The Oscars this year had a few unusual entries. For the most part, awards ceremonies like this are full of 'Oscar-bait', with dramas that tick certain boxes always finding their way into the list of nominations. Yet this year has seen a lot of oft-neglected movies making their way into the major categories.
While no one was surprised that Dunkirk, Darkest Hour or The Post grabbed their nominations, there were also big wins for genres that often don't see their time in the spotlight. For instance, you've got the horror film Get Out getting four nominations in big categories, with writer-director Jordan Peele winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. And then there's The Shape of Water.
It's not often that a movie with a science fiction angle gets much more than nominations in the technical categories such as Best Visual Effects (like Blade Runner 2049 this year), but The Shape of Water racked in 13 nominations, winning for Best Production Design, Best Score, Best Director and even Best Picture.
At the centre of this now Oscar-winning movie is a creature referred to alternately as 'Amphibian Man' or 'the Asset' - but who exactly is the man inside the suit?
Actor Doug Jones has acted in more than 150 movies and TV shows, but you rarely see his face.
Known for suiting up under a ton of latex and makeup, he played both the Faun and the Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth, the Silver Surfer in performance capture for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Abe Sapien in Hellboy.
Speaking to NPR, the actor said:
"The further you get from human, the harder it's going to be. When you're trying to survive a day, and you hear the word 'action,' you have to forget that you're in pain, forget that you're sweating into your own eyeballs behind your mask and just click into 'This is a natural beast that came from whatever fantasy or nature. It's not a guy in a suit.’”
Much like Andy Serkis, he often doesn't get enough credit for taking on the role of something that isn't even human.
But aside from the lengthy application of the practical suit, he has some kind words to say about the heart of the film:
"For me, this movie is about love being possible no matter how flawed and ugly we think we are
"When you're a kid going through those awkward monster years, when you feel like you are the creature in the room that nobody understands and you look different from anyone else and love will not be possible for you, when you feel that way, you also feel like you're the only one who has ever felt that way.
"But I'm glad. I'm thankful that I had the experience of feeling like a monster because when I play monsters now, I understand them. I can relate to them"
If anything, this just has to be the first time a movie starring a fish man made it all the way to winning Best Picture.
