Canadian duo wins Oscar for Frankenstein production design

Canadian Craftspeople Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau Win Oscar for Frankenstein

Nova Scotia claimed a pair of golden statuettes at the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday night, as production designer Tamara Deverell and set decorator Shane Vieau took home the Oscar for Best Production Design for Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. The win capped a dominant awards season run for the Canadian duo, who had already swept the BAFTA, Critics Choice, and Art Directors Guild Awards in the same category.latimes

A Nova Scotia Victory Lap

Deverell, who lives near Inverness on Cape Breton Island, and Vieau, a native of Dartmouth, N.S., beat out teams from Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, and Sinners. For Deverell, the victory was especially sweet. Her previous Oscar nomination, for del Toro’s 2021 film Nightmare Alley, ended in heartbreak when she contracted COVID at the BAFTAs and was unable to attend the Academy Awards ceremony due to strict health protocols.citynews

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Deverell told Halifax CityNews days before the ceremony, noting the string of precursor wins. “We’ve won a BAFTA, we’ve won the Arts Director Guild Awards, we’ve won the Critics’ Choice Award already, so that sort of puts us up there.”citynews

Frankenstein also won the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, awarded to Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, and Cliona Furey, and for Best Costume Design, given to Kate Hawley. The film earned nine nominations overall but did not take home Best Picture, which went to Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another.latimes

Building Del Toro’s Gothic World in Toronto

Deverell constructed 119 sets for Frankenstein, including 24 studio sets, and created an arctic tundra in a parking lot beside the Netflix production studio in Toronto. The film’s Arctic sequences were shot at Lake Nipissing in northern Ontario. Her collaboration with del Toro stretches back nearly three decades, beginning with 1997’s Mimic and continuing through The Strain, Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water, Cabinet of Curiosities, and Nightmare Alley.youtube

For Vieau, the statuette marks his second Oscar, following his win for The Shape of Water in 2018, when he memorably accepted in Adidas sneakers. He has also been nominated for Nightmare Alley and Dune: Part Two.wikipedia

“He values you, and he sees you,” Vieau said of del Toro in a recent interview. “A lot of times, that doesn’t happen. It just makes you work much harder for him.”theankler

Canada’s Craft Crew on the World Stage

Deverell, who grew up in Vancouver and studied at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, has long championed Canadian film crews. “Canada has some of the best film crews anywhere,” she has said. “We have top-notch film technicians in all areas.” She credited Cape Breton as a source of creative renewal between projects, and told the Telefilm Canada series “From Canada to the Oscars” that she would dedicate any win to her crew. “If you ask anyone in Toronto that works in the film business, they all consider GMO theirs,” she said, using del Toro’s nickname. “He has pushed us forward and put us on the world map.”canadianbusiness