Dunn have also been nominated by the Academy for the Great Gatsby's Production Design. Here, some reminders why the film, released last May, earned the Oscar nomination.
Gatsby's Mansion
Daisy and Tom Buchanan's East Egg Home
Nick Carroway's Cottage
and lest you forget what it's all for ...
When it comes to the Oscars, the Academy doesn't break the films down into categories; the nominees for Best Production Design, which includes Set Decoration, are Martin with Beverly Dunn for Gatsby, K.K. Barrett with Gene Serdena for Her, Adam Stockhausen with set decorator Alice Baker for 12 Years a Slave, production designer Judy Becker with Heather Loeffler for American Hustle and finally, Andy Nicholson with Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard for Gravity. I'm a Gatsby fan and found Martin's work thrilling but will the Academy be likewise dazzled when Gatsby's only other nomination is a nod to Martin's Costume Design?
Sources: Architectural Digest, Hooked on Houses
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