Hairdressing, makeup get bumped from telecast

LOS ANGELES — The film academy has finally revealed the Oscar categories that will be presented during the commercial breaks of this year’s broadcast in an attempt to shorten the show to three hours.

The Oscars for cinematography, film editing, makeup and hairstyling and liveaction short will be presented off-air at this year’s ceremony, an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spokesperson said. The winning speeches will air later in the broadcast and will also be live-streamed on Oscar.com and the film academy’s social accounts.

Film academy president John Bailey said in a note to members that the executive committees of six branches opted in to this “slightly edited timeframe” and the board of governors chose four for this year.

“We are committed to presenting a show which we all will be proud of,” Bailey said.

In future years, four to six rotating categories could be cut from the broadcast.

The plan to hand out certain awards during commercials to achieve a threehour runtime on Feb. 24 was announced in August as one of a few changes to combat declining ratings.

The move has been generally disliked by both nominees and many film fans on social media, some of whom have been tweeting with the hashtag #PresentAll24 for weeks.

“This decision has nothing to do with any decision about cinema It’s a broadcast thing decision. It’s about the show, the entertainment. But it should not be part of the discussion of what Academy Awards are about,” said Roma director and cinematographer Alfonso Cuaron at the Directors Guild Awards earlier this month. “The Academy Awards should be about celebrating the artists in the different categories.”

Cuaron is the only nominee in a cut category who is up for other awards, including best director and best picture. Those will be presented during the broadcast.

Vice director Adam McKay said earlier that he was “bummed” by the idea. He had heard whispers that makeup and hairstyling was going to be one of the unlucky categories, which he considered a particular blow for the people who worked so hard to transform Christian Bale into Dick Cheney for his film.