The nominations for the 2013 Art Directors Guild awards were revealed today, and it’s impossible to not point out the massive snub that is leaving Wes Anderson’s gorgeous Moonrise Kingdom off the list.
Given 15 films in total were nominated by the Art Directors branch, it’s a little demoralizing to see gorgeous, technically impressive achievements like Moonrise Kingdom and even The Master be completely ignored. Each shot in Moonrise Kingdom is impeccably crafted, with perfect symmetry and fantastic structure and blocking.
In a time where handheld and shaky camera dominates the moviemaking landscape, it’s refreshing to see some an artful, assured director as Wes Anderson command the camera so well, so it becomes a little disconcerting when such work is ignored. That’s not to say an Oscar nomination snub is necessarily confirmed, but it will be a surprise if it gets a nomination at this point.
Complaints aside, here are the nominations for the 2013 Art Directors Guild awards, which includes a few strange nominations (Flight? The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel?) as well. Also, that logo: Deathly Hallows symbol, anyone?
Period Film
Anna Karenina (Sarah Greenwood)
Argo (Sharon Seymour)
Django Unchained (J. Michael Riva)
Les Miserables (Eve Stewart)
Lincoln (Rick Carter)
Fantasy Film
Cloud Atlas (Uli Hanisch, Hugh Bateup)
Life of Pi (David Gropman)
Prometheus (Arthur Max)
The Dark Knight Rises (Nathan Crowley and Kevin Kavanaugh)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Dan Hannah)
Contemporary Film
Flight (Nelson Coates)
Skyfall (Dennis Gassner)
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Alan MacDonald)
The Impossible (Eugenio Caballero)
Zero Dark Thirty (Jeremy Hindle)