Shape of Water’s Canadian crew delighted by award nod
TORONTO — Guillermo del Toro’s posse of Canadian crew members spent months playing in the fantasy realm of The Shape of Water, but Tuesday’s news that they’re sharing in the film’s leading 12 nominations at the British Academy Film Awards felt truly otherworldly, they said.
“My feet haven’t touched the ground yet,” said Kevin Scott, part of the Toronto-based visual effects team responsible for bringing an amphibious sea monster to life. “I’m just floating around the office.”
The Shape of Water, which was filmed in Toronto and Hamilton, Ont., emerged from the BAFTAs on Tuesday with the biggest leg up heading into Oscars. The British awards are considered a good indication of what Academy Awards voters might favour before the nominees are announced this month.
But more importantly for Scott, and his team at Mr. X digital studios, it is their first BAFTA nomination, and it’s for a project with which they feel a particular connection. All of them worked closely with the director to imagine Amphibian Man, a creature that audiences could sympathize with.
The sea monster is the romantic interest of the film’s leading character Elisa, a mute cleaning woman played by fellow BAFTA nominee Sally Hawkins.
“We had to bring him into a realm of humanity so viewers could relate to him and subsequently fall in love with him, as Elisa did,” said Scott, who was born in Edmonton and started his career working on the Canadian TV series Reboot.
“We had to make his face curious, we had to make his face longing.”
Much of the effects team’s work tapped into the movements of actor Doug Jones, who played the role from beneath a suit of artificial gills and webbing, said Trey Harrell, who shares the best special visual effects nomination. He said they were pushed further by del Toro’s meticulous sense for detail.
“It’s daunting to work with that guy,” Harrell said.
“He’s got the best eyes in the room and he brings out the best in all of the crews he works with.”
Harrell was responsible for recreating 1960s Baltimore by scrubbing Toronto landmarks such as Massey Hall and the Eaton Centre out of shots meant to appear like an era long passed. His team also slipped inside jokes for the crew onto billboards scattered throughout the city.
Each finite detail was inspired by del Toro’s encouragement for his visual team to strive for a level above “eye candy,” an elevated degree he likes to call “eye protein.”
“He says eye candy is what you see on the surface level when you first view a film,” Harrell said.
“Eye protein is layers upon layers of background detail you don’t notice until the second, third or fourth time you watch a film.
“We stuffed in a huge amount of detail into the period cities and into the performance of the creature.”
The Shape of Water’s other nominations include nods for best film, original screenplay, costume design, production design, film editing, film sound and best director for del Toro.
The other best-director contenders are Quebec’s Denis Villeneuve for Blade Runner 2049, Martin McDonagh for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk and Luca Guadagnino for Call Me By Your Name.
Among the other Canadian BAFTA nominees this year are Blade Runner makeup artist Donald Mowat and Vancouver-born production designer Dennis Gassner.
Christopher Plummer is also a best supporting actor nominee for All the Money in the World. Plummer was a last-minute replacement for Kevin Spacey, who was cut from the already completed film following allegations of sexual misconduct.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and the Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour received nine nominations apiece for the BAFTA prizes.
Other multiple nominees include Blade Runner 2049 and Dunkirk, which each secured eight. Figure-skating showdown I, Tonya was nominated in five categories.
Winners will be announced at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Feb. 18, two weeks before the Oscars.
The ceremony will be hosted by Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley, who is taking over from longtime master of ceremonies Stephen Fry.