Anderson's Leadership, Inarritu's Creativity Hightlights At 87th Academy Awards

By: Marjorie Galas

Costume Designer Milena Canonero started a trend at the 87th Annual Academy Awards that continued for much of the evening – a Below the Line tribute to Wes Anderson.

Canonero has been a long time Anderson collaborator, beginning with “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.” Receiving her fourth Oscar (she previously won for “Barry Lyndon”, “Chariots of Fire” and “Marie Antoinette”) Canonero accepted the award for Costume Design for “The Grand Budapest Hotel” by stating:

“This is you. You’ve been a great inspiration, you are like a conductor. You are like a composer. You are our director and you inspire all of us who have been nominated here.”

Following Cananero’s Oscar win were two first time Oscar winners: Frances Hannon (Makeup) and Mark Coulier (Hair Styling) for “The Ground Budapest Hotel.” Both longtime Anderson collaborators, Hannon stated working on “The Grand Budapest Hotel” was a particularly amazing experience.

“I’ve worked with Wes for over 17 years now, so to win this award, I think really comes from Wes,” said Hannon. “He is the one who wrote it on the page. My years of pleasure with Was have been extraordinary.”

After eight nominations, Alexandre Desplat won his first Oscar for Original Score for “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” A frequent collaborator with Anderson, Desplat was also nominated this year for his score for “The Imitation Game” and felt the two nominations would cancel any votes for either film. Surprised to have won, he credited his relationship with Anderson in achieving a score that perfectly balanced editing in “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

“It’s all him. Actually, he should have won this award,” said Desplat. “The thing about Wes’ movies is that music is woven very strongly to the editing. When we sit together in my studio we get excited about ideas and I try to give a shape to that musically very quickly.”

Two other previous Oscar nominees, Production Designer Adam Stockhausen and Set Decorator Anna Pinnock, received their first Oscar for Production Design on “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” This was Pinnock’s first experience with Anderson and she found the process “very organic and very collaborative.”

“I respect all the categories being called out (with wins for “The Grand Budapest Hotel”), said Pinnock. “It’s brilliant for the film.”

Long-time Anderson collaborator Stockhausen joked that each time he commits to an Anderson film there is no possible way to get the job done, then completes each job with a sigh of relief saying “We did it.”

“To see Milena win earlier tonight, it’s just widely exciting,” said Stockhausen. “I’m terribly excited and proud for the film and for the whole team. My knees are shaking a little bit!”

“Birdman” ultimately flew over “The Grand Budapest Hotel” with its four key Oscar wins: Best Cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki (earning a second consecutive win, following his Oscar for “Gravity” last year), Best Original Screenplay for Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo, Best Director for Alejandro G. Inarritu and Best Picture. Inarritu concluded the evening by contemplating the process any creative director must embrace when adapting their vision to film.

“I haven’t figured out why I did what I did in the film, why I took those chances. I think it’s when you lose fear,” said Inarritu. “Fear is the condom of life. It doesn’t allow you to enjoy things, so when you get the condom (off) you say, ‘Okay, I get it or not, but that is what it is.’ It was real. It was making love for sure.”

To get a full list of the Oscar winners and learn more about the 87th Academy Awards, please visit: http://www.oscars.org/oscars