For everyone from Tom Hanks to Scarlett Johansson, Oscar night is here again
Host? Who needs a host? Evidently, those staging this year’s Oscars feel they’ll be perfectly OK without one ... again. After last year’s controversy that took wouldhave-been-host Kevin Hart out of the picture, the show went on anyway, with many critics and viewers declaring that it was fine. For the second consecutive time, no one person will be steering the event as ABC airs the 92nd edition of the movie industry’s biggest night today from Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.
ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke foresees this year’s Oscars delivering what she believes last year’s offered, “huge entertainment value, big musical numbers, big comedy and star power. Our goal is to present the most entertaining show possible, and the producers have put together a plan for what is proving to be a really entertaining telecast.” Those producers are filmmakers Lynette Howell Taylor (the most recent version of “A Star is Born”) and Stephanie Allain (“Hustle & Flow”).
This year’s show comes earlier than usual, reducing the time available for nominees’ campaigns. It also caused a reconfiguration of the filmaward season, since the last stop traditionally is the Academy Awards. Thus, the Golden Globe Awards, the Critics’ Choice Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, England’s BAFTA Film Awards and the Film Independent Spirit Awards (among other such events) have been virtually on top of one another in recent weeks.
With the controversial “Joker” leading the pack with 11 nominations — and then “The Irishman,” “1917” and “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” with 10 each — following are the nominees in several Oscar categoriess.
■ Best picture: “Ford v Ferrari”; “The Irishman”; “Jojo Rabbit”; “Joker”; “Little Women”; “Marriage Story”; “1917”; “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood”; “Parasite”
■ Best director: Bong Joon Ho, “Parasite”; Sam Mendes, “1917”; Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman”; Todd Phillips, “Joker”; Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood”
■ Best actor: Antonio Banderas, “Pain and Glory”; Leonardo DiCaprio, “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood”; Adam Driver, “Marriage Story”; Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker”; Jonathan Pryce, “The Two Popes”
■ Best actress: Cynthia Erivo, “Harriet”; Scarlett Johansson, “Marriage Story”; Saoirse Ronan, “Little Women”; Charlize Theron, “Bombshell”; Renee Zellweger, “Judy”
■ Best supporting actor: Tom Hanks, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”; Anthony Hopkins, “The Two Popes”; Al Pacino, “The Irishman”; Joe Pesci, “The Irishman”; Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood”
■ Best supporting actress: Kathy Bates, “Richard Jewell”; Laura Dern, “Marriage Story”; Scarlett Johansson, “Jojo Rabbit”; Florence Pugh, “Little Women”; Margot Robbie, “Bombshell”