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OSCAR PREJUDICE: Hellboy 2 Loses "Best Make-up" Oscar to The Curious Case of Who the Hell Cares

In another show of the Academy's prejudice against comic book movies, Hellboy II: The Golden Army loses the "Best Make-Up" Oscar to Brad Pitt's tale of a baby born old who ages backwards -- which in no way compares to the monstrous make-up accomplishments of the Hellboy movies...
While Button's old man make-up was impressive (and enhanced with CGI), Hellboy's many monsters did NOT utilize computer enhancement in most cases, and were multiple efforts of amazing work where Button's was only one. Someone please tell me how it didn't win?!! The only answer is that the academy is prejudiced.

However, Heath Ledger has finally recieved the award he was always destined to recieve, a Best Supporting Actor win (and you can garuntee it would have been Best Actor in a few short years). So we did have some comic book movie recognition tonight with The Dark Knight pulling in a few golden statues, but Hellboy II did not succeed in taking home the gold.
16 Yes
7 No
realfirstavenger
2/22/2009

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58 Comments

I had some piss poor comments for that choice as well. I thought "You turned Ron Perlman into FREAKIN' HELLBOY! How the HELL did Brad Pitt as an old man beat that?!!?" But, who the hell am I yelling at a TV screen, right? I agree with you though, Hellboy should have totally won for makeup...
IonParallax - 2/22/2009, 10:02 PM
I agree, Hellboy's make-up was great. I mean c'mon, I heard that there was still some CGI used to make Pitt look like an old dude while Ron Perlman was dressed up in full make-up, c'mon!
crappybumbum - 2/22/2009, 10:24 PM
And Hellboy wasnt the only cool makeup in Hellboy2! The Angel of Death and Mr Wink were as awesome as well! And they didnt use any CGI at all to make those 3! Stupid voters.
JamesH - 2/23/2009, 12:33 AM
Button was always going to beat Hellboy because its long, boring and pretentious..prime oscar bait!
Rorschach01 - 2/23/2009, 6:56 AM
Well, not only did Benjamin Button have incredible make-up, but it was also extremely life-like and realistic. Hellboy II did have good make-up, but it lacked texture and a lot of the creatures also used prosthetics which doesn't really count towards make-up.
Dartheyegouger - 2/23/2009, 8:44 AM
prosthetics are make up you mong!
wards - 2/23/2009, 8:52 AM
well what I think is that hellboy should have won that oscar not that fukin brad Pitt movie it sucks alot.
sugarman123 - 2/23/2009, 9:00 AM
I think that hellboy II and iron man should have pull down a few to. The thing is its comics and the acamdy doesn't like comics. they almost always give it to the little movies like slumdog. To me slumdog was good but nothing that has been made before.
jninn132 - 2/23/2009, 9:10 AM
I agree with Darth - as much as I love Hellboy just because it has great creature effects isn't a sure sign it should win.
Hellboy has fantastic make-up effects (and as realistic as possible) - it uses extensive amounts of CGI for each character and once there make-up was done it stayed the same throughout the film.

With Benjamin there are two people one who's going old to young the other young to old, not only was this highly believable and realistic but also an incredibly difficult series of make-up effects in order to make each person look as though they have aged as the other gets younger.

If you think about it each character has to be recognisable as the same person yet look different each time we see them age - truly an achievement in my eyes and worthy of the Oscar it received.
kaos - 2/23/2009, 9:20 AM
Dartheyegouger - don't know how to break this to you, but prosthetic makeup is STILL makeup!! As a prosthetic makeup artist, I know first hand what a pain in the ass it can be for a makeup artist to transform an actor into the character you see on screen, so kudos to ALL the makeup artists nominated! While as a fanboy, I was disappointed that 'Hellboy' didn't win, I must admit that 'Benjamin Button' did have an incredible makeup challenge admirably met by Greg Cannom. By the way, Mr. Cannom (who's work can be seen in such movies as 'Pirates of the Caribbean', 'White Chicks' and the upcoming 'Watchmen' - yes, THAT 'Watchmen') specializes in transfomation makeup and utlilzes custom-made PROSETHTIC appliances to achieve the desired effect. You were saying something about 'prosthetics' not really counting as makeup...?
loganoneil - 2/23/2009, 10:01 AM
Yeah i mean the effects were amazing in button no doubt..but the movie was just BOOORING! the only remarkable thing about the man and the movie was that he aged backwards..take that out and its a standard 3 hr schmaltzfest with average performances..both Pitt And Blanchett have been much better
Rorschach01 - 2/23/2009, 10:02 AM
It's as Hugh Jackman sung at the show's opening...Comic book movies are essentially laughed at in regards to awards. Even breaking the one billion dollar mark wasn't enough to help TDK win more than a posthumous award for Ledger. I think it also won sound.
gtrman - 2/23/2009, 10:26 AM
yeah, but the oscars don't really matter to me, so i'm not going to care. it's why i didn't mind nolan getting snubbed for best director. the day the oscars sway me over my opinion on a film is the day i'll cheer on the english at soccer.

not going to happen. boring old men award a boring old movie, and everyone seems surprised, shocked or outraged. why do the oscars matter? i wish people would just stop watching them. to be fair to Benjamin Button, the performances were ace, and the film itself was visually stunning. the script had some superb moments, but was weighed dwon by sentimental fluff. hours of sentimental fluff.

fincher has and will make beter films, which have been and will be ignored by the academy (fight club, zodiac).
wolviescottish - 2/23/2009, 10:26 AM
ur rite bro but at least Heath Ledger got his award
im wondering how come Dark Knight wasn't nominated for Best Picture
Iron Man also got snubbed by benjamin button for visual effects R U KIDDING ME Iron man had so many more visual effects than button did all they had was an old guy getting younger visual effects was pretty much most of the ironman movie
Colossus8 - 2/23/2009, 10:41 AM
The Academy gets more and more disapointing every year, the realy don't care about what's the best thing, they only care about political correctness.
DarthYuk - 2/23/2009, 11:34 AM
@ Colossus8: The visual effects team on Benjamin Button invented a new technique for the movie in which they scan an actor's facial movements as he is talking and use those motions with a CGI face.
Dartheyegouger - 2/23/2009, 11:48 AM
HES OLD CCOBB THEY JUST MADE HIM OLD wth cares if thats the case TDK should have gotten for the joker because of the "cgi" effects. Hellboy 2 was all make up everyone had it that old lady who eats the cats and is afraid of canaries looked like she could be Benjamin Buttons new born sister THEY JUST MADE HIM LOOK OLD. I dont get it ok TDK didnt win i can live with that even though make up was the SHizz but hellboy2 was FLIPPIN BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!! ..........im just at a loss.
Set2Fallfirst - 2/23/2009, 12:08 PM
HE JUST LOOOKED OLD!!!!! if thats the case every movie that rapidly ages or de ages someone should get a oscar wait...thats like giving eddie murphy an oscar in make up for coming to america for being the white jewish guy through the movie haha im 19 and i jus tfound out a couple yrs ago that was him still hard to believe
Set2Fallfirst - 2/23/2009, 12:10 PM
yeah, whenever they invent something for a film it usually gets recognized.
Betty - 2/23/2009, 12:15 PM
Set - any makeup artist will tell you, 'BELIEVABLE' old-age makeup is some of the trickiest work to do. It takes a TON of skill to a. make an appliace (or in this case, a series of appliances) that look realistic (wrinkles, folds of skin, sagging, etc.), b. apply them properly so that you can't tell where the prosthetic ends and the actor's real face begins, and c. color it properly to make the whole thing look realistic - there are a LOT of colors and details in human skin that aren't apparent, but if they were missing the viewer would be able to tell that something wasn't 'right'. It takes a makeup artist of Cannom's skill to able to pull it off properly...
loganoneil - 2/23/2009, 12:17 PM
...and the man who trasformed Eddie Murphy into the old Jewish Man in 'Coming to America' (Rick Baker) WAS nominated for his work on that film. He's also won the Best Makeup Oscar for his work in such films as 'An American Werewolf in London', 'Harry and the Hendersons', 'Ed Wood', 'The Nutty Professor', 'Men in Black' and 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'.
loganoneil - 2/23/2009, 12:27 PM
The fact is that Benjamin Button managed to do something that the academy hadn't seen before, and like dartheyegouger said they invented a new technique (the academy is always a sucker for new techniques). The fact that almost every regular viewer thinks the effects were unempressive just shows how good they were.

I know Button was boring as hell, and the story seemed traced form Forrest Gump (also I found it extremely creepy seeing a 70 year old man and a 10 year old girl hiding under a bed at midnight), but putting all that aside the effects were good and the award was for best effects, not best effects in a non boring movie.
NoobMike - 2/23/2009, 12:30 PM
Logan- i get you and thats true and i give them kudos on reinventing their cgi that progressivly scans a actors face to give it a more real feel to it. i was just butt hurt. i was kidding about eddie murphy thing and i know who rick baker is amazing guy did make up for predator and tim burtons planet of the apes rick bakers the man
Set2Fallfirst - 2/23/2009, 12:36 PM
Button was nominated for too many awards not to win some. Hellby definitely got snubbed, but it's okay whatever Guillermo's next movie is I am sure will win in this category.
Juicerules - 2/23/2009, 12:42 PM
Weeeeell... techincally Dick Smith is 'the man'. Dick is one of the 'godfathers' of makeup. He pioneered the multiple-piece appliance back in the day and has been doing makeup for 50+ years. It was he who got Rick started when he was doing makeup for 'The Exorcist'. He's either directly helped or inspired generations of makeup artists from Greg Cannom to Tom Savini. He's also done makeup for such classics as 'The Godfather, 'Taxi Driver', 'Altered States', 'The Hunger' and 'Amedeus' (for which he FINALLY won an Oscar!)
loganoneil - 2/23/2009, 12:45 PM
ffs stop being nerds and accept that button was fukin epic make up,
joeSD95 - 2/23/2009, 1:29 PM
Stan Winston did the Iron Man suit and he died, and still wasn't recognized for making an actual suit of armor for the movie.
gtrman - 2/23/2009, 3:30 PM
I know - that sucked!
loganoneil - 2/23/2009, 3:34 PM
im more pissed about iron man not winning the special effects award over this. i mean i get that button had lots of cgi, but iron man far surpassed that
joob234 - 2/23/2009, 4:24 PM
Stan Winston did not actually make the suit. He only managed his company, he had others creating the suit. It is worthy of a nomination, but Benjamin Button, as someone mentioned earlier, created new visual effects techniques specifically for the film. Iron Man did not, sorry.
thenewfrontiersman - 2/23/2009, 4:29 PM
Can I remind everyone the award won by The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was for "Best Make-up Effects" and "Best Visual Effects" not most entertaining film or least sentimental.

Perhaps you have a point saying Benjamin is boring, long and over sentimental, though personally I enjoyed every moment of it - but that's personal opinion, and not what the judges are looking at for those awards, it's the effects seen in the film - and I feel they deserve all credit.

They didn't "just make him old" (i like to see you try it) they made him age which is different, as said by me and others, it's a series of make-up effects to create a highly realistic look of a person at different stages of old age - like it or not it did the job and achieved a new unseen effect in the process, so it won the award.
kaos - 2/23/2009, 5:39 PM
the academy awards should essentially be called The Drama Movie Awards. Any movie outside the genre of Drama or Dramatic rarely gets any recognition. Was still heartbroken to see Hellboy II not win.

also props to CBM for editing my article. was extremely tired last night when I wrote it and it was probably much less understandable than what you see now.
realfirstavenger - 2/23/2009, 5:40 PM
Movies are art and yes most of the time the ones that win are dramas but thats because those films are the most artistic. Don't get me wrong, i love a good comic book film, or horror film, but they just aren't respected. Yes they have large fan bases that will flock out to see them, but if that were the case Twilight should be up for an Oscar! Do you really want that? As far as Benjamin Button gos, get over it! Just because it didn't have a bunch of retarded poop jokes in it doesn't mean it was boring!
Crazyhorrormovienerd - 2/23/2009, 6:07 PM
Dartheyegouger you are probably the first person I would ever want to ban from posting on this site ever again. Luckily for you that is beyond my control..but I will say this The Curious Case of Benjamin Button did not and I mean did not deserve to win the make-up Oscar. Hellboy II was indeed superb when it comes to make-up (and yes tard prosthetic MAKE UP is MAKE UP!!). Hellboy II deserved that Oscar...Nuff Said
wolverine81 - 2/23/2009, 6:32 PM
It's decisions like these that discredit previous oscars. If crappy choices are consistently made by the judges then over time the oscar means nothing. In fact, to many of you the oscar already is already nothing more than a hollow token of having pleased the right judge in the right year.
StarksNStripes - 2/23/2009, 6:38 PM
thenewfrontiersman - um, just because they created new VISUAL EFFECTS techniques specifically for the film does not qualify them for the 'Best MAKEUP' category. That honor belongs to Gerg Cannom and his team for developing and applying the old-age appliaces that PHYSICALLY made Brad Pitt the way he did in the film. And you are correct, Winston's studio designed the 'Iron Man' suits, but that doesn't quailfy them for the 'Best MAKEUP' award either...
loganoneil - 2/23/2009, 7:04 PM
they should have had some kind of tribute to stan winston.
grif - 2/23/2009, 11:10 PM
@kaos

you mentioned Hellboy used extensive amount of CGI for each character? Were you able to see the making of the film?

All the scenes with Mr Wink were 100% makeup even the facial closeups. All the Angel of Death scenes were 100% makeup (including wings, eyes, head, everything!). 90% of the scenes of Abe were makeup (the only scene that wasnt was when he was in the pool). Hellboy as well. The main characters that were CGI were the fairies and the huge plant thing but those werent even main characters.

Extensive means they relied more on CGI right? but that's not the case in Hellboy 2. Grab a Blueray or Double disc edition of the movie and watch the extra features.
JamesH - 2/24/2009, 12:09 AM
Just goes to show that it doesn't matter how amazing Ron looks as Hell Boy it is not match for a good eye-liner and just the right shade of foundation.

Come on people! Off the top of my head I can't remember ANY makeup that beats Ron as the big red guy! It's as perfect as perfect can be!

Three words should have been shouted out at the announcement, "ARE YOU PROFFESSIONAL!"
Howlett04 - 2/24/2009, 3:10 AM
Grif - I agree totally!
loganoneil - 2/24/2009, 4:22 AM
@Dartheyegouger
How can prothetics not be make-up and CGI be accepted as make-up? CGI isn't even there! Prothetics are practical! seriously!

half the time Brad Pitt wasn't even there! Just some little kid w/ old ppl skin or something dumb like that!
ManOfIron - 2/24/2009, 7:43 AM
That's why 'PROSTHETICS' are under the 'MAKEUP' catagory, and 'CGI' is covered under 'VISUAL EFFECTS' - two DIFFERENT AREAS.
loganoneil - 2/24/2009, 8:45 AM
@JamesH

At least half the creatures were played by actors in elaborately designed prosthetic makeup. Puppeteers enhanced the range of their movements with radio-controlled animatronics.

CGI was used when practical effects were not possible, such as the big action scenes plus Double Negative Visual Effects brought the fantasy elements to life.

In other words when in close up we see the actors, and animatronics used to make the characters believable (to see all the detail) - but when any major action is needed they turn to CGI and use wide shots (when less detail but more lucid movement is required)

Since Hellboy has tons of action scenes that needed a large amount of CGI, I think I’m right in calling that extensive.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, when done right like in Hellboy it's believable - when overdone like Spider-Man it becomes laughable, but in the case of a film like Benjamin, CGI was very minimum and used to further enhance the ageing effects.
kaos - 2/24/2009, 9:22 AM
@wolverine81: I'm sorry I'm not a make-up expert and didn't know that giant foam (or other material) monster suits count as make-up. I am also sorry that having an opinion warrants a site ban in your opinion.

@ManOfIron: Ididn't know prosthetics counted for make-up and when I was talking about CGI I was talking about the Visual Effects award, not make-up.
Dartheyegouger - 2/24/2009, 11:51 AM
as a make-up FX artist, i can safely say that BUTTON earned its award. Hellboy 2 did have some great creature FX, but anyone with knowledge of the FX industry will tell you that realistic old age make-up is the single most difficult thing to pull off in terms of FX.
deaditeminion - 2/24/2009, 3:11 PM
diditeminion - hey there, fellow prostethic makeup artist! I concur - as stated in my previous post:

"It takes a TON of skill to a. make an appliace (or in this case, a series of appliances) that look realistic (wrinkles, folds of skin, sagging, etc.), b. apply them properly so that you can't tell where the prosthetic ends and the actor's real face begins, and c. color it properly to make the whole thing look realistic - there are a LOT of colors and details in human skin that aren't apparent, but if they were missing the viewer would be able to tell that something wasn't 'right'. It takes a makeup artist of Cannom's skill to able to pull it off properly..."
loganoneil - 2/24/2009, 3:14 PM
i cant say i know enough about the movie making business to really comment on some of the things said here

but i still beleive that having some characters look old vs. having a complete cast of creatures and monsters means the latter should win. but as someone else has said, i can garuntee that NOT winning an oscar will not damage Hellboy II or any future Hellboy ventures. I stand by my comment that the oscars are basically for dramas because there can be fantastic acting, directing, special effects, writting, whatever in all genres of movies from comedies to action.
and yet year after year we get dramas left right and centre
realfirstavenger - 2/24/2009, 5:07 PM
I remember seeing a documentary and on a part of it they talk about "old age" special effects, and I was completely blown away by some of the characters in cinema that were "aged" using make-up, prosthetics, etc.

The most prominent one I can think of was the make up used on Marlon Brando for 'The Godfather.' You can't even tell in that that anything has been done to Brando beyond the fact that you know how old he was when he did that movie. Simply amazing.

I think there's a lot to be said for the kind of make-up that you don't even realize is there until you put side by side with the persons real face/features.
alten2345 - 2/24/2009, 6:56 PM
kaos...

i see your point regarding animatronics and makeup but i still have to argue that Hellboy didnt use much CGI during fight scenes except when they fought the robots, the huge plants and the small fairies.

His fights with Nuada were done with trampolines and no CGI nor wirework neither. All the fight scenes with Wink were all prosthetic too. They actually did a lot of new stuff but i guess more on animatronics than makeup.

They actually didnt have a lot of budget for CGI which is why Del Toro and the team opted to use prosthetics and animatronics. Dont know how that would be cheaper but that's what they did.

The best special features ive seen in a DVD lately! Better than TDK's, Ironman's or Hulk's. Fully packed with entertaining features
JamesH - 2/24/2009, 7:48 PM
Those voters are OLD HAGs, they dont know shit about art even though they think they do.

You know the Ballot for the oscars were out...most of the awrds were for the DARK KNIGHT, its been released...and I'm goign to find it and try to be the first to post it on this site...if someoen else doesnt beat me to it. lol
Aiiwolf - 2/24/2009, 7:54 PM
Just as you would think the 2ND HIGHEST grossing film of all time would win best picture.
iNsaneMilesy - 2/25/2009, 12:19 AM
Hellboy II FTW!

Did you hear the rumour that TCCOBB was acheived by smothering an ancient dwarf with revitalift?

H8Monster - 2/25/2009, 5:00 AM
The Curious Case did have a really good makeup/FX, what with its gradual transformation of age...Hell Boy II had really good creatures in it too, though. Both were fantastic. I think in the end the award went to Curious Case because of what it was: a slow drama based off a work by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as opposed to a summer comic book movie blockbuster. Not that the difference in genres truly matter, but I do think the Academy is biased towards what they see as more "literary"...Because of course they are all stuffy old pricks who think so highly of themselves and their "canon" that they only would truly consider what they feel is more poetic or philosophical or whatever, when really what they see as literature is really nothing more than scholarly overhyped, plain and droll crap.
That's what I think, anyway
JeremyBentham - 2/25/2009, 8:37 AM
Jeremy - you're not the only one who thinks that way...
loganoneil - 2/25/2009, 8:49 AM
This is the reason why nobody with a brain watches the oscars.
Mjolnir - 2/25/2009, 10:42 AM
Mjolnir - uh, I watched the Oscars - so what are you saying?
loganoneil - 2/25/2009, 10:45 AM
Yeah me too..just because the oscars are brainless, doesnt mean you need a lobotomy to enjoy them!
Rorschach01 - 2/25/2009, 12:13 PM
...although it would have helped at times, Ror (LOL)! Case in point - did we REALLY need to see THAT opening musical number?! Thank god I smoke and had an excuse to get the hell outta' there for that little performance!
loganoneil - 2/25/2009, 3:55 PM

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