Feb
05
Congratulations are in order for Harry Potter production designer Stuart Craig and his team.
Over in Beverley Hills last night he took home a much deserved prize in the fantasy film category at the prestigious Art Directors Guild awards for ‘Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film in 2011′, for his work on Deathly Hallows Part 2.
Update: The brilliant people behind the Harry Potter films were also recognised by the Guild with a special award for Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery! The press release names David Heyman, David Barron, Chris Columbus, Alfonso cuaron, Mike Newell, David Yates, Steve Kloves, Michael Goldenberg, Stuart Craig, Neil Lamont, Stephanie McMillan and JK Rowling as the recipients.
This should boost the film’s chances in this category at the Oscars in a couple of weeks time, although it faces tough competition from the other big ADG winner, Hugo.
Although veteran Craig has won three Oscars in the past (1982, 1988 and 1996), none of them have been for Harry Potter even though his work is probably the standout feature of the whole production. We hope that can finally change!
The full list of ADG winners for the feature film section is below. You can also see the TV winners right here.
Get the whole story »
Jan
24
The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced their full list of 2012 Oscar nominees.
Many Potter fans had rightly hoped that this might be Harry Potter’s year to pull off some big award wins which have been missing in previous years. The finale of the series this summer, Deathly Hallows Part 2, was widely praised by critics (it was rated higher than nearly all the other nominees), was very well loved by fans and general movie-goers alike, and was one of the biggest box office hits ever.
Unfortunately, the film’s many merits don’t seem to have rubbed off on the Academy and couldn’t outweigh the many factors that were standing against it. You can read more about some of these factors in detail here.
Deathly Hallows Part 2 has had a complete lack of buzz in the weeks leading up to today, and this showed in the lack of recognition in the nominations. On top of the reasons outlined in the article linked above, this lack of love is partly due to it being a summer release, meaning it was not fresh in people’s minds and making Warner Brothers’ big campaign less effective.
Get the whole story »
Jan
17
The final nominations for the BAFTAs (the British Academy Film Awards) were announced this morning. Daniel Radcliffe, along with rising star Holliday Grainger, announced the nominees for the main categories, and you can watch a replay of that announcement below.
Outside of the main categories, Harry Potter got four nominations for the following:
- Production Design
- Makeup & Hair
- Special Visual Effects
- Sound
Deathly Hallows Part 2 was initially long-listed in a further seven categories which it sadly missed out on: Outstanding British Film, Editing, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, Original Music and Supporting Actor – Alan Rickman. Get the whole story »
