Oscars’ producers have a year to avoid envelope snafu — and write jokes about it

LOS ANGELES — With the dust still settling from the envelope snafu at the Academy Awards, it might seem early to be talking about next year’s ceremony, but producer Jennifer Todd is already thinking up ambitious plans for the sets and the clips to celebrate the 90th Oscars ceremony — and host Jimmy Kimmel’s likely “field day” with jokes about the flub.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this week that Todd, her coproducer Michael De Luca and Kimmel would all reprise their roles for the 90th Oscars on March 4, 2018. Last year Todd and De Luca were announced as producers in November and didn’t get Kimmel finalized as host until December.

“There were a lot of elements that felt very quick last year, including, like, driving to Jimmy Kimmel’s house and begging him to host the show,” Todd noted. There’s a lot they can’t do until nominations come out: “The crunch time is when the nominations come out. There’s a lot that you can’t do — musical numbers or whatnot ... but there’s a good amount we can mull over the summer.”

Ratings for the 89th Oscars were the lowest since 2008 with 32.9 million viewers tuning in. Todd is hoping to raise excitement for next year.

“Getting young people to watch the show is always a priority for us. We need the next generation of people to love movies and want to go to the cinema,” Todd said. “The Academy Awards are sort of the best commercial for movies.”

The 90th anniversary could prove a draw. They plan to celebrate 90 years’ worth of winners, pay homage to the past and, like every year, “bring out as many movie stars as we can.”

But intrigue following the drama of the envelope mishap, when the wrong Best Picture winner was announced, is likely to garner the most interest — whether or not something that unforeseen could happen live again and if the show will poke fun at itself.

This year, Faye Dunaway, reading an incorrect card given to her co-presenter Warren Beatty by a distracted PwC accountant, announced “La La Land” as the Best Picture winner. The mistake was corrected on stage, and “Moonlight” was given the award, leading first-time host Kimmel to declare, “I promise I’ll never come back.”

“If I hadn’t produced last year’s show, I would have been like, ‘Oh my gosh this is incredible!’ People love that something unexpected happened and it was a surprise,” Todd said.

“I do think humour is the best remedy for all of it,” said Todd. “I think we’re going to come up with amazing things about how to expect the unexpected at the Oscars. I think Jimmy is going to have a field day with it.”