Oscars 2019: Frances McDormand and Gary Oldman to hand out awards after all
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have backtracked and announced that the winners of last year’s acting Oscars will – as has been traditional – return to present awards at the 2019 ceremony.
Reports had emerged that, in its search to improve the Oscar telecast’s falling ratings, the Academy had failed to invite the 2018 winners to present at the forthcoming ceremony as it sought to involve more attentiongrabbing names as presenters. Allison Janney, winner of the best supporting actress for I, Tonya, had said “it breaks my heart” in a now-deleted post on social media.
The Academy confirmed in a tweet that Janney, along with Frances McDormand (winner of best actress for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Gary Oldman (best actor for Darkest Hour), and Sam Rockwell (best supporting actor for Three Billboards) will present awards.
This marks the latest about-face for the Academy concerning the Oscars telecast, over which it was under pressure from network ABC. It has already lost its first host, Kevin Hart, then was roundly criticised for its attempt to introduce (then abandon) a best popular film category. After the Academy announced a series of high-profile presenters for its “hostless” ceremony, a further twist in the saga emerged when actor Dwayne Johnson tweeted that he had been approached to MC the event before Hart, but “couldn’t make it work” due to filming commitments on a sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.