First of all, there is the biggest change — the shift from five Best Picture nominees to ten. This decision has brought with it a great deal of controversy, including the accusation that it was done strictly for publicity reasons. After all, now ten films can claim that they were nominated for Best Picture each year, which will certainly help out in the advertising campaigns for those films.
The other big change is from one show host to two. In previous years, the Oscar’s were hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Chris Rock and Ellen DeGeneres, among others, and last year, Australian Wolverine-star Hugh Jackman filled the role. Jackman was generally considered a good host, but many complained about the emphasis placed upon singing and dancing in last year’s show.
This year, Jackman was asked to reprise his role, but he is busy filming a movie on location. Therefore, another new host was needed, and Steve Martin, who hosted the Oscars three times in the past, was called in. According to the show’s producers, Martin is very close friends with Alec Baldwin, and it was Martin’s idea to have Baldwin co-host the event. The word is that the two are hilarious together, and the pairing should provide an interesting new dynamic for Oscar night.
The motto of this year’s awards is “Expect the Unexpected,” as the show is hoping to keep things fresh and surprising throughout the event. According to show producer Adam Shankman, “It’s just an incredibly active set, which makes it pretty breathtaking as it starts moving around. Everything turns and flies, and is either projected on or has LED screens.”
In an effort to keep the show fluid and fun, other changes are being made as well. The presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award, for example, has been removed from the television show, and will now take place at a smaller event at another time.
According to Bill Mechanic, the show’s other producer, “They took the honoraries off the show, for the express purpose of being able to award more – to recognize more people. It takes a long time on camera to bring out a presenter, to recap somebody’s life or career, and then have them speak.”
The producers have also decided to spread the host segments throughout the show more liberally. Shankman says this is in an effort to “take away uncomfortable banter between actors reading the teleprompters, you know, with jokes that they don’t know how to land, and stuff like that.”
Mechanic echoed this sentiment. “So, if we have comedians, like in the past, Will Ferrell and Jack Black, people like that, then they’ll do their own jokes. But if it’s people like Taylor Lautner and somebody else, then we probably don’t want them to try and be unnaturally funny.”
All of these changes sound like really good ideas that will get the Oscars back on track. Hollywood’s biggest night is shaping up to be a spectacle worthy of the three-plus hours it takes to watch. With Martin and Baldwin at the helm, and the theme “Expect the Unexpected” guiding the proceedings, this year’s Academy Awards event might just live up to its own hype.
