Leaders of the Pack
Here are the front-runners for some high-profile Oscar shortlists
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Prosthetics artist Kazu Hiro is seeking a third Oscar for Bradley Cooper’s transformation into Leonard Bernstein, and he is seemingly the one to beat in the hair and makeup race. Turning Cooper into the legendary composer was a process that took some two to five hours. Hiro’s most daunting task: an aged Bernstein circa 1989, which required a full-body suit, as well as prosthetics for the eyes, nose, lips, neck, shoulders and hands.
Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is another contender for this statuette. Ivana Primorac led the team and used more than 20 wigs for Margot Robbie’s transformation into the pink princess. Primorac’s goal was to make her look “plastic.” Elsewhere, she had to create a unique look for every Barbie and Ken to differentiate one from the next.
Kay Georgiou, nominated for her work on 2019’s “Joker,” added hairpieces to Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” creating a fuller-bodied look; when Gladstone’s Mollie was being poisoned, Georgiou removed them and added grease. The lackluster look and limp locks showed the poison taking its toll.
Makeup artist Jo-ann Macneil and hair designer Cliona Furey helped turn Cailee Spaeny into a teenage Priscilla Beaulieu in the A24 movie named for her. Priscilla wore no makeup in her youth, but once she met and fell in love with Elvis Presley, in came the iconic bouffant and cat-eye.
Nadia Stacey, Oscar nominated for makeup and hair on “Cruella,” is no stranger to working with
Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos, having done so on “The Favourite.” For “Poor Things,” Stacey used little makeup on Stone’s Bella Baxter but did weave extensions into her hair. She designed and created more than 100 body tattoos for Kathryn Hunter’s Madame Swiney, while philosopher Francis Bacon inspired Willem Dafoe’s “monster” look, to which Stacey added prosthetics.
Other key contenders include artisans from “The Color Purple,” “The Creator,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.”
ORIGINAL SCORE
Oscar winner (“Black Panther”) Ludwig Göransson goes headto-head against the late Robbie Robertson in this category.
Göransson’s work in “Oppenheimer” is rooted in the violin, as Christopher Nolan tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, and he introduces piano chords for Emily Blunt’s Kitty theme. Robertson, meanwhile, could be a first-time nominee and posthumous winner for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” his 10th collaboration with Martin
Scorsese. He fused peyote hymns, drum tonalities, the rubbing of skins and all textures of bells, snakes and rattles to score the haunting story of the Osage Nation murders.
Laura Karpman, one of many composers on double duty, incorporated jazz into Nia Dacosta’s “The Marvels,” building a space opera for the superhero film. She also worked jazz into Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction.”
Kris Bowers, whose credits this year include “Haunted Mansion,” “Origin,” “The Color Purple” and “The Last Repair Shop,” is seeking