For our tenth Rundown article, let’s take a look at Production Design. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Production Design as well as general commentary about the race. Thursday, we’ll cover Actor.

Best Production Design

Winner Predictions

• Dune (TB O)
• Nightmare Alley (WL O) (PP O) (TL R) [New]
• The Power of the Dog
• The Tragedy of Macbeth
• The West Side Story

Runner-Up Predictions

• Dune (WL O) (PP O) (TL R) [New]
• Nightmare Alley (TB O)

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Wesley Lovell: This category has three types of contenders. There’s the two most likely to succeed, the two that could spoil, and the one that has no hope of a win. We’ll start by eliminating that fifth title, The Power of the Dog. The two most likely to succeed are the two titles that won the Art Directors Guild awards: Nightmare Alley and Dune. All season, the latter seemed like a safe bet to win, but Nightmare Alley lives up to the exacting standards of director Guillermo del Toro and looks amazing. Right now, I think Nightmare Alley has the lead by a nose over Dune. The other two films, The Tragedy of Macbeth and West Side Story might have been winners in other years and they have a lot of production design going for them, so they could spoil the top two finishers, but I expect they will ultimately be left behind.
Peter J. Patrick: A tough category to pin down, but the strong designs of Nightmare Alley should take it over Dune.
Tripp Burton: Dune is on a roll, and the pure number of sets should prevail here, but Guillermo del Toro’s films have managed two wins here and this may be Nightmare Alley’s best chance at a win.
Thomas La Tourrette: This also was long assumed to be Dune’s to lose, though now I wonder if that might happen. Dune was good and created quite a grand new world and it still might win. But the guild win for Nightmare Alley does show support for that film, and its striking sets including run down carnivals and an absolutely elegant Art Deco doctor’s office stayed with me more than Dune’s. Dune I admired, but Nightmare Alley enthralled me. All the nominees deserve to be here, though The Power of the Dog was a bit of a surprise and probably only could win if the film sweeps everything. West Side Story’s New York City was gritty and run down and the minimalist sets of The Tragedy of Macbeth were striking. I don’t often come out of a movie remembering the production design, but I did with several of these films. Probably any could win and that would be fine, but I think it comes down to a race between Dune and Nightmare Alley. Each won a guild award and they are basically even when it comes to precursors, but right now I think the edge goes to Nightmare Alley.

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