Host ready for anything
AFTER a catastrophic envelope mix-up, what’s the worst thing that could happen at today’s Oscars?
That everything goes perfectly.
As far as host Jimmy Kimmel is concerned, the show will be much more fun if “at least one wheel” were to fall off the wagon. “I like when things go wrong, I’m OK with it,” the funnyman said. “I’ll be honest, it would be funny if it (the envelope kerfuffle) happened again.”
It’s not so much a potential Best Picture mix-up that is fuelling anticipation at the 90th Academy Awards, but just the sheer mystery of which film will take home the final gong of the evening. Even supposing the right envelope is read at the end of the Oscars, the night’s final moment should be one of high drama.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won the BAFTA, the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild. The Shape of Water took the honours at the Producer Guild Awards, Directors Guild of America and Critics’ Choice Awards.
And yet there’s still a strong feeling that Jordan Peele’s thriller Get Out may end up, as industry news site Deadline put it, “the most improbable winner in decades”.
The Oscars wouldn’t be the Oscars without a little social or political controversy, so all eyes will be on Kimmel and the winners’ acceptance speeches in the wake of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movement and renewed calls for gun control in the US.
While Best Picture is anyone’s guess, winners in the other big categories — Director, Actor and Actress — seem far more certain: director Guillermo del Toro is a sure bet for The Shape of Water, which is this year’s top Oscar contender with 13 nominations.
Adored by critics, it is up for several of the top prizes at the Oscars, including best picture, best director and best actress.
Yet some say it lacks a crucial ingredient. Despite an impressive cast that garnered three individual acting nods (Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins), Shape of Water failed to land a best ensemble nomination from the Screen Actors Guild — something every best picture winner in the last 22 years has won.
Gary Oldman is a lock for his performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour and Frances McDormand is the firm favourite for her role as a mother seeking justice in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
That leaves Aussie nominee Margot Robbie (pictured) just happy to be nominated for her performance in I, Tonya.
Win or no win, Robbie will be getting her Oscar skates on and will grace the stage: she’s been confirmed as a presenter, as has Australia’s former Oscar winner Nicole Kidman.
Of the other Aussie nominees this year, Josh Lawson and Derin Seale are vying for Best Live Action Short film, for The Eleven O’Clock.
Sydneysider Lee Smith is hot favourite to win Best Film Editing for Dunkirk, over fellow Australian Paul Machliss, who is nominated for Baby Driver.