Best Production Design Oscars Predictions (December)

There hasn’t been much movement with the race for Best Production Design this month. Dune and Nightmare Alley have split the wins from the critics with four prizes each. While these critics wins rarely shape the race, these results possibly suggest this is ultimately a two-horse race between the sci-fi epic and the period noir thriller. The Academy has tended to warm towards period films in recent times, so I’m sticking with Nightmare Alley as my frontrunner at this point.

Maybe keep an eye on Last Night in Soho. The film managed to sneak onto the Oscars shortlist for Best Sound, so it might be more of a technical contender than it appears. If Belfast really sweeps the nominations like most of us suspect it will, don’t be surprised to see it land a nod here as well. Personally, I think it’s hard to call its production design one of the best five of the year, but we’ll see.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN PREDICTIONS:
1. Nightmare Alley (Searchlight Pictures)
Tamara Deverell (production designer), Shane Vieau (set decorator)
2. Dune (Warner Bros.)
Patrice Vermette (production designer), Richard Roberts and Zsuzsanna Sipos (set decorators)
3. West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
Adam Stockhausen (production designer), Rena DeAngelo (set decorator)
4. The French Dispatch (Searchlight Pictures)
Adam Stockhausen (production designer), Rena DeAngelo (set decorator)
5. The Tragedy of Macbeth (A24/Apple TV+)
Stefan Dechant (production designer), Nancy Haigh (set decorator)

IN CONTENTION
Being the Ricardos (Amazon Studios)
Jon Hutman (production designer), Ellen Brill (set decorator)
Belfast (Focus Features)
Jim Clay (production designer), Claire Nia Richards (set decorator)
Cruella (Disney)
Fiona Crombie (production designer), Alice Felton (set decorator)
Cyrano (MGM)
Sarah Greenwood (production designer), Katie Spencer (set decorator)
House of Gucci (MGM)
Arthur Max (production designer), Letizia Santucci (set decorator)
The Last Duel (20th Century Studios)
Arthur Max (production designer), Judy Farr (set decorator)
Last Night in Soho (Focus Features)
Marcus Rowland (production designer), Judy Farr (set decorator)
Licorice Pizza (MGM)
Florencia Martin (production designer), Ryan Watson (set decorator)
The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
Grant Major (production designer), Amber Richards (set decorator)
Spencer (Neon)
Guy Hendrix Dyas (production designer), Yesim Zolan (set decorator)