An advertisement for Saudi Arabia's megacity Neom has been nominated for this year's Art Directors Guild Awards, which honours achievements in production design across films, television shows and music videos.
Titled Made to Change, the one-minute advertisement touts the $500 billion smart city's sustainable credentials. Francois Audouy is credited as production designer for the commercial.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had earlier said the 170-kilometre coastal strip in the north-west of the country would be free of cars and streets, with zero carbon emissions. The city will be powered entirely by clean energy, a major step in Saudi Arabia's shift from an oil-based economy.
The annual Art Directors Guild Awards, now in its 26th year, will return to a live ceremony on Saturday, March 5, to be held at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown.
Abu Dhabi-filmed science-fiction epic Dune is also nominated, along with Disney movies Cruella and Encanto, and Marvel's superhero flick Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Other films include No Time to Die, Daniel Craig's final outing as James Bond; Guillermo del Toro's 1930s-set thriller Nightmare Alley, starring Cate Blanchett and Bradley Cooper; and the film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway hit musical In the Heights.
The Art Directors Guild Awards also honour achievements in television, including music videos, with K-pop sensations BTS earning a nomination for My Universe, their hit collaboration with Coldplay. Other TV shows in the running include the Emmy-winning show Mare of Easttown, starring Kate Winslet, Marvel's WandaVision and Halston, the Netflix mini-series that won Ewan McGregor an Emmy for lead actor.
Global Korean sensation Squid Game is also in the running under the One-Hour Contemporary Single-Camera Series category for the episode Gganbu, which features a deadly marble game.
Dune director Denis Villeneuve will receive the William Cameron Menzies Award, while New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion, who has been winning awards for her latest film, The Power of the Dog, will receive the Cinematic Imagery Award.
Here is the full list of nominees for the Art Directors Guild Awards 2022:
Period Feature Film:
- The French Dispatch (Production Designer: Adam Stockhausen)
- Licorice Pizza (Production Designer: Florencia Martin)
- Nightmare Alley (Production Designer: Tamara Deverell)
- The Tragedy of Macbeth (Production Designer: Stefan Dechant)
- West Side Story (Production Designer: Adam Stockhausen)
Fantasy Feature Film:
- Cruella (Production Designer: Fiona Crombie)
- Dune (Production Designer: Patrice Vermette)
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Production Designer: Francois Audouy)
- The Green Knight (Production Designer: Jade Healy)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Production Designer: Sue Chan)
Contemporary Feature Film:
- Candyman (Production Designer: Cara Brower)
- Don’t Look Up (Production Designer: Clayton Hartley)
- In the Heights (Production Designer: Nelson Coates)
- The Lost Daughter (Production Designer: Inbal Weinberg)
- No Time to Die (Production Designer: Mark Tildesley)
Animated Feature Film:
- Encanto (Production Designers: Ian Gooding, Lorelay Bove)
- Luca (Production Designer: Daniela Strijleva)
- The Mitchells vs the Machines (Production Designer: Lindsey Olivares)
- Raya and the Last Dragon (Production Designers: Paul Felix, Mingjue Helen Chen, Cory Loftis)
- Sing 2 (Art Director: Olivier Adam)
One-Hour Period or Fantasy Single-Camera Series:
- Foundation: The Emperor’s Peace (Production Designer: Rory Cheyne)
- The Great: Seven Days (Production Designer: Francesca di Mottola)
- Loki: Glorious Purpose (Production Designer: Kasra Farahani)
- Lost In Space: Three Little Birds (Production Designer: Alec Hammond)
- The Witcher: A Grain of Truth (Production Designer: Andrew Laws)
One-Hour Contemporary Single-Camera Series:
- The Handmaid’s Tale: Chicago (Production Designer: Elisabeth Williams)
- The Morning Show: My Least Favourite Year (Production Designer: Nelson Coates)
- Squid Game: Gganbu (Production Designer: Chae Kyoung-sun)
- Succession: The Disruption (Production Designer: Stephen Carter)
- Yellowstone: No Kindness for the Coward (Production Designer: Cary White)
Television Movie or Limited Series:
- Halston (Production Designer: Mark Ricker)
- Mare of Easttown (Production Designer: Keith P Cunningham)
- The Underground Railroad (Production Designer: Mark Friedberg)
- WandaVision (Production Designer: Mark Worthington)
- The White Lotus (Production Designer: Laura Fox)
Half Hour Single-Camera Series:
- Hacks: Primm (Production Designer: Jon Carlos)
- Only Murders in the Building: True Crime (Production Designer: Curt Beech)
- Schmigadoon!: Schmigadoon! (Production Designer: Bo Welch)
- Ted Lasso: Carol of the Bells (Production Designer: Paul Cripps)
- What We Do in the Shadows: The Prisoner (Production Designer: Kate Bunch)
Multi-Camera Series:
- Bob Abishola: Bowango (Production Designer: Francoise Cherry-Cohen)
- Call Your Mother: Pilot (Production Designer: Glenda Rovello)
- The Conners – Season 3: A Stomach Ache, a Heartbreak and a Grave Mistake (Production Designer: John Shaffner)
- Dave: Ad Man (Production Designer: Almitra Corey)
- Family Reunion: Remember When M’Dear Changed History? (Production Designer: Aiyana Trotter)
- Punky Brewster: Put a Ring on It (Production Designer: Kristan Andrews)
Commercials:
- Anhauser-Busch – Super Bowl LV: Let’s Grab a Beer (Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt)
- Apple – Introducing iPhone 13 Pro (Production Designer: Dylan Kahn)
- Apple – Saving Simon Shot on iPhone 13 Pro (Production Designer: Chelsea Oliver)
- Apple Music – Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever (Production Designer: Francois Audouy)
- Gucci – Aria (Production Designer: Jeremy Reed)
- Neom – Made to Change (Production Designer: Francois Audouy)
Music Videos:
- Coldplay: Higher Power (Production Designer: Patrick Tatopoulos)
- Coldplay X BTS: My Universe (Production Designer: Francois Audouy)
- Ed Sheeran: Shivers (Production Designer: Francois Audouy)
- P!nk: All I Know So Far (Production Designer: Francois Audouy)
- Taylor Swift: All Too Well (Production Designer: Ethan Tobman)
Variety, Reality or Competition Series:
- A Black Lady Sketch Show: If I’m Paying These Chili’s Prices, You Cannot Taste My Steak! (Production Designers: Cindy Chao, Michele Yu)
- Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses: Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff (Production Designer: John Janavs)
- RuPaul’s Drag Race: Condragulations (Production Designer: James McGowan)
- Saturday Night Live: Host: Kim Kardashian West + Music: Halsey (Production Designers: Keith Raywood, Eugene Lee, Akira Yoshimura, N. Joseph De Tullio)
- Waffles + Mochi: Tomato (Production Designers: Cindy Chao, Michele Yu)
Variety Special:
- American Express – Unstaged (with SZA) (Production Designer: Carlos Laszlo)
- Jim Gaffigan: Comedy Monster (Production Designer: James Kronzer)
- Live in Front of a Studio Audience (Production Designer: Stephan Olson)
- Savage X Fenty Show Vol 3 (Supervising Art Director: Steve Morden)
- Yearly Departed (Production Designer: Frida Oliva)
Scroll through the gallery below for images from the unveiling of Neom in Saudi Arabia:
