For Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, costume designer Jacqueline West immersed herself in researching early-1920s denizens of Osage County, Oklahoma. She visited museums commemorating plundering oil tycoons and watched rare black-and-white home movies commissioned by Osage families, wealthy from retaining mineral rights to their oil-rich reservation. Osage costume consultant Julie O’Keefe ensured the authenticity and nuanced storytelling of traditional clothing and materials, which endure long after the tribe’s forced relocation from Missouri to Oklahoma in 1872.
“I had these 10-foot boards of townspeople, on every level, all the way around my warehouse,” says West about designing the introductory sequence in which World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) arrives in bustling Fairfax and encounters the two worlds he soon infiltrates. Suited white merchants and disheveled fieldworkers seek their fortune, as Osage Nation members don attire representing their cultural pride and wealth. Patterned blankets pristinely wrapped around tailored suits,...
“I had these 10-foot boards of townspeople, on every level, all the way around my warehouse,” says West about designing the introductory sequence in which World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) arrives in bustling Fairfax and encounters the two worlds he soon infiltrates. Suited white merchants and disheveled fieldworkers seek their fortune, as Osage Nation members don attire representing their cultural pride and wealth. Patterned blankets pristinely wrapped around tailored suits,...
- 12/12/2023
- by Fawnia Soo Hoo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Babylon, Everything Everywhere All at Once and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery won the live-action feature prizes at the 27th annual Art Directors Guild (Local 800) Excellence in Production Design Awards, which were handed out Saturday night at the InterContinental Hotel Los Angeles Downtown Hotel.
Live-action features are divided into three categories: period, fantasy and contemporary film. Babylon picked up the trophy in the competitive period film competition. Everything Everywhere All at Once won the prize for a fantasy film, while Glass Onion collected the award for a contemporary movie.
Babylon, along with Adg noms All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, Elvis and The Fabelmans, are Oscar-nominated.
Over the past five years, the winner of the Adg’s period film prize has gone on to win the Oscar for production design three times: in 2018 for The Shape of Water, in 2020 for Once Upon a Time...
Live-action features are divided into three categories: period, fantasy and contemporary film. Babylon picked up the trophy in the competitive period film competition. Everything Everywhere All at Once won the prize for a fantasy film, while Glass Onion collected the award for a contemporary movie.
Babylon, along with Adg noms All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, Elvis and The Fabelmans, are Oscar-nominated.
Over the past five years, the winner of the Adg’s period film prize has gone on to win the Oscar for production design three times: in 2018 for The Shape of Water, in 2020 for Once Upon a Time...
- 2/19/2023
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Everything Everywhere All At Once, Babylon and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery took top film honors at the 27th annual Art Directors Guild Awards tonight. Yvette Nicole Brown hosted tonight’s awards for the second consecutive year at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown. Check out the full list below.
Everything Everywhere All At Once won for Fantasy Feature Film, the Damien Chazelle-directed early Hollywood epic Babylon took the Period Feature prize and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery was honored for Contemporary Feature.
Since the guild launched its trophy show in 1996, one of its top prize winners — for Fantasy, Period or Contemporary Feature — or has gone on to win the Art Direction/Production Design Oscar in 18 of the 26 years, including the past nine in a row. Last year’s Adg’s Fantasy Film winner Dune went on to score the Academy Award.
Vying for the Production Design Oscar...
Everything Everywhere All At Once won for Fantasy Feature Film, the Damien Chazelle-directed early Hollywood epic Babylon took the Period Feature prize and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery was honored for Contemporary Feature.
Since the guild launched its trophy show in 1996, one of its top prize winners — for Fantasy, Period or Contemporary Feature — or has gone on to win the Art Direction/Production Design Oscar in 18 of the 26 years, including the past nine in a row. Last year’s Adg’s Fantasy Film winner Dune went on to score the Academy Award.
Vying for the Production Design Oscar...
- 2/19/2023
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Six random things to celebrate on this day (May 13th) in showbiz history...
1919 It's the centennial today of the silent film Broken Blossoms starring Lillian Gish (which you can watch in full on YouTube), an interracial weepie romance with Richard Barthelmess in "yellow face" as a Chinese Man that Gish falls for. Some critics consider it D.W. Griffith's best film.
Valentino and Rambova
1922 Silent film superstar Rudoph Valentino, who made millions swoon all over the world, weds costume and set designer Natacha Rambova at the age of 27. Valentino would then be arrested for bigamy since he'd been divorced for less than a year at the time (which was legally a no-go back then in California)...
1919 It's the centennial today of the silent film Broken Blossoms starring Lillian Gish (which you can watch in full on YouTube), an interracial weepie romance with Richard Barthelmess in "yellow face" as a Chinese Man that Gish falls for. Some critics consider it D.W. Griffith's best film.
Valentino and Rambova
1922 Silent film superstar Rudoph Valentino, who made millions swoon all over the world, weds costume and set designer Natacha Rambova at the age of 27. Valentino would then be arrested for bigamy since he'd been divorced for less than a year at the time (which was legally a no-go back then in California)...
- 5/13/2019
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
“Twin Peaks” star Sherilyn Fenn has been cast as silent film star Alla Nazimova in “Silent Life,” an indie biopic about Rudolph Valentino.
Vladislav Kozlov is directing and will play Valentino in the film. The movie also stars Isabella Rossellini as Valentino’s mother, Franco Nero as Valentino’s spirit, and Terry Moore as the mourning “Lady in Black.” Paul Rodriguez and Dalton Cyr have joined the cast as an older gigolo and young Italian immigrant, respectively. Paul Louis Harrell will play Norman Kerry, Valentino’s real-life friend, and Ksenia Jarova will portray Natacha Rambova, a true love of Valentino.
Kozlov is producing the project with Natalia Dar under their Dreamer Pictures banner, along with Yuri Ponomarev. The script was written by Kozlov, Dar, and Ksenia Jarova.
Valentino was a Hollywood superstar in the silent movie era and died unexpectedly in 1926. In “Silent Life,” a group of young journalists encounter...
Vladislav Kozlov is directing and will play Valentino in the film. The movie also stars Isabella Rossellini as Valentino’s mother, Franco Nero as Valentino’s spirit, and Terry Moore as the mourning “Lady in Black.” Paul Rodriguez and Dalton Cyr have joined the cast as an older gigolo and young Italian immigrant, respectively. Paul Louis Harrell will play Norman Kerry, Valentino’s real-life friend, and Ksenia Jarova will portray Natacha Rambova, a true love of Valentino.
Kozlov is producing the project with Natalia Dar under their Dreamer Pictures banner, along with Yuri Ponomarev. The script was written by Kozlov, Dar, and Ksenia Jarova.
Valentino was a Hollywood superstar in the silent movie era and died unexpectedly in 1926. In “Silent Life,” a group of young journalists encounter...
- 8/3/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Twin Peaks alum Sherilyn Fenn is set in the lead role of silent film star Madame Alla Nazimova in Silent Life, an indie biopic about Rudolph Valentino (a.k.a. Hollywood’s original Latin Lover) from director Vladislav Kozlov, who will play Valentino in the film.
Fenn’s Madame Alla Nazimova, a Russian Jewish émigré from Crimea, was a popular Broadway actress due to her fierce feminist image in the pacifist drama War Brides. One of her notable films was the 1921 silent adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ Camille, which she produced and starred opposite Rudolph Valentino.
Silent Life follows Valentino as he ponders the most important philosophical questions of human existence from his deathbed. In the film, Valentino sits in an imaginary empty movie theatre as he, and the audience watches his life flicker like a silent movie on the screen. After Valentino’s unexpected death in 1926, a mysterious Lady in...
Fenn’s Madame Alla Nazimova, a Russian Jewish émigré from Crimea, was a popular Broadway actress due to her fierce feminist image in the pacifist drama War Brides. One of her notable films was the 1921 silent adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ Camille, which she produced and starred opposite Rudolph Valentino.
Silent Life follows Valentino as he ponders the most important philosophical questions of human existence from his deathbed. In the film, Valentino sits in an imaginary empty movie theatre as he, and the audience watches his life flicker like a silent movie on the screen. After Valentino’s unexpected death in 1926, a mysterious Lady in...
- 8/3/2018
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
(See previous post: “Gay Pride Movie Series Comes to a Close: From Heterosexual Angst to Indonesian Coup.”) Ken Russell's Valentino (1977) is notable for starring ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev as silent era icon Rudolph Valentino, whose sexual orientation, despite countless gay rumors, seems to have been, according to the available evidence, heterosexual. (Valentino's supposed affair with fellow “Latin Lover” Ramon Novarro has no basis in reality.) The female cast is also impressive: Veteran Leslie Caron (Lili, Gigi) as stage and screen star Alla Nazimova, ex-The Mamas & the Papas singer Michelle Phillips as Valentino wife and Nazimova protégée Natacha Rambova, Felicity Kendal as screenwriter/producer June Mathis (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse), and Carol Kane – lately of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt fame. Bob Fosse's Cabaret (1972) is notable as one of the greatest musicals ever made. As a 1930s Cabaret presenter – and the Spirit of Germany – Joel Grey was the year's Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner. Liza Minnelli...
- 6/30/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The two standouts in the makeup and hair races for imagination and glam are definitely “American Horror Story: Hotel” (limited series) and “The Wiz Live!” (special).
“Ahsh” was like Halloween every day with a gallery of ghouls ranging from Lady Gaga’s fashionista vampire, the Countess, to Alex Ward’s creepy Addiction Demon with his drill bit dildo, to Denis O’Hare’s scene-stealing transgender bartender, Liz Taylor.
Meanwhile, “The Wiz” upped the live musical for TV by blending the Broadway show and movie into a new urban experience.
Lady Gaga’s 111-year-old Countess was the centerpiece for both makeup designer Eryn Kruger Mekash and hairstylist Monte Haught. Gaga had the opportunity to show off 65 glam looks throughout the 20th century. The actress’ personal makeup artist, Sarah Tanno, collaborated with Mekash on the designs, and Mekash’s husband, Mike, did all of the blood-related prosthetics.
The late ’20s vampire look...
“Ahsh” was like Halloween every day with a gallery of ghouls ranging from Lady Gaga’s fashionista vampire, the Countess, to Alex Ward’s creepy Addiction Demon with his drill bit dildo, to Denis O’Hare’s scene-stealing transgender bartender, Liz Taylor.
Meanwhile, “The Wiz” upped the live musical for TV by blending the Broadway show and movie into a new urban experience.
Lady Gaga’s 111-year-old Countess was the centerpiece for both makeup designer Eryn Kruger Mekash and hairstylist Monte Haught. Gaga had the opportunity to show off 65 glam looks throughout the 20th century. The actress’ personal makeup artist, Sarah Tanno, collaborated with Mekash on the designs, and Mekash’s husband, Mike, did all of the blood-related prosthetics.
The late ’20s vampire look...
- 8/29/2016
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
For makeup designer Eryn Kruger Mekash, every day was like Halloween on “American Horror Story: Hotel,” with a gallery of ghouls ranging from Lady Gaga’s fashionista vampire, the Countess, to Alex Ward’s creepy Addiction Demon with his a drill bit dildo, to Denis O’Hare’s scene-stealing transgender bartender, Liz Taylor.
Plus, there was an assortment of victims— most of them junkies— either sewn together or to the mattress of a bed, requiring challenging prosthetics.
“We had a lot of blood gags this season— more sliced throats than we usually do,” Mekash said. “So getting all those rigged and keeping the challenges of actual production up was a lot of work. They shot two or three episodes a day with three units, which meant a lot of prosthetic organization.”
The 111-year-old Countess runs the mysterious Hotel Cortez in Hollywood, and Gaga had the opportunity to show off 65 glam looks throughout the 20th century. The actress’ personal makeup artist, Sarah Tanno, collaborated with Mekash on the designs, and Mekash’s husband, Mike, did all of the blood-related prosthetics.
“She was turned into a vampire in the late ’20s, so we established all of the looks with Rudolph Valentino and his wife, Natacha Rambova [the costume and set designer],” Mekash recalled. “We saw ’30s makeup and the ’70s, which was her big heyday with disco, and then there was a time in the ’80s with Angela Bassetts’ character [Ramona Royale]. Then we had the modern-day stuff, which was incredibly glamorous.”
Speaking of Bassett’s Royale, her look ran the gamut from Diana Ross in “Mahogany” to various Blaxploitation actresses.
But, of course, Gaga’s Countess wasn’t the only vampire. There was also the young brother and sister. “I wanted to keep the vampire children subtle with pink, shiny makeup with dark circles to make it seem like there was extra blood in their bodies,” added Mekash.
The biggest challenge was The Addiction Demon, which took four-and-a-half hours to apply each day with a team of three artists. Created by Dave Anderson of Afx, he was wrapped in layers of sheets and covered in transparent jelly.
“Initially, it was all foam with prosthetics underneath, and there were layers and layers of silicone and also silicone liquid that could be made into sheets,” Mekash explained. “There was a chest piece and arm pieces and a facial mask that was glued down. Alex was covered from tip to toe— it was almost total sensory deprivation.”
For Liz Taylor, O’Hare endured a total body shave and showed off gold, red, black and blue sets of nails throughout the season.
“His look was patterned after Taylor in ‘Cleopatra’ and the eye makeup was inspired by an old bartender that [creator] Ryan Murphy met a long time ago,” Mekash said. “It was the first time that Denis ever wore such makeup.”
Related storiesHow Chris Cooper Became the Secret Weapon Of Hulu's '11.22.63'Laverne Cox On How 'There's A Little Performance in Gender,' From 'Orange is the New Black' to 'Rocky Horror'Why 'Game of Thrones' Is An Emmy Season Frontrunner -- Screen Talk, Emmys Edition...
Plus, there was an assortment of victims— most of them junkies— either sewn together or to the mattress of a bed, requiring challenging prosthetics.
“We had a lot of blood gags this season— more sliced throats than we usually do,” Mekash said. “So getting all those rigged and keeping the challenges of actual production up was a lot of work. They shot two or three episodes a day with three units, which meant a lot of prosthetic organization.”
The 111-year-old Countess runs the mysterious Hotel Cortez in Hollywood, and Gaga had the opportunity to show off 65 glam looks throughout the 20th century. The actress’ personal makeup artist, Sarah Tanno, collaborated with Mekash on the designs, and Mekash’s husband, Mike, did all of the blood-related prosthetics.
“She was turned into a vampire in the late ’20s, so we established all of the looks with Rudolph Valentino and his wife, Natacha Rambova [the costume and set designer],” Mekash recalled. “We saw ’30s makeup and the ’70s, which was her big heyday with disco, and then there was a time in the ’80s with Angela Bassetts’ character [Ramona Royale]. Then we had the modern-day stuff, which was incredibly glamorous.”
Speaking of Bassett’s Royale, her look ran the gamut from Diana Ross in “Mahogany” to various Blaxploitation actresses.
But, of course, Gaga’s Countess wasn’t the only vampire. There was also the young brother and sister. “I wanted to keep the vampire children subtle with pink, shiny makeup with dark circles to make it seem like there was extra blood in their bodies,” added Mekash.
The biggest challenge was The Addiction Demon, which took four-and-a-half hours to apply each day with a team of three artists. Created by Dave Anderson of Afx, he was wrapped in layers of sheets and covered in transparent jelly.
“Initially, it was all foam with prosthetics underneath, and there were layers and layers of silicone and also silicone liquid that could be made into sheets,” Mekash explained. “There was a chest piece and arm pieces and a facial mask that was glued down. Alex was covered from tip to toe— it was almost total sensory deprivation.”
For Liz Taylor, O’Hare endured a total body shave and showed off gold, red, black and blue sets of nails throughout the season.
“His look was patterned after Taylor in ‘Cleopatra’ and the eye makeup was inspired by an old bartender that [creator] Ryan Murphy met a long time ago,” Mekash said. “It was the first time that Denis ever wore such makeup.”
Related storiesHow Chris Cooper Became the Secret Weapon Of Hulu's '11.22.63'Laverne Cox On How 'There's A Little Performance in Gender,' From 'Orange is the New Black' to 'Rocky Horror'Why 'Game of Thrones' Is An Emmy Season Frontrunner -- Screen Talk, Emmys Edition...
- 6/15/2016
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
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Episode ten of American Horror Story Hotel, She Gets Revenge, works spectacularly well...
This review contains spoilers.
5.10 She Gets Revenge
There aren't a lot of action sequences in American Horror Story, but when something violent happens, as it does a lot this season, they tend to make a lot of it. The Hotel Cortez has been home to some terrible things, and it's always very stylish to behold. However, the titular Hotel is not really the centre of sweetness. Sure, there have been a few nice moments her and there, but nothing consistent, or played as straight as the reunion between Liz Taylor and her long-lost son Dennis. Throughout the episode, Liz and Iris make plans to commit suicide, but first they have to tie up their loose ends to keep from becoming prisoners of the Cortez. For Iris, that's simple: she has to cancel her magazines...
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Episode ten of American Horror Story Hotel, She Gets Revenge, works spectacularly well...
This review contains spoilers.
5.10 She Gets Revenge
There aren't a lot of action sequences in American Horror Story, but when something violent happens, as it does a lot this season, they tend to make a lot of it. The Hotel Cortez has been home to some terrible things, and it's always very stylish to behold. However, the titular Hotel is not really the centre of sweetness. Sure, there have been a few nice moments her and there, but nothing consistent, or played as straight as the reunion between Liz Taylor and her long-lost son Dennis. Throughout the episode, Liz and Iris make plans to commit suicide, but first they have to tie up their loose ends to keep from becoming prisoners of the Cortez. For Iris, that's simple: she has to cancel her magazines...
- 12/18/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
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Rarely has American Horror Story sustained its current level of momentum, quality and sheer entertainment...
This review contains spoilers.
5.7 Flicker
I absolutely love it when American Horror Story uses film-making style to help tell their story. It's not a question of the way the characters dress or the way the sets are displayed, but a question of actual technical techniques. A significant portion of Flicker is devoted to the life and times of a very young Countess—long before she was the Countess—as a fresh-faced Italian girl from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn who made her way out to Hollywood to become a star on the silver screen. A chance appearance as a harem girl leads to a meeting that will change young Countess's life forever as she finds herself wooed by the most famous lover in history, Rudolph Valentino (Finn Wittrock, playing a new role) and his glamorous wife,...
google+
Rarely has American Horror Story sustained its current level of momentum, quality and sheer entertainment...
This review contains spoilers.
5.7 Flicker
I absolutely love it when American Horror Story uses film-making style to help tell their story. It's not a question of the way the characters dress or the way the sets are displayed, but a question of actual technical techniques. A significant portion of Flicker is devoted to the life and times of a very young Countess—long before she was the Countess—as a fresh-faced Italian girl from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn who made her way out to Hollywood to become a star on the silver screen. A chance appearance as a harem girl leads to a meeting that will change young Countess's life forever as she finds herself wooed by the most famous lover in history, Rudolph Valentino (Finn Wittrock, playing a new role) and his glamorous wife,...
- 11/19/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Eleanor Parker 2013 movie series continues today (photo: Eleanor Parker in Detective Story) Palm Springs resident Eleanor Parker is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of June 2013. Thus, eight more Eleanor Parker movies will be shown this evening on TCM. Parker turns 91 on Wednesday, June 26. (See also: “Eleanor Parker Today.”) Eleanor Parker received her second Best Actress Academy Award nomination for William Wyler’s crime drama Detective Story (1951). The movie itself feels dated, partly because of several melodramatic plot developments, and partly because of Kirk Douglas’ excessive theatricality as the detective whose story is told. Parker, however, is excellent as Douglas’ wife, though her role is subordinate to his. Just about as good is Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee Lee Grant, whose career would be derailed by the anti-Red hysteria of the ’50s. Grant would make her comeback in the ’70s, eventually winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her...
- 6/25/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
One of the Most Amazing Silent Movies (or Movies of Any Era, Period) Ever Made Tops the List of Best of Movies Released in 1921 Rex Ingram’s The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Metro Pictures' film version of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez’s epic novel -- from a scenario by the immensely powerful writer-producer June Mathis -- catapulted Mathis’ protégé, the until then little known Rudolph Valentino (photo, left), to worldwide superstardom, as The Four Horsemen became one of the biggest box-office hits of the silent era. Ingram’s wife, the invariably excellent Alice Terry (right, dark-haired in real life; a light-haired in her many movies), played Valentino's love interest. Ninety-two years after its initial launch, the Four Horsemen remains a monumental achievement. Released by MGM, Vincente Minnelli's 1962 remake of this Metro Pictures production featured an all-star cast: Glenn Ford, Ingrid Thulin (dubbed by Angela Lansbury), Charles Boyer, Lee J. Cobb,...
- 4/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Camille (1921) is directed by some guy called Ray C. Smallwood, whose IMDb profile looks like mash-up of two different guys, but who knows? We come to the film more interested in it as a vehicle for Nazimova and Valentino, but what actually seduces is the production design and costume design, by Valentino's wife and Nazimova's lover, Natacha Rambova.
Some time before art deco conquered Hollywood, this movie exults in deliciously modern, streamlined yet organic design. Some scenes go on for frankly an indecent amount of time, but we don't care if they're unfolding in opulent boudoirs or night clubs shaped by Rambova.
The movie's self-proclaimed approach, to strip Camille of her crinolines and thrust her into modern society, is amusing echoed in Radley Metzger's softcore Camille 2000 (1969), which likewise floats by on silvery clouds of beautiful people in beautiful interiors (in and out of beautiful costumes).
The screenplay is by June Mathis,...
Some time before art deco conquered Hollywood, this movie exults in deliciously modern, streamlined yet organic design. Some scenes go on for frankly an indecent amount of time, but we don't care if they're unfolding in opulent boudoirs or night clubs shaped by Rambova.
The movie's self-proclaimed approach, to strip Camille of her crinolines and thrust her into modern society, is amusing echoed in Radley Metzger's softcore Camille 2000 (1969), which likewise floats by on silvery clouds of beautiful people in beautiful interiors (in and out of beautiful costumes).
The screenplay is by June Mathis,...
- 2/28/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
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