After the countdown to the biggest awards show of the year, the 95th Academy Awards is finally here.
After a massive 28 awards ceremonies spanning the past three months, including the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and the SAGs, its now all about winning an Oscar on Monday (AEDT) – the ultimate take-home entertainment industry prize.
This year, 10 Australians have been nominated, including the producers, cinematographers and set designers on the COVID-era Elvis movie shot on the Gold Coast, Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett for Tár and Brisbane film student Lachlan Pendragon for An Ostrich Told Me The World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It.
Third time lucky
US late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, 55, has hosted the Oscars ceremony twice, including the infamous 2017 year when presenters and Hollywood royalty Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway received the wrong envelope for the best picture winner.
Just a recap – La, La Land was read out. It was, in fact, Moonlight.
Kimmel then graciously accepted the hosting gig off the back of last year’s infamous on-stage incident, where host Chris Rock was slapped by actor Will Smith after making remarks about his wife. Jada Pinkett Smith, and her alopecia.
“It’s so important to have a host who knows how to handle live television and a live audience,” Academy boss Bill Kramer said. “He’s funny, he’s respectful, his edges aren’t too sharp.”
Kimmel is ready.
Tweet from @jimmykimmel
He is ‘unslappable’
He told The Hollywood Reporter he was prepared to be slapped again and would retaliate except if it was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson doing the slapping.
“If somebody comes up on the stage and slaps me? Well, I size them up, and, if I’m bigger than they are, I beat the shit out of them on television.
“And if it’s the Rock, I run.
“When Bill [Kramer] said my edges aren’t too sharp, I think what he was saying is I’m fat. I take that as fat shaming. And I’ve told him I’m trying to lose weight.
“I did not fit into the tuxedo I wore in 2018, and it was disturbing.
“But I know what he means. I’m in a unique position in that my job is to make fun of people in Hollywood and then to have them sit next to me on the stage.
“The Oscars is something that is very meaningful to people in the movie industry, and for many of them, this will be the biggest professional night of their lives. The last thing I want to do is ruin it for anyone.”
He won’t, he’s had 20 years of practice balancing jokes and celebrities.
Elvis
Now, back to the Aussies.
Ausfilm says that since the Oscars started in 1929, Australians have received 196 nominations and won 58 Oscars.
This year, Elvis director Baz Luhrmann, wife Catherine Martin and Schuyler Weiss were nominated in the best film category as producers.
Martin was also nominated for best costume design and again with colleagues Karen Murphy and Bev Dunn for production design.
David Lee and Wayne Pashley were nominated for best sound, and Jason Baird for make-up and hair styling.
Overall, the hugely lauded cinematic masterpiece, which has won awards in the UK, Australia and the US, is up for eight nominations.
When Austin Butler won a Golden Globe for best actor in January, he thanked Luhrmann and said he owed the award to a “bold, visionary filmmaker”.
Luhrmann had been on the publicity trail solidly since before and after the film launched in June last year, never being far away from a red carpet event, an awards night or a microphone to promote the film, which took two years to make.
On the eve of the Oscars, he was still taking to Instagram to praise the brilliant work of his lead actor, Butler, who gave a remarkable interpretation of the 1950s icon, and his cinematographer of 20 years, Mandy Walker.
He told the Seven network – which has exclusive broadcast rights for Monday’s show – if Ms Walker were to win, she would become the first woman to win the coveted award in the 95-year history of the Oscars.
“We all understand the Oscars race … in the end someone is going to win … in the moment [on stage] you’re nervous,” Luhrmann said.
If he wins best film, as one of the five producers, he said the most important thing would be to thank everyone in just 45 seconds!
Tar
Cate Blanchett is the only Australian actress to win two Academy Awards, for The Aviator in 2004 and for Blue Jasmine in 2014.
Having been in more than 70 films and 20 stage productions, a best actress Oscar would cap off a stellar season, after she won best actress for Tár at this year’s Golden Globes, at the BAFTA and at dozens of circuit critics awards shows across the US.
An Ostrich Told Me The World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It
After Brisbane film student Lachlan Pendragon’s film was nominated for Best Animated Short Film in January, he says it changed his life.
He made the film over 10 months in his living room and then suddenly he got a nod alongside four other talented filmmakers.
“It was never a thing we expected, it was just this snowball effect.
“Even just submitting it to the Oscars was a big deal! We never even thought that would happen! So yeah, you’re just sitting there, kind of nervous, going: “It can’t possibly be happening”! But here we are,” he told pop culture website Novastream.
Who is performing and presenting?
Music superstar Rihanna will perform her Oscar-nominated song Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
GRAMMY-winning musician Lenny Kravitz will deliver the In Memoriam performance.
Presenters include Riz Ahmed, Emily Blunt, Glenn Close, Jennifer Connelly, Ariana DeBose, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, Troy Kotsur, Jonathan Majors, Melissa McCarthy, Janelle Monáe, Deepika Padukone, Questlove, Zoe Saldaña and Donnie Yen.
Tweet from @LukeHearfield
Climax of the night
The Hollywood Reporter has done the hard work and used a mathematical model to work out who is most likely to win an Oscar.
“Some years will be like last year, when 19 of the 20 mathematical favorites from my model went on to win Oscars.
“Some years will have more upsets.
“We’re about to find out which type of year it is.”
