2010 at the Movies: Art Directors Guild Award Nominations

When Hollywood scenic artists formed a Union in 1949, they etched their importance in film production. The entertainment union grew and eventually branched to include television, becoming the over 100,000 member Art Directors Guild & Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists (ADG).

The ADG has held 14 awards ceremonies for excellence in production design on feature films, television and commercials. The 15th annual ADG Awards for 2010 will be held February 5, 2011. The guild recently announced their selected feature film nominations for 2010.

For excellence in production design for a Period Film the most obvious choice for 2010 was Eve Stewart on "The King's Speech." Stewart's style is definitively British having been production design for the wonderful Gilbert & Sullivan film "Topsy-Turvy" and the HBO production of "Elizabeth I", also notably "Saving Grace", "Nicholas Nickleby" and "Vera Drake." Her tremendous attention to royal garb, commoner rags and Britain at the start of WW II in "The King's Speech" is magnificent.

There is also Jess Gonchor for "True Grit", who has worked with the Coen Brothers on several films, winning the ADG Award for Contemporary Film in 2007 with "No Country for Old Men" and nominated for "A Serious Man" and "Burn After Reading." Though, "True Grit" is a toss-up with Geoffrey Kirkland's design on another Western film: "Get Low" starring Robert Duvall. Arthur Max's design on Ridley Scott's gladiator in Sherwood Forest, "Robin Hood" is nominated; Max was nominated in 2007 for "American Gangster." The nomination for "Shutter Island" is a bit of a surprise, but knowing it's for Dante Ferretti is reason enough. Ferretti's work with directors like Scorsese, Fellini, Terry Gilliam, and Tim Burton is always up for nomination.

Three 3D movies are up for nomination in the ADG Award for excellence in production design on a Fantasy Film. Robert Stromberg for Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland", Barry Robison for "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" and Darren Gilford for "TRON: Legacy." Stuart Craig is also nominated again for "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows part 1", following his nominations for the past two Harry Potter movies. Guy Hendrix Dyas is nominated for his slick design in Christopher Nolan's "Inception", having received several ADG Award nominations in the past.

The nominees for the ADG Award for excellence in production design on a Contemporary Film are a diverse bunch. There is Judy Becker for "The Fighter", Sharon Seymour for Ben Affleck's "The Town" and Suttirat Larlarb for Danny Boyle's "127 Hours." Though I predict in it will come down to a choice between two films, Therese DePrez for Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" or Donald Graham Burt's Harvard-to-Palo Alto spread in David Fincher's "The Social Network." Burt took the award in 2008 for his production design in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."