“And the Oscar goes to” has been said 3,048 times since the first Academy Gala in 1929 – this year’s awards for a total of 23 categories will be added on Sunday night. While last year’s award ceremony was moved to a historic train station building in Los Angeles with only a few hundred guests due to the CoV pandemic, this year the gala can again take place in the traditional Dolby Theater, which can accommodate 2,500 spectators with CoV-compliant seating.
The prestigious task of moderation will be in the hands of women for the first time. Three stars will be on stage as hostesses. Actresses Amy Schumer (“Dating Queen”), Regina Hall (“Girls Trip”) and Wanda Sykes (“Bad Moms”) will host the evening.
They are supported by no less prominent “presenters”, helpers who distribute the prizes during the show. In addition to tennis greats Serena and Venus Williams, these include Bill Murray, singer HER and DJ Khaled, Elliot Page, professional surfer Kelly Slater and snowboard superstar Shaun White as well as Anthony Hopkins, Rami Malek, Uma Thurman, Lady Gaga, Mila Kunis, John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson.
Clear favorites in the main categories
The nominated films of the premier class primarily offer a best-of of the cinema year. Jane Campion with her psychological western drama “Power of the Dog” can be considered a big favourite. Presented at the Venice Film Festival, where Campion won the Silver Lion for best director, the Netflix production has become a prize winner over the past few months.
The awards for best film and for best director at the BAFTA Awards, the Golden Globes and most recently at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards are clear signs of an Oscar blessing. Campion is the first woman (after The Piano) to be nominated twice for Best Director at the Oscars.
Benedict Cumberbatch has a chance of winning Best Actor for his role as a demure cowboy with a big secret, and Kirsten Dunst for Best Actress. Overall, “Power of the Dog” has twelve nominations, the brilliant remake of the science fiction material “Dune” has ten Oscar chances. According to current betting odds, Will Smith is also a promising male lead with his role as Venus and Serena Williams’ tennis dad.
The 94th Oscar Night
For the 94th time, the Oscars will be awarded again on Monday night. Austria is not represented at this year’s most important film awards in the world.
A surprise from Japan
Steven Spielberg, winner of two Oscars for Best Director and one for Best Picture, is up there with the musical remake West Side Story, which has been nominated in a total of seven categories, just as often as the British film Belfast. However, if the betting shops are to be believed, coming-of-age story “Coda,” about a hearing teenager in a deaf family, is catching up in the race for the best picture trophy. But the big surprise is Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive my Car”.
The almost three-hour adaptation of the short story of the same name by the Japanese cult author Haruki Murakami has not only been nominated for the Best International Film category, but also for Best Film and Best Director. Although Hamaguchi has already been honored for the best screenplay in Cannes, he himself cannot quite believe his good chances for the main categories of the Oscars, as he said in an interview with “CNN” on Tuesday: “I think the fact that non-English language films can be nominated in this way really reassures me that things are changing and that we are part of that change.”
shipment notice
ORF1 accompanies the presentation of the 94th Academy Awards live on Monday from 12.45 a.m. An extensive program focus already offers top-class winning films from previous years, documentaries and information about the award – more on this in tv.ORF.at.
The change mentioned, it has become more and more noticeable in recent years – the price decisions are becoming more diverse, so in 2021 Chloe Zhao won the trophy for best director for “Nomadland” for the first time, and she was also able to win best supporting actress with Youn Yuh Jung (“Minari”), a woman with Asian roots prevail.
Show business is show business
With all the course corrections and all the changes, the Oscars remained one thing above all: a big celebration of the entertainment industry for itself. And that can also be seen in the show plans that were revealed on Tuesday: US singer Beyonce and her colleague Billie Eilish will be at the trophy gala perform their nominated songs. Beyonce is nominated for the song “Be Alive” from the film King Richard, Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell for the song “No Time To Die” from the James Bond film of the same name.
Country star Reba McEntire (66) is also on stage with the song “Somehow You Do” from the film “Four Good Days” (by Dianne Warren). Colombian singer-songwriter Sebastian Yatra will present the song “Dos Oruguitas” from the animated film “Encanto” (directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda). The animated film category shows how much the big structures of international industry events as a whole characterize the Oscars: Of the five nominated films, three came from the Disney group (“Encanto”, “Luca” and “Raya and the Last Dragon”).
Ballots are counted
The top-secret election has already taken place, but nobody knows the outcome of the vote. By Tuesday evening, the ballot papers from the more than 9,400 Oscar judges had to have arrived online at the Beverly Hills Film Academy.
Employees from the auditing company PricewaterhouseCoopers will count the votes by Sunday evening. The closely guarded results in 23 categories will be taken straight to the awards gala on Sunday.