‘Frankenstein,’ ‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Take Top Film Prizes at Art Directors Guild Awards

“Frankenstein,” One Battle After Another” and ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps” won top film honors at the 30th Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800) Excellence in Production Design Awards.

The awards were handed out on Saturday night at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown.

TV winners included “Andor,” “Severance” and “The Studio.”

The event celebrated the visionary production design teams behind the year’s most visually ambitious films, television series, and music projects, recognizing outstanding achievement in the art of cinematic and episodic world-building.

Martin also won a second award for her work on the Prada “Galleria Bag” commercial.

As Oscar voting is open, Deverell and Martin are both nominated in the production design category. The other nominees are for “Hamnet” (Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton),
“Marty Supreme” (Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis) and “Sinners” (Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Monique Champagne).

“Kpop Demon Hunters” continued its winning streak, collecting the ADG Award in feature animation. This past week it won 10 Annie Awards including best feature and three Visual Effects Society trophies. It also won the Producers Guild award.

The guild handed out special honors tonight to filmmaker Jon M. Chu, whoreceived the Cinematic Imagery Award. Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) was presented with the set for the President’s Award. Production designer Thomas E. Sanders, (”Saving Private Ryan” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”) was inducted posthumously into the ADG Hall of Fame. The guild handed out four Lifetime Achievement Awards. Honorees included set designer and art director Jann Engel. Production designer Bo Welch. Production designer Tom Southwell and scenic artist Stephen McNally.

Welch whose credits include “Men in Black,” “The Birdcage” and “Beetlejuice” dedicated his award to “my brilliant beautiful wife Catherine O’Hara and our sons Matthew and Luke, who all inspire me daily and are my greatest lifetime achievement.” O’Hara died on last month at her Los Angeles home, and was married to Welch.

During her speech Friedman vowed to defend the film and television industry. Friedman who has been fighting for a national film credit, started her speech by talking about how films show the world what America is. “It’s why people was in immigrate here in the first place. It’s why people in other countries that don’t enjoy those freedoms understand what that would mean to their lives and to the lives of their children. So what you do does move hearts and minds.”

Friedman told the room she had stopped reading from the teleprompter, and was speaking from the heart. She said, “We are going to finish the job of having a national film tax credit, because Hollywood is worth fighting for. The film industry is worth fighting for.”

She said, “I will defend this industry. I will defend it from offshoring productions. I will defend it as much as I can from corporate consolidation. I will absolutely defend it from AI taking away the work of artists.” Friedman continued, “We’re going to fight for it in Georgia, New York, New Jersey, all across this country, because when we have a strong film and TV industry, America succeeds. So we are going to continue working on this tax credit. I have great faith that we are going to deliver for you.”

Chu was mourning the end of his “Wicked” journey. As he accepted his award, he said, “Have you ever put so much love into something like true love that you never wanted it to end like it hurts, like it physically hurts your stomach to think about your life without it.” He said, “That’s where I’m at right now with ‘Wicked.’ That’s what it feels like for me to say goodbye to ‘Wicked,’ because this may be one of the last times I get to celebrate it.” He talked about the craft of production design and called on those who he had worked with throughout his career from Nelson Coates (“In the Heights”) to Nathan Crowley (“Wicked”). Chu called filmmaking “an empathy exercise built into our culture for generations, and design is what makes it possible. It is the official language of this connection.” He told the room of production designer and set decorators, “You are not simply designers. I think you are explorers.”

Full list of 30th ADG Awards winners below:

FEATURE FILM NOMINEES:

PERIOD FEATURE FILM

“Frankenstein”
Production Designer: Tamara Deverell

FANTASY FEATURE FILM

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps”
Production Designer: Kasra Farahani

CONTEMPORARY FEATURE FILM

“One Battle After Another”
Production Designer: Florencia Martin

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

“KPop Demon Hunters”
Production Designers: Mingjue Helen Chen, Dave Bleich

TELEVISION NOMINEES:

ONE-HOUR PERIOD SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES

Palm Royale: “Maxine Drinks Martini’s Now,” “Maxine Serves a Swerve”
Production Designer: Jon Carlos

ONE-HOUR FANTASY SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES

Andor: “Who Are You?”
Production Designer: Luke Hull

ONE-HOUR CONTEMPORARY SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES

Severance: “Chikhai Bardo”
Production Designer: Jeremy Hindle

TELEVISION MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Production Designer: Matthew Flood Ferguson

HALF-HOUR SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES

The Studio: “The Note”
Production Designer: Julie Berghoff

MULTI-CAMERA SERIES

Mid-Century Modern: “Bye, George”
Production Designer: Glenda Rovello

VARIETY OR REALITY SERIES

Saturday Night Live: “Lady Gaga Host”
Production Designers: Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood, N. Joseph De Tullio, Andrea Purcigliotti

VARIETY SPECIAL

SNL50: The Anniversary Special
Production Designers: Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood, N. Joseph De Tullio

COMMERCIALS

Prada: “Galleria Bag”
Production Designer: Florencia Martin

SHORT FORMAT & MUSIC VIDEOS

Apple – Someday by Spike Jonze: “AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancelation”
Production Designer: Shane Valentino