REVERSE ANGLE
Oscar songs
The best original song category has considerable star power going for it. Fans will be geeking out over the roster of performers at the ceremony.
Sting will be on hand, presumably with co-writer J. Ralph, to perform the hymn “The Empty Chair” from the HBO documentary “Jim: The James Foley Story.” Justin Timberlake’s presentation of “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” from “Trolls,” figures to be a little more highenergy. It was last year’s biggestselling song and recently won a Grammy.
The big geek-out moment for “Hamilton” fans is that Lin-Manuel Miranda will be joining “Moana” singer Auli’i Cravalho for his composition “How Far I’ll Go.” What exactly he’ll be doing remains to be seen, but he is bidding for the firstever MacPEGOT (MacArthur Fellowship, Pulitzer [or Peabody], Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony).
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone will not perform “City of Stars” or “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” from “La La Land.” On the bright side, their “La La” co-star, Oscar winner John Legend, will.
To see the “City of Stars” duet: www.youtube.com/watch?v= cZAw8qxn0ZE; a teaser with part of “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)”: https://youtu.be/ DBUXcNTjviI
To hear “How Far I’ll Go” in 24 languages: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=0g29Wg4oyek
To see the video for “The Empty Chair”: https://youtu.be/ e8pB820chOs
To see the film version of “Can’t Stop the Feeling”: www.you tube.com/watch?v=oWgTqLCLE8k
Oscar pool notes
Amy Adams probably was the most surprising acting snub this year. Do her film’s zero acting nods make “Arrival” best picture chances nonexistent? Not necessarily.
There have been 11 big-prize winners with no acting nominations — the most recent being “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008). “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” did it five years before that.
Winning without a writing nomination is much tougher — it has only happened seven times. If you’re wondering, “Hacksaw Ridge” is the only current best picture nominee without a writing nod.
Trivia question
What was the last best picture winner without a writing nomination?
Speaking of writing
“Moonlight” is one of the frontrunners for adapted screenplay. It’s an award for which it was not even nominated by the Writers Guild of America, which considered it an original screenplay.
The script is credited as “screenplay by Barry Jenkins, story by Tarell Alvin McCraney.” The film springs from McCraney’s play, an unproduced school project called “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue.”
According to a WGA spokesman, “Moonlight” was “determined by the Guild to be an Original Screenplay because Tarell’s play … which the film was inspired by was an unproduced work.” The Academy, however, ruled that the play still counted as a separate source. For the record, Jenkins and McCraney have been vocally supportive of each other’s work, acknowledging the links and significant differences.
At least that’s less weird than the Academy calling “Whiplash” an adaptation in 2014. Damien Chazelle wrote the feature-length screenplay but couldn’t get it made. He shot a short from one sequence in it; that generated enough interest to get the feature funded from the original screenplay. But in the Academy’s eyes, since the short came first, the feature script must have been adapted. The WGA called it original.
Look out for ‘Emo’
Here’s some long-range scouting: One of the intriguing-sounding nuggets at the Berlinale Festival was “Emo (The Musical).” It’s the debut feature by young Aussie short-film auteur Neil Triffett, an expansion of his short by the same name.
The entire short is viewable online, but the feature trailer alone makes the full-length movie pretty much a must-see (and hear).
“This song doesn’t have a name ’cause I’m not into labels,” says a gloomy auditioner. “I don’t even care if you like it.” Then he sings: “You think you’re so awesome/ Nobody’s as cool as you/ You’re gonna impregnate everyone/ Men and women too.” No U.S. release date yet.
To see the “Emo (The Musical)” feature trailer: https://you tu.be/aUXhk7sTjqA
To see the entire short: www. youtube.com/watch?v= twnAfEse0II
To see a Triffett short about death visiting different people: https://youtu.be/qgRSpsFNDXc
Trivia answer
“Titanic,” 1997.
Michael Ordoña is a Los Angeles freelance writer. Twitter: @michael ordona