REEL DEAL TONIGHT
Oscars going on without a host for first time since 1989
Host or no host, the show must go on.
The 91st annual Academy Awards presentation is Sunday night, with many of Hollywood’s top actors and actresses — sorry, Kevin Hart! — poised to take home some of the industry’s highest honors.
Here’s what you need to know.
When and where is it?
For the 18th consecutive year, the Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and kicks off Sunday at 8 p.m. EST on ABC. A red-carpet show will stream on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Twitter page, @TheAcademy, beginning at 6:30 p.m. EST.
Why isn’t there a host?
Sunday’s show marks the first Oscars since 1989 without a host.
Comedian Hart was originally announced as the award show’s emcee, but stepped down amid a December controversy over multiple homophobic tweets he shared years ago resurfaced. The Academy declared in early February the ceremony would take place without a host for the first time in three decades.
A number of big-name stars — including Helen Mirren, Michael B. Jordan, Jennifer Lopez, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton and Sarah Paulson — will be presenters at the ceremony. What about ‘Roma’?
If “Roma” were to take home best picture honors, it would the first foreign language film to ever win the category.
Based on director Alfonso Cuaron’s experiences growing up with a nanny in Mexico City, the film is up for 10 awards, tying with “The Favourite” for the most at this year’s ceremony.
Yalitza Aparicio is nominated for best actress, making her the first Mexican indigenous woman to be nominated in the category. She would be the first Mexican-born actress to win the award.
Marina de Tavira, who played Sofia, a woman trying to keep her family together as her marriage falls apart, is nominated for best supporting actress, while Cuarón is up for best director.
With its 10 Oscar nominations, “Roma” tied “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” for most-ever by a foreignlanguage film.
Will it be a big night for Spike Lee?
The Brooklyn-raised filmmaker is up for best director honors for the first time in his career for “BlacKkKlansman,” which is also his first movie to be nominated for best picture. He’d be the first black filmmaker to ever win best director.
But Lee, 61, says he doesn’t put too much stock into awards.
“This is not in any way disrespectful to the academy,” Lee told The Washington Post this month, “but after ‘Do the Right Thing,’ I just said, you know, whatever award it is, I’m not going to let myself be in position where I feel I have to have my work validated. If I was a musician I would say the same thing about the Grammys or the Tonys or any of those organizations that give out awards.”
Did ‘A Star Is Born’ strike the right note with Oscars voters?
The wildly popular musical romantic-drama entered the year as an award-season darling, but hasn’t fared particularly well at other major awards shows.
The movie didn’t take home the equivalent of best picture at the SAG Awards or Golden Globes, and stars Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga didn’t win top acting honors at either.
Gaga is up for best actress, Cooper is nominated for best actor, and “A Star Is Born” is a finalist for best picture at the Oscars. Cooper didn’t get a best director nomination for his work.
Could ‘Black Panther’ make more history?
The critically acclaimed Marvel movie is already the first superhero flick to be nominated for best picture in the 91-year history of the Oscars, and people will be eager to see how it fares in the night’s most coveted category.
“Black Panther,” which is the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series to center on a black superhero, earned the top honor at the SAG Awards last month, winning the trophy for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.
The movie, starring Chadwick Boseman as the title hero, is up for seven Oscars, including best production design, with Hannah Beachler the first African-American to be nominated in that category. Ruth E. Carter is hoping to become the first black costume designer to take home an Oscar in her respective category.
How will streaming services fare?
“Roma” is the first Netflix film to be nominated for best picture. Hulu earned its first Oscar nomination with “Minding the Gap,” which is up for best documentary feature.