Send this page to someone via email

Three Canadians have won an Academy Award for best production design on The Shape of Water.

This was the first Oscar nomination for Paul Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin and Shane Vieau.

READ MORE: Oscars 2018 winners list: ‘Three Billboards,’ ‘Shape of Water’ up for Academy Awards

Austerberry is credited for production design while Melvin and Vieau did the set decoration.

The trio also won in the same category at the recent British Academy Film Awards.

LISTEN: Paul Austerberry joins 640 Toronto

Story continues below advertisement

The Shape of Water, about a woman who falls in love with a merman, was shot in Toronto and Hamilton but was set in 1960s-era Baltimore.

READ MORE: Oscars 2018: All the best and worst looks from the red carpet

Besides director Guillermo del Toro, the cinematographer and some of the actors, every person who worked on the film was Canadian.

“It used to be in the business we would bring a lot more crew from the States,” Austerberry said in a recent interview.

“Now the business has evolved and the quality of the staff and quality of the crew that is available in Canada and Toronto… is just equal to anywhere else.”

Melvin got the set materials he needed from places including an abandoned hospital in Toronto and online classified ads.