Many of the Academy Awards categories have a long history dating back almost 100 years. However, that's not true for hair and makeup artisans. Her art was left out of the awards before 1981, when a groundswell of support for recognition of the work done in 1980's “The Elephant Man” led to the creation of a makeup-only category (and “Elephant” was not the first winner. ). Hair was not included until 1993 and is still considered part of the package, now known as the Academy Award for Makeup and Hairstyling.
Meanwhile, hair and makeup nominees are chosen slightly differently than most other categories: The academy's makeup branch selects a shortlist of seven titles, then is narrowed down during a “bake-off” to get a final list of nominees (usually three). Such was the case of the 2004 Oscars, held on February 29 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood: three nominees, one winner.
The winners probably didn't surprise anyone in the audience. When Scarlett Johansson presented the award to Richard Taylor and Peter King, her film “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” was already on track to win all 11 awards for its 11 nominations. It was Taylor's second chance on stage that night; That same night he had collected his first Oscar for the film's costume design, an award he shared with Ngila Dickson. He also has previous Oscars for makeup (shared with Peter Owen) and visual effects (shared with Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook and Mark Stetson) from 2002 for the first film in the trilogy, “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings.” Ring.”
Taylor shared the applause in her speech, giving credit to several other team members who were instrumental in making and caring for more than 10,000 prosthetics used during the “Lord of the Rings” film series. He then also spoke to the various former Middle-earth residents present in the audience, giving credit to the “cast that had to use him for all those months.” I apologize for the rubber feet and the funny noses, but greetings to everyone.”
King was collecting his first (and so far only) Oscar; He would be nominated again in 2013 for “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” “God, it's scary up here,” he said. After thanking the studio and crew, he added: “I would like to thank my beautiful wife Sarah for being there every night with a glass of wine when I got home. I thank my beautiful daughter for being simply beautiful.”
The other two nominees returning home certainly presented formidable competition, but it was hard to deny “King’s” dominance. Edouard F. Henriques and Yolanda Toussieng were nominated for “Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World.” This was Henriques' second of three nominations; He would be chosen in 2011 to work on another film directed by Peter Weir, “The Way Back”, and his first nomination came from his work on “The Cell” in 2001. Meanwhile, Toussieng won two Oscars in consecutive movies. years: 1994 for “Mrs. Doubtfire” and 1995 by “Ed Wood”; She would also be nominated for working with Henriques and Greg Funk on “The Way Back.”
Rounding out the trio of nominated films with long-standing titles were Ve Neill and Martin Samuel, who were nominated for their work on “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” Neill already had many Oscars: he has three, since “Beetlejuice” (1989, shared with Steve LaPorte and Robert Short); “Mrs. Doubtfire” (shared with this year's competitor Toussieng and Greg Cannom); and “Ed Wood” (shared with Toussieng and Rick Baker).
