Canadian trio wins an Oscar for production design on ‘The Shape of Water’

Canadians Paul Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin and Shane Vieau won for best production design on “The Shape of Water” and thanked their colleagues back home in Toronto, where the film was partly shot. (Photo: The Shape of Water/Facebook)

LOS ANGELES — Toronto and Montreal got shout-outs onstage at Sunday’s Academy Awards as productions with Canadian talent won trophies.

Canadians Paul Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin and Shane Vieau won for best production design on “The Shape of Water” and thanked their colleagues back home in Toronto, where the film was partly shot.

“Thanks to all the Canadian crew who are partying right now at the Palais Royale in Toronto — this is for you,” said Austerberry, who is credited for production design while Melvin and Vieau crafted the film’s set decoration.

“Thank you to the academy. (Director Guillermo del Toro) — may you keep dreaming up your monsters and their wonderful stories so people like us can help shape their worlds.”

It was the first Oscar nomination for the trio, who also won in the same category at the recent British Academy Film Awards.

“The Shape of Water” stars Sally Hawkins as a mute janitor who falls for a captive and abused amphibian creature, played by Doug Jones. The story is set in 1960s-era Baltimore but it was shot in Toronto and Hamilton, using landmarks including the opulent Elgin Theatre and the storied concert venue Massey Hall.

Meanwhile, a trio who won for best visual effects on Quebec director Denis Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner 2049” thanked their “friends in Montreal,” saying: “Merci beaucoup, this is for you.”

“Thank you to Denis Villeneuve, whose guts are seen in every frame of this film, especially the visual effects,” said John Nelson, who won alongside Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover.

Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel mentioned “The Shape of Water” — which had a leading 13 nominations heading into the awards — in his opening monologue.

“Thanks to Guillermo, we will always remember this year as the year men screwed up so badly, women started dating fish,” Kimmel joked.

Speaking to reporters backstage, Vieau noted that Toronto’s screen community had a huge year not only with the recognition for “The Shape of Water,” but also the accolades for TV’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which was shot in the city.

“Toronto (was) above and beyond with everyone in North America with ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Shape of Water,’ we really came out on top,” Vieau said. “It’s a really big thing.”

Melvin said after decades of growth, Toronto’s TV and film industries are truly “world-class.”

“I have 35 years in the business now and worked in Toronto almost exclusively, so I’ve worked with and watched the business grow in Toronto and go from children’s television to Academy Award-winning films,” he said.

“It started with ‘Good Will Hunting,’ ‘Chicago,’ now us…. We want to keep it that way and keep going.”

Kimmel also mentioned another Canadian nominee in the opening — “the magnificent Christopher Plummer” — who got a nod for his supporting role in “All the Money in the World.”

Kimmel made a couple of jokes about the 88-year-old Toronto native’s age, including a reference to the hit Broadway play “Hamilton,” about one of the founding fathers of the United States.

“How does (‘Hamilton’ creator and star) Lin-Manuel Miranda compare to the real Alexander Hamilton?” Kimmel teased Plummer from the stage.