The Academy Award for Costume Design was awarded early in the evening on February 29, 2004, at the 76th Academy Awards, but it signaled that something big was afoot at the ceremony. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” had already won an art direction award moments before, and when the names of Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor were called for the “King” costumes, it seemed clear that the film was on a streak .
Dickson and Taylor accepted their Oscars from Renée Zellweger and each had something to say on the stage of the then Kodak Theater.
“Mr. Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, you are wonderful people,” Dickson said, referring to the “King” director and his co-writer and co-producer (and life partner). This was Dickson's third nomination and first win; nominated in 2002 for the first “LOTR” film, “The Fellowship of the Ring.” She and Jackson worked together throughout the “LOTR” trilogy, but it wasn't their first collaboration: she also provided the costumes for one of their first movies: “Heavenly Creatures” (1994).
Dickson also had the distinction of competing against herself in the category this year, as she was also nominated for her costumes in “The Last Samurai.” While actors are not allowed to appear in competitive roles in the same category, this is not true for costume designers, and has happened several times since the category was first introduced at the 1949 awards.
Taylor also had a few words to share, saluting his workers at Weta Workshop and the cast and crew of the “LOTR” film trilogy “who supported us over the past seven years.” Then he greeted his wife (and Weta partner), Tania, who was sitting smiling in the audience: “Tania, my partner, the young woman who, when she was 13, I bought two live rats as her first gift. to her. You are still with me. What a great pleasure! Forward and upward. I love you.”
However, Oscar wasn't done with Taylor; That night she would win a second Oscar (also for “King”) when she shared the makeup award with Peter Swords King. Taylor had also won for visual effects. and Makeup in 2002 for “The Fellowship of the Ring”. In 2006, he won another Oscar (five in total so far) for visual effects on Peter Jackson's “King Kong.”
It was hard to stand in the way of “LOTR” sweeping. Also competing in the costume category were Dien van Straalen (for “Girl with a Pearl Earring”); it was van Straalen's first and only nomination. She died in 2010. Wendy Stites was nominated for “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.” The craftsman, who has also worked in production design, has been nominated only once. She is married to “Master” director Peter Weir. Finally, Judianna Makovsky earned her third Oscar nomination (but so far she hasn't won) for “Seabiscuit.” She has also been nominated for “Pleasantville” (1998) and “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” (2001).
Each of these nominees was for costumes from historical eras or fantastical realms, a trend that has dominated the costume category for decades. Before 2004, the last time a “contemporary” or non-fantastic costume design won an Oscar was in 1995, for “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” which, admittedly, was full of fantasy fantasy. -superior designs.
