The Road, District 9, and Star Trek: Among Oscar® Makeup Race Shortlist

A "Prawn" from "District 9"

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences yesterday announced that seven films remain in competition in the Makeup category for the 82nd Academy Awards®.

The Academy Award for Best Makeup actually recognizes the individuals who perform both makeup and hairstyling duties. Like Best Visual Effects, this category has only three nominees, chosen from a list of seven finalists which are announced in a bake-off advance.

Certain names such as three-time Oscar® winner Greg Cannom (Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Mrs. Doubtfire) and six-time Oscar® winner Rick Baker (Tropic Thunder, Men in Black, How the Grinch Stole Christmas) show up with frequency. Creation of monsters and other fantastical characters such as Mike Elizalde's makeups in Hellboy I and Hellboy II, in addition to aging makeups, like those used by Greg Cannom in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, tend to be the branch’s preferred accomplishments.

The 82nd Oscar® Best Makeup finalists (in alphabetical order) are:

* “District 9”
* “Il Divo”
* “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
* “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”
* “The Road”
* “Star Trek”
* “The Young Victoria”

Toni Servillo in Il Divo

The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Il Divo among the seven. Paolo Sorrentino’s biting satire has been mostly ignored by US critics’ groups. The makeup job in question transformed actor Toni Servillo into Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti, who is aged over several decades.

Robert Duvall (left) and Viggo Mortensen in "The Road"

The rugged survivors' makeups in The Road, Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic tale are haunting and unforgettable.

Eric Bana as the Romulan Nero in "Star Trek"

The successful reboot of the Star Trek franchise created the numerous famous characters, a bevy of Vulcans, Romulans, Orions, and most notably, Eric Bana’s antagonist Romulan Nero.

A "Prawn" from District Nine

While much of the work in Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 was achieved with visual effects, makeup nevertheless played a key role in capturing the hellish life in the title slum. Makeup effects and prosthetics were created by Jackson’s WETA crew.

Christopher Plummer as an immortal Eastern mystic
and Lily Cole as his daughter
in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus."

Makeup is a key to Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a circus movie involving a 1,000 year old title character. Sarah Monzani has been out of the race for 27 years since winning this award for Quest for Fire.

Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend as Victoria and Albert

in "The Young Victoria."

The Young Victoria captures the early years of the British monarch.

One surprising omission is that of James Cameron’s Avatar. That’s probably because much of the Na’vi’s look is a result of computer generated imagery, not actual makeup jobs. The makeup artists on the crew have yet to be widely recognized by the Academy.

On Saturday, January 23, all members of the Academy’s Makeup Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

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