(March 5, 2018 – Toronto, ON) The Shape of Water has won four Oscars® at the 90th Academy Awards including Best Picture against some strong competition from the films Get Out, Lady Bird and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The film also took Academy Awards for Best Score, Best Production Design and Guillermo del Toro was honoured with the Oscar® for Achievement in Direction. It was his first nomination for Best Picture. He had been nominated in 2007 for best original screenplay and best foreign language film for Pan’s Labyrinth.
Speaking about how the film came to be made, the Mexican-born director said, “The place I like to live the most is at Fox Searchlight because in 2014, they came to listen to a mad pitch with some drawings and the story and a maquette. And they believed that a fairy tale about an amphibian god and mute woman done in the style of Douglas Sirk, and a musical and a thriller was a sure bet.” Canadian producer J. Miles Dale was on hand and joined del Toro on stage.
Canadian Production Designers Paul Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin and Shane Vieau shared the trophy for crafting the look of the Cold War-era merman romance. Viau said, “A big thank you to our amazing crew back in Toronto. Without you guys we definitely wouldn’t be here today, thank you.”
Having led the nominations list with 13, The Shape of Water won best film at the Critics’ Choice awards and the Producers Guild awards, but lost out to Three Billboards at both the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs.
Other Canadian wins include Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 which took home the Oscar® for Achievement in Visual Effects. Visual effects supervisors John Nelson, Paul Lambert, and Richard R. Hoover, along with special effects supervisor Gerd Nefzer, all took the stage to accept the award. Roger A. Deakins, considered one of the best cinematographers in the world with 13 Oscars nominations finally got his hands on the coveted trophy when he won for Achievement in Cinematography for his work on Denis Villeneuve’s film.
The Breadwinner lost out to Coco for Best Animated Feature.
Also see: Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale talk backstage at the 90th Academy Awards.
