The eighth annual Variety Artisans Awards returned to an in-person event at Santa Barbara’s Arlington Theater.
Despite COVID protocols, an enthusiastic crowd of movie lovers, local Academy members and students from the nearby University of Santa Barbara came by to see Oscar-nominated artisans share their craft, their process and the films that influenced them.
The night began with one on one conversations with each artisan discussing insight into their work.
The full panel of honorees included “House of Gucci” hair and make up team Frederic Aspiras and Göran Lundstrom, “Nightmare Alley” production designer Tamara Deverell, “Encanto” composer Germaine Franco, “Dune” cinematographer Greig Fraser, “Encanto” songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda, re-recording mixer, Paul Massey, nominated for “No Time to Die,” VFX supervisor Kelly Port, “The Power of the Dog” editor Peter Sciberra and “Dune” costume designers Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan.
Watch the conversation highlights below.
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Frederic Aspiras, hairstylist 'House of Gucci'
Image Credit: Rebecca Sapp “Showgirls” “Cleopatra”
“Well, ‘Showgirls,’ duh! It would have to be ‘Cleopatra’ with the great Alexandre de Paris, who was such an instrumental influence and still is to this day. He is just the most legendary hairdresser ever in the ’60s and ’70s. But ‘Cleopatra ‘was one of those films I was blown away by with the looks and all of the change. It’s a great great film for reference.”
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Tamara Deverell, production designer 'Nightmare Alley'
Image Credit: Rebecca Sapp “Mary Poppins” “The Sound of Music”
As a young child, I have to say, “Mary Poppins” followed closely by “The Sound of Music.” Quite honestly, I think that’s what made me want to work in film. I was just enamored. We didn’t have video back then – I’m aging myself. But I think I begged my parents to see “Mary Poppins” about seven times in the theater, and then “The Sound of Music.” One day I got to work with Julia Andrews. She’s a goddess.
There are other films too that run the gamut, “This is Spinal Tap,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Nashville.”
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Germaine Franco, composer 'Encanto'
Image Credit: Tibrina Hobson “The Sound of Music” “Like Water For Chocolate.”
“I’m gonna also say “The Sound of Music.” As a young girl, I loved Julie Andrews. I love the song, ‘My Favorite Things.” I loved her singing, at the top of her lungs. But later when I was out of college, I saw” Like Water for Chocolate,” and that was a film that inspired me. I thought, ‘You know, I’d love to do music for a film like that.”
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Greig Fraser, cinematographer 'Dune'
Image Credit: Rebecca Sapp “Grease”
“You might think that it might have been like a dark film like ‘Blade Runner’ or ‘The French Connection,’ but the first memory of making movies was a film called ‘Grease.’ Me, my sister, our friends, we knew every single word and song. It’s a funny thing is because Olivia Newton-John was Australian, so we connected with her, but I was devastated when I learned that Olivia Newton-John married Matt Lattanzi and not John Travolta.
“We were seven or eight, and it proved to me that films actually more than something on the screen, they actually inhabit your psyche. We believed this and we believed in Venice High. I watched it with my kids recently and it hasn’t aged.”
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Goran Lundstrom, prosthetics designer 'House of Gucci'
Image Credit: Rebecca Sapp Spielberg films, “American Werewolf in London”
“I grew up in Sweden, and for me, that escape of the Hollywood movies like Spielberg was a big deal. That’s why I chose to do what I do. But so my favorite films aren’t necessarily makeup-related. I think “Back to the Future” is one of them. That’s one I can always come back to.
“When it comes to makeup movies, ‘American Werewolf in London’ was the one that really tipped it over for me. That’s the one that made me want to do this. So I just wanted to be Rick Baker, and I still do.”
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Paul Massey, Re-recording Mixer 'No Time To Die'
“Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines..”
“Growing up, “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines,” for some reason, I saw that as a 70 mil print, and it was incredible, and it just got me hooked on the sound.
Later, I was working with the band, Yes. We were recording at Sunset Sound in LA, and one night Chris Squire came in with this VHS and said, ‘Look, I’ve got this film, ‘This Is Spinal Tap, and we have to watch it.’ I know that wasn’t exactly my youth but it was so influential because I’d been working with the band for two years and then we were recording and he put this tape and we all watched it. And at the end, he goes, ‘That wasn’t funny. That’s not funny at all, was it? I just died because it was my life.”
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Lin-Manuel Miranda, Original Song, 'Encanto'
Image Credit: Rebecca Sapp The Little Mermaid
“I’m here talking to you because in 1989, ‘The Little Mermaid’ exploded my brain. I couldn’t believe I was watching a musical number that took place underwater. I couldn’t believe and as I’ve grown up, my appreciation for it has only grown the way Howard Ashman was able to write a lyric and make it both incredibly iconic and conversational and spontaneous.
“The notion of a lyric like ‘What’s a fire and Why does it what’s the word? Burn’ The fact that she’s looking for the words the entire time she’s singing the song is what takes it from being like a ballad that is pretty to this insane one-act play and work of art. I’m always chasing ‘Part of Your World,’ so that’s like the gold standard.”
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Kelly Port, visual effects supervisor, 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'
Image Credit: Rebecca Sapp “Star Wars”
“It’s the end of May. I’m 10 years old. I bring my three best friends. There are lines around the block. This hype that you wouldn’t believe. I go in and I’m just awestruck by what I’m seeing. This is something special. This is something that’s never been seen before, to this kind of level and I’m just like, whatever that is, I want to do that. It kind of blew my mind and it took me many, many years to figure out exactly what was.”
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Bob Morgan and Jacqueline West, Costume designers 'Dune'
Image Credit: Rebecca Sapp Bob Morgan, costume designer “Dune”
“The Last Emperor”
“The film that really made me want to do costume design was “The Last Emperor.” I remember once seeing the film, and I thought someone made costumes for all these people and all these armies and all these periods. It was just so amazing. I remember sitting back and going ‘Wow, people do this for a living?’ It made me want to do this.
Jacqueline West, costume designer “Dune”
“Notorious”
“The film that affected me the most growing up was maybe seeing “Notorious.” It was chilling to me and I just loved it so much. The actors, the wardrobe, the mood. I just loved it.”
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Peter Sciberras, editor 'The Power of The Dog'
Image Credit: Tibrina Hobson “Chopper”
“It’s a great film, but it’s kind of the first film I saw. I’m from a part of Melbourne that isn’t represented on screen very much — the Western suburbs and it was that world and to see it on screen made me think, ‘Wow, you can make this film in Australia and you can actually do this job, making films that you can love. That’s why I love Andrew Dominik’s work.”