And you know what that means:
Oh no! Oh yes! It's the Return of the Oscar Barbies!
There are no Best Actress nominees from historical films this year — unless you count movies set in the '60s, '70s, and '80s.
No Judi Dench flouncing around in crinolines as Queen Victoria; no new Jane Austen adaptations. Those are always the most fun to do.
Still, there's room for creativity in this year's nominees.
First up: Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding in I, Tonya.
Okay, yes, she's got roller skates, but I grew up in SoCal so I didn't have Barbie's ice-skating outfit! I made this outfit from bits and pieces — just like Tonya had to do — and the doll's exaggerated hair and makeup are (for once) perfect!
Next up, Saorise Ronan in Lady Bird! Nothing too distinctive, costume-wise — except the slightly pink hair.
I really had a hard time coming up with props for this one.
So I finally resorted to a prom dress from Barbie's closet to reference the scene when Lady Bird and her mom go shopping, and quit their petty bickering the instant they both fall in love with the same dress!
Our third nominee is Meryl Streep, playing publisher Katherine Graham in The Post.
Fortunately, I have a tweed suit, string of pearls, and a vintage short-haired Barbie for — well, basically, any time Meryl Streep gets nominated. (Which is every year.)
All I needed to do this year was Google The Washington Post and print out a mini version of the front page.
Next up, my favorite challenge of the year, for my favorite movie — Sally Hawkins in The Shape of Water!
There's not much to her outfit‚ a blue dress and a blue sweater, like all the cleaning staff wear at the secret government lab in the movie. (Also, those shiny black shoes.)
Of course, I had to make the mop, not an item typically fond in Barbie's wardrobe.
But the main event here is her "prop" — the Amphibian Man himself! Yes, it's The Creature From the Black Lagoon, from the classic 1950s sci-fi movie that director Guillermo del Toro cheerfully admits inspired his own character.
This image is on the lid of the box containing the Creature model kit. (Art Boy never built the model, so I had to use the lid.) I found the perfect industrial-green construction paper to frame it in, and Art Boy cleverly constructed the rest of the "tank" around it.
But, as much fun as they were to make, these nominees are the also-rans this year.
And the winner is: Frances McDormand in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri!
Definitely the toughest challenge of the year. She spends the entire movie in the same blue-denim jumpsuit, most of which I had to make — the top half, anyway. She has basically no hair, what there is of it wrapped in a bandana. (I had to use a twisty piece of wire ribbon.)
And while I was able to paint out some of her eye makeup, I couldn't do anything about her girly grin.
Still, it all came together when, searching for some kind of prop, we found a Barbie-sized Coke bottle squirreled away somewhere. Art Boy made it into the Molotov cocktail McDormand's character throws in a key scene in the movie — one way for this doll to express McDormand's rage, despite that wimpy grin!
That's it for this year. Click here for a peek at Oscar Barbies Past!
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