Avatar Wins Oscar For Best Art Direction

It’s Rick Carter, Kim Sinclair and Robert Stromberg for Avatar. No big surprise here. Hard to believe anyone missed this category in their Oscar pool. Even if you were just guessing, Avatar jumps out among the five nominees. It’s a big movie, and with it comes the requisite big set decoration (Sinclair) and even bigger production design (Carter and Stromberg); that equals Oscar gold, baby! For the record, I thought the awards show was terribly dull.

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The nominees for Best Art Direction were:

Avatar / Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg (Art Direction); Kim Sinclair (Set Decoration)

• This is the second Academy Award nomination for Rick Carter. He was previously nominated for: Forrest Gump (1994) — Nominee, Art Direction

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus / Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro (Art Direction); Caroline Smith (Set Decoration)

• These are the first Academy Award nominations for Dave Warren, Anastasia Masaro and Caroline Smith.

Nine / John Myhre (Art Direction); Gordon Sim (Set Decoration)

• This is the fifth Academy Award nomination for John Myhre. He was previously nominated for: Dreamgirls (2006) — Nominee, Art Direction; Memoirs of A Geisha (2005) — Winner, Art Direction; Chicago (2002) — Winner, Art Direction; Elizabeth (1998) — Nominee, Art Direction. This is the second Academy Award nomination for Gordon Sim. He was previously nominated for: Chicago (2002) — Winner, Art Direction

Sherlock Holmes / Sarah Greenwood (Art Direction); Katie Spencer (Set Decoration)

• This is the third Academy Award nomination for Sarah Greenwood. She was previously nominated for: Atonement (2007) — Nominee, Art Direction; Pride & Prejudice (2005) — Nominee, Art Direction. This is the third Academy Award nomination for Katie Spencer. She was previously nominated for: Atonement (2007) — Nominee, Art Direction; Pride & Prejudice (2005) — Nominee, Art Direction

The Young Victoria / Patrice Vermette (Art Direction); Maggie Gray (Set Decoration)

• This is the first Academy Award nomination for Patrice Vermette. This is the second Academy Award nomination for Maggie Gray. She was previously nominated for: Brazil (1985) — Nominee, Art Direction