Couples Therapy finds authentic suspense in its structure—a credit to its cinematic bona fides. “We really don’t know what’s going to happen,” cocreator and executive producer Kriegman says. “There’s a formless reality to the process where we’re trusting our gut, and then really excited to see what comes of it. That’s the joy of this filmmaking.”
Having now gone through several seasons, Kriegman and his team have a better sense of what they need to work: They see hundreds of couples—the estimate in our interview for how many they saw and considered for this installment alone is 400—and rather than outsource the casting, do it all in-house themselves. Once the ensemble is finalized, the producers give Guralnik the space to conduct her sessions and progress the therapy without interference, but do speak with her regularly during production. She’s not isolated from the process.
As Kriegman puts it, “We have conversations about how the work is going, but very much through the lens of the therapy and less through the lens of the filmmaking.”
“Never in my life as a professional have I had such close scrutiny and supervision of my work as I’ve had in the last [several] years,” Guralnik says. “I did a PhD and then I did another 10 years of analytic training…. But in every [Couples Therapy] session I have people watching the session while I’m doing it, and I have then editors and directors peering over the material and trying to understand it—and talking to me about it later, both session by session and then period by period.”
This season, Couples Therapy brought on Joshua Altman, an award-winning documentary veteran (All These Sons, Minding the Gap), as a new director. He stepped into a well-oiled machine, but also imbued it with fresh perspective. “To find couples that I felt had this push and pull of genuine love for each other, and at the same time, this dynamic between them that as an audience you’re like, ‘Man, these two should split up’—those feelings are real things that all couples go through,” Altman says. “As I watched other seasons again, I was like, ‘Okay, yeah. How can we pull that out?’”
One way was through Guralnik directly. For the first time in the series, she’s confronted with a couple she believes, to some extent, she cannot work with, and agonizes over whether to terminate the treatment. The struggles between the pair resonate, initially, as a portrait of a couple in crisis. “But [Altman] was able to say, ‘Oh, no, the story here is as much Orna’s story as it is the couple’s story,’” Kriegman says. “That was a really great insight that took the season to a place that we’ve never been before.” Adds Altman: “We have the benefit of watching things and rewatching things and starting to look at patterns and offering those to her—not as a way to steer her, but to bring up questions and to raise ideas. Sometimes she shuts them down, and sometimes she’s like, ‘That’s really interesting.’”
Welcome to Always Great, a new Awards Insider column in which we speak with Hollywood’s greatest undersung actors in career-spanning conversations. In this entry, David Alan Grier reflects on his decades on stage and screen—and how after a long Hollywood career in comedy, he is finally getting a chance to showcase his dramatic bona fides. Read the previous entryhere.
David Alan Grier never saw himself as just one thing. Coming of age as a performer, the actor admired the careers of legends like Jackie Gleason, stars known for one persona who could pull off brilliant surprises in another. “When [Gleason] did The Hustler, he was so deadly, man,” Grier says, almost in awe. “He was so bone-chilling and righteous that I always think about that—those kinds of choices. That’s what I’m about.”
Such fluidity, Grier has learned over the course of more than 40 years as a professional actor, requires patience. This is an actor who graduated from the Yale School of Drama, attending with the likes of Angela Bassett and Tony Shalhoub and rooming with the late Reg E. Cathey. He broke into movies with the celebrated stage adaptation A Soldier’s Story and Robert Altman’s Vietnam War drama Streamers, and has won a Tony Award out of four nominations for his extensive work on Broadway. Yet for the bulk of his time in Hollywood, Grier has operated as a kind of comic utility player, stealing scenes between sketch shows, blockbuster movies, and popular sitcoms—oftentimes with a handful of lines. “This business is very much about saying, Well, you can’t do that,” he says. Fortunately, Grier didn’t take the message.
That things have started changing is a credit to both Grier’s persistence and his talent. Taking on a rare dramatic screen role, the actor gave a quietly riveting, empathetic performance last fall in FX’s The Patient (streaming on Hulu) as the therapist to Steve Carell’s therapist, who’s been kidnapped by a serial killer (Domhnall Gleeson) seeking…some kind of treatment. In other words, Grier plays an imagined version of his character, appearing in fantasized sessions devised by his imperiled patient as a way of working through the terror, tedium, and trauma of his predicament. The part is anything but thin, though—Grier emerges as a nifty narrative conscience, guiding the limited series through to its affecting end. Immediately when he got the script, Grier was all in. “I really wanted to email my team after reading 10 pages,” he says with a laugh. “I had to wait a couple of hours so that they didn’t think I hadn’t read it.”
And then he was off, working on the sort of project he’d long been hoping for. “I didn’t know what people were going to say, I didn’t know how they would take it, I didn’t know how they would view it,” he says. “I just took it and ran.”
Everything Grier learned at Yale continues to guide him today. “We were trained to have careers,” he says. He wasn’t taught anything specific about screen acting, or movies and TV at all for that matter. He graduated in 1981. That same year, he made his Broadway debut in the musical The First, playing baseball icon Jackie Robinson, and eventually received a Tony nod. In 1982, he joined the company of A Soldier’s Play, as well as the Oscar-nominated film adaptation that soon followed. In 1983, he starred in Altman’s Streamers, which premiered in Venice; Grier won the festival’s best-actor award jointly with his ensemble. “I got off a really good start, but then I always felt pressure—What am I going to do next?” he says. “And no one thought I was funny. I hadn’t really done comedy, and I got the same thing at that point—they were like, ‘These casting directors have not seen you [that way],’ so I had to establish myself there.”
He felt the grind of proving himself, particularly in that new arena, as the buzzy projects started drying up. “I was very unhappy. I mean, I was doing a guest part on a TV show, struggling, or doing a play or two,” Grier says. He came out to Los Angeles, feeling “done” with New York, and filmed the pilot for a sketch comedy called In Living Color. Months went by with no news. Grier felt prepared to quit the business altogether. “I got these books on law school, and very early on, I was like, I can’t do this, this is not who I am, and this is not what I’m going to do,” he says. “And then In Living Color broke out. From then on, it was game on.”
The irreverent and groundbreaking ’90s series, created by Keenen Ivory Wayans, reintroduced Grier as he shined alongside the likes of Jim Carrey and Jamie Foxx*,* his appearances ranging from goofy to cutting to wildly unpredictable. He felt comfortable, unusually so given the new terrain, because here he found a company, not unlike what he’d experienced every day at Yale or in the stage work where he honed his craft. “We had a fucking ball,” Grier says of his five seasons on the show. He started receiving offers to do stand-up at dozens of colleges and universities. “I never really entertained the thought of doing stand-up and making that a part of my professional career,” he says. “I didn’t even have an act!” He developed one, in any case, and in all that gained financial freedom, the ability to separate what he needed to do with what he wanted to do.
When we first meet Paul Cho (Young Mazino) in Beef, he’s really busy—playing video games on his computer—and can’t be bothered with his older brother Danny’s (Steven Yeun) problems. “I’m in the middle of a game,” he hollers from his messy bedroom as his brother lectures him to pick up after himself.
Paul is a classic younger sibling in many ways, shirking financial responsibilities (he lives rent-free with his brother) and pursuing his dodgy passions (video games, working out, and investing in shady cryptocurrency). Paul could have remained a himbo caricature, but thanks to Mazino’s breakout performance, we can’t help but root for him, even when he makes questionable decisions. Even as Danny stays at the center of the story, Paul goes on his own journey, falling into a catfish relationship and then an affair with a married woman, and eventually getting out from under his older brother’s dark shadow. “Paul is definitely somebody I understand,” Mazino tells Vanity Fair. “I understand his head space and the kind of mentality where you feel like the world is against you and you’re in this bubble.”
For Mazino, who grew up in the suburbs of Maryland, he was struck by how much he related to Paul. “At a certain point I might have been Paul,” he says, “but as I continue to grow and pursue art and pursue my truth as a human, I think I morphed out of that.” Similar to Paul, who never went to college, Mazino dropped out of school, and instead went on to study at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. “Knowing, in my community where I come from, when you’re a college dropout, there’s a stigma to that,” says Mazino, who is Korean American. “So all of these things, I tried to amalgamate it into this character I was building.”
Young Mazino on the set of Beef
ANDREW COOPER/NETFLIX
THE AUDITION
Beef centers on a quickly escalating game of revenge between two strangers, Danny and Amy (Ali Wong), who first meet during a road rage incident and then begin to interfere in each others’ lives. Their actions soon affect their families, including Amy’s husband and daughter and Danny’s brother Paul.
When he sent in a tape for his audition, Mazino was back at home living with his parents in Maryland, and assumed he didn’t have a chance to join a cast that already included Yeun and Wong. Mazino auditioned for the series with a self-tape, and immediately assumed he didn’t have a chance, because of the caliber of the talent already attached. At the time, Mazino had returned to live with his parents in Maryland after about seven years of living in New York and traveling around the world. Much to his surprise, he got a call back and then later did chemistry reads with both Yeun and Wong.
When Mazino was studying Stella Adler, he was asked to write down the names of actors whose career he would like to emulate. Back then, Yeun was one of the names he listed. He calls the experience of working with Yeun and Wong “surreal” and a master class in acting, especially in improv. “That gave us the freedom to just play,” he says. “I had this trust where, no matter what I threw, they could just throw it back at me tenfold.”
THE RESEARCH
Before Beef, Mazino had just finished working on a documentary with a friend of his. His friend’s younger brother had tagged along, and their dynamic immediately reminded him of what he saw between Danny and Paul. “I had a great point of reference,” he says. “Mentally, emotionally, he’s overshadowed by his brother. That was where I based my character.”
Mazino moved to Los Angeles a few weeks before filming began. At the time, he didn’t have a computer, so he would go to the gaming cafes as part of his research, both playing games and watching how the regulars would act. “It really is a form of escapism. It’s a way to just get away from everything,” he says.
He also went to a Korean nightclub, the kind that Paul would frequent. He texted creator Lee Sung Jin about what he’d observe when it came to how the young men would dress and carry themselves. “Paul would want to try to emulate this kind of streetwear, hypebeast kind of stuff, but he’s not quite getting to that point,” he says. “He’s maybe 30% of the way. Because he grew up in the church, he’s a little awkward.” Paul’s costumes began a mix of the two. For example, he may wear a gold chain and Nike Air Force 1s, but the rest of his clothes still look like he’s coming from Korean church.
A few weeks before shooting, Lee asked Mazino to work out to get as bulked up as he could before filming, so Mazino added muscle to his fit but wiry frame. But he decided that he would hide Paul’s bigger frame for the first few episodes in the way he carried himself. “I think normally, if you go to a gym and people have that kind of physique, they’re chest is out. It’s like fuck-you energy,” he says. “But while Paul has that body, internally, he doesn’t have that confidence, for a number of reasons. So he’s still a little concave.” As the season goes on, Mazino began to have Paul walk taller as he found his own identity, like in the final scene in which he has to use his larger build to literally escape a perilous situation, leaving his brother behind.
Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes made their adorable red carpet debut! On Sunday, the “Window With a View” singer and the “Outer Banks” star arrived together at the 2023 CMT Awards — marking their first major public appearance as a couple.
Ballerini, who is co-hosting the ceremony alongside Kane Brown — wore a body-hugging corseted dress with pointed heels. It’s possible that this isn’t the only outfit the 29-year-old musician will wear this evening.
“They’re having a great time together,” the source said of Ballerini and Stokes. “Chase has been super supportive of her, and they are there for each other both professionally and in their personal lives.”
Ballerini’s boo will be supporting her from the crowd as she and Brown MC the evening. The “Peter Pan” songstress is also nominated for two awards, Female Video of the Year and Video of the Year (“Heartfirst”).
The “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat” songstress is also set to hit the stage to perform her latest single, “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too)”
“He is coming in from SNL itself and coming to introduce my performance, which I’m very excited about,” she said about the Super Bowl champion. “Anything else is a surprise.”
Ballerini also talked about bringing the girl power with her performance.
“It’s a song all about friendship and camaraderie,” she explained to ET, “and the people in your life that you just will stand up for and kind of your ride or dies.”
The 2023 CMT Music Awards airs live on CBS and is streaming on Paramount+. For more coverage of the big event, including all of the night’s winners, keep checking back with ETonline.
The Harrold and Notkin Research and Graduate Mentoring Award is sponsored by the NCWIT Board of Directors and recognizes faculty members from non-profit institutions who distinguish themselves through outstanding research and excellent graduate mentoring, as well as those who recruit, encourage, and promote women and minorities in computing. It is given in memory of Mary Jean Harrold and David Notkin to honor their outstanding research, graduate mentoring, and diversity contributions.
Dr. Mary Lou Maher joined UNC Charlotte to Chair the Department of Software and Information Systems and lead the Center for Education Innovation and the Human Centered Computing Lab. As Department Chair, she mentored faculty to increase research participation, external funding, and innovation in teaching. Dr. Maher has a long history of mentoring diverse students. She’s also encouraged the department to integrate DEI modules into first- and second-year courses.
The Joanne McGrath Cohoon Service Award is sponsored by AT&T and honors distinguished educators and staff who have effectively challenged and changed the systems that shape the experiences of women undergraduates in postsecondary computing programs. Award recipients demonstrate exceptional commitment to, and success in, creating long-lasting systemic change that improves the environment for all students who identify as women. The award is given in memory of Dr. Cohoon’s outstanding research and advocacy work to broaden and enrich women’s participation in computing.
During Dr. Patricia Morreale’s time as a professor of computer science at Kean University, where she is the Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Technology, she has worked tirelessly to create systemic change to broaden participation in computer science, focusing on both faculty development and undergraduate research engagement. Her efforts have had a significant impact on increasing the inclusion of students from historically excluded groups.
“We’re excited to recognize Dr. Maher and Dr. Morreale for their dedication to making higher ed computing programs more equitable,” said NCWIT Executive Director Terry Hogan. “Their hard work and change leadership efforts are an invaluable asset to the NCWIT community.”
About NCWIT:
NCWIT is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit chartered in 2004 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that convenes, equips, and unites more than 1,600 change leader organizations nationwide to increase the influential and meaningful participation of girls and women — at the intersections of race/ethnicity, class, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and other historically marginalized identities — in the field of computing, particularly in terms of innovation and development. (https://www.ncwit.org/)
Winning or being nominated for an Oscar can open all kinds of doors in Hollywood, but usually the buzz around an actor or filmmaker begins long before Oscar night. That’s why several of this year’s Oscar winners, like Ke Huy Quan and Brendan Fraser, already have buzzy projects debuting in the next few months, or why nominees like Hong Chau and Brian Tyree Henry are busier than ever. The Oscar class of 2023 will be hard to miss in the year ahead—here’s where to find them.
Angela Bassett
The Wakanda Forever star will appear in Netflix’s Damsel, which was filmed last year. Starring Millie Bobby Brown, the fantasy film centers on a damsel who marries a handsome prince only to discover it was all a trap. She’s also voicing a role in Laika’s upcoming film, Wildwood. The sixth season of her Fox series, 9-1-1, began airing in September but has yet to be renewed or canceled for the seventh season. —Rebecca Ford
Cate Blanchett
When I spoke to Blanchett for Vanity Fair’s Awards Insider cover story just months ago, she told me, “I think it’s time to be quiet,” adding she’d just said no to a couple of things and is taking a much-needed break after the consuming experience of making Tár. But she’d already gotten a few juicy parts in the can, including a lead in Alfonso Cuarón’s upcoming Apple TV+ thriller, Disclaimer, opposite Kevin Kline, and parts in the studio comedy Borderlands (also featuring fellow 2023 Oscar nominee Jamie Lee Curtis) and the Australian drama The New Boy. Plenty more Cate to enjoy for now. —David Canfield
Austin Butler
His Apple TV+ series, Masters of the Air, which reunites him with his Elvis costar Tom Hanks, won’t premiere in time for this year’s Emmy season, but will likely be out sometime this year. The best-actor nominee may be able to lay low for a bit, but Dune: Part Two, in which he plays the villainous Feyd-Rautha, will arrive in theaters November 3, preceded by a huge press tour—but maybe less chatter about his voice this time. —Katey Rich
Hong Chau
Between The Menu, The Whale, and the Cannes premiere Showing Up (hitting US theaters next month), best-supporting-actress nominee Chau had a huge 2022. When I interviewed her last fall, she didn’t seem too concerned about keeping up the pace, though, after such a breakthrough year. Still, one of the most in-demand actors right now can’t stay out of the limelight entirely: She’s part of the massively starry company for Wes Anderson’s summer release, Asteroid City, as well as the second of Yorgos Lanthimos’s two completed projects—And, led by Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. —D.C.
Ana de Armas
The rom-com/thriller Ghosted, which reunites the best-actress nominee with her Knives Out costar Chris Evans, debuts April 21. She’s also recently been filming Ballerina, a John Wick spin-off in which she plays a young assassin bent on revenge. Keanu Reeves recently confirmed he’ll have a cameo appearance in the film, which doesn’t have a release date yet. —K.R.
Kerry Condon
The Banshees actor will appear in the thriller In the Land of Saints and Sinners which also stars Liam Neeson as a newly retired assassin. Netflix has the rights to the film, which is in postproduction. She’ll next film horror thriller Night Swim, in which she’ll star opposite Wyatt Russell. The Universal film is centered on a hidden source of terror found in a backyard swimming pool. —R.F.
Jamie Lee Curtis
The newly minted best-supporting-actress Oscar winner has a role in the aforementioned video game adaptation Borderlands, costarring Cate Blanchett and written by The Last of Us’s Craig Mazin. She’s also in the starry ensemble of Disney’s summer adventure, Haunted Mansion, a new adaptation of the theme park ride that surely has 2023’s best credit block: “with Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto as the Hatbox Ghost.” —K.R.
The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert)
The mega-winners of Oscar night, who took home prizes for original screenplay, directing, and best picture, haven’t announced what they’ll work on next when it comes to film, but they are attached to a TV project, a half hour comedy called Mason for A24 and Showtime. The pair will direct and executive produce, and Minari star Steven Yeun is also attached. The duo signed two notable first-look deals: with A24 for TV and with Universal for film. We’ll wait with bated breath to see where this wild ride takes them next. —R.F.
Colin Farrell
Farrell is currently shooting the HBO Max series The Penguin in New York in which he plays the infamous Batman villain. He previously played the role in the 2022 film The Batman. He’s not officially attached to any other films, but recently told Vanity Fair he hopes to work with his After Yang director Kogonada again soon, and is also attached to a film that will be directed by Andrew Haigh about Norman Mailer and Jack Henry Abbott. —R.F.
Todd Field
The closest thing we’ll probably ever get to a Tár sequel, the short film The Fundraiser, played during a special event at the Berlin Film Festival and may very well never be seen again. Given that there were 16 years between Tár and Field’s previous feature, Little Children, we’re not assuming we’ll hear anything soon—though if a best-director and best-picture nomination aren’t enough to get funding for whatever he wants to do next, then truly, what are we doing here? —K.R.
Brendan Fraser
The best-actor Oscar winner will be back very soon with a role in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which many are eyeing for a Cannes premiere in May. He’s also got a role opposite Peter Dinklage and Josh Brolin in Brothers, a comedy from Palm Springs director Max Barbakow. And given how often the idea of a fourth Mummy movie came up on his press tour for The Whale, we wouldn’t rule out that possibility, either. —K.R.
Brendan Gleeson
The Banshees star is busy filming Joker: Folie à Deux, the Warner Bros. Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. His character is being kept under wraps, as is much about the film, but Gleeson has said he joined the project because he was “in awe” of Phoenix’s performance. —R.F.
Brian Tyree Henry
Henry had already made the jump to big movies by the time his lauded turn in Causeway came along—on the docket, he’ll be in another Godzilla vs. Kong movie currently filming, provide a voice on the next Spider-Verse animated film, and appear in Rachel Morrison’s biopic Flint Strong. Before all that, though, we’ll get the Emmy-nominated Atlanta star in another intriguing TV role, leading Tom Rob Smith’s FX thriller, Class of ’09, bowing on Hulu this May, just in time for Emmy eligibility. —D.C.
Judd Hirsch
The 88-year-old Fabelmans star made Oscar history with the 41-year gap between his first and second nominations, both for best supporting actor. He’s currently got the lead role in the indie comedy iMordecai, in theaters now and headed to VOD in April, and he’s part of the large ensemble on the Apple TV+ series Extrapolations, which debuted March 17. He’s also got a key but memorable role in the upcoming Showing Up with his Fabelmans costar Michelle Williams. Is it possible the oldest of this year’s acting nominees is also the busiest? —K.R.
Stephanie Hsu
Hsu just returned to the SXSW film festival in Austin for the premiere of her next film, Joy Ride, a raunchy comedy that Lionsgate will release this summer. She also is reuniting with her Everything Everywhere All at Once costars Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan for Disney+’s new action-comedy series American Born Chinese, which hits the streamer in May. She will also appear in The Fall Guy, Universal’s movie adaptation of the 1980s adventure TV series that will star Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. In it, she’ll play an assistant to a movie star, who is being played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. —R.F.
Barry Keoghan
Before his Banshees of Inisherin performance captured the hearts of Oscar voters (and much of Twitter), Keoghan made a little cameo in a little movie called The Batman as a little character called the Joker. Nothing is confirmed yet, but his entrance into that cinematic universe is expected to only mark the beginning of his tenure. In the meantime, he’s just been cast opposite Paul Mescal in the Gladiator sequel (more on that shortly), and he also replaced Mescal in the Mubi-backed Bring Them Down. More immediately, he’s leading Emerald Fennell’s upcoming Promising Young Woman follow-up Saltburn, a surefire end-of-year play. “It’s going to be fecking amazing,” Keoghan told me last year on Little Gold Men. And does a “fecking” ever lie? —D.C.
Martin McDonagh
Martin McDonagh may have once referred to himself as the “laziest filmmaker in the world,” but he’s proven pretty prolific of late, directing seven (!) actors to Oscar noms in five years and earning a handful himself during that time period. No doubts at this stage that most of Hollywood wants to work with him. No details on what’s next for the Banshees of Inisherin writer-director; for now, his Olivier-winning play Hangmen just made its world premiere in his beloved Ireland. —D.C.
Paul Mescal
If a breakout star came out of this year’s nominations—and with so many first-time nominees, there were a lot of candidates—best-actor nominee Mescal may have emerged as the biggest choice of all. He’s caught the eye of Ridley Scott and Richard Linklater—he’s leading both of their upcoming films, though the latter’s will be over a decade in the making when all is said and done—and already with buzzy, awards-season-bound projects directed by the likes of Andrew Haigh and Garth Davis locked in and likely set to debut later this year. “Gladiator was one of my favorite films growing up. It’s beyond strange,” Mescal told me of starring in Scott’s sequel. “This all feels more dumbfounding than the Oscar nomination to be honest.” —D.C.
Bill Nighy
The Living star and best-actor nominee spent part of 2022 filming Role Play, a thriller starring Kaley Cuoco, and he lent his voice to the animated feature Dragonkeeper, a Spanish and Chinese coproduction set to debut in theaters and eventually on Hulu in the United States. If that seems like a thin slate for a usually very occupied actor, maybe his Proust Questionnaire for Vanity Fair contains the answer; asked about his current state of mind, Nighy replied, “Easy, baby.” —K.R.
Ruben Östlund
The Swedish director has been very vocal about his next film, The Entertainment System Is Down. He says he’s currently working on the script, which will center on a group of passengers aboard a plane that has lost its entertainment-system capabilities. “When iPads and phones start slowly charging out, these modern human beings have to deal with being bored,” he told Vanity Fair. —R.F.
Sarah Polley
Awards season is a lot. If your film premieres at a fall festival—as Polley’s Women Talking did—you basically sign up for a six-month marathon of cross-continental campaigning, split between the movie’s release, two phases of Oscar voting, and the many voter-outreach efforts squished in between. Polley was so fascinated by what she observed on the trail that she’s decided it’ll be the subject of her next movie—and having observed her a bit over the past year, I personally can’t wait to see what spin she puts on it. The news has been leaking rather quietly, but she confirmed her plans to me on Oscar Sunday, and well, winning an Oscar ups your cachet a bit. Let’s hope she goes all in. —D.C.
Ke Huy Quan
Quan has been open about his fears that his best-supporting-Oscar win could be the end of his comeback story: “I had a conversation with my agent,” he told Variety. “I’m so worried that this is only a one-time thing.” For audiences, however, Quan will be back very soon: He reunites with his Everything Everywhere All at Once costar Michelle Yeoh in the Disney+ series American Born Chinese, debuting May 24, and will return to Disney+ for the second season of the Marvel series Loki. He also has a role opposite Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt in The Electric State, a Netflix adventure directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, who were producers on Everything Everywhere. As Variety wrote, ominously, the day after the Oscars, “as of today, there are no other offers on the table.” But it seems reasonable to hope that will change soon. —K.R.
Andrea Riseborough
She made To Leslie in anonymity and even experienced that movie’s release without much notoriety—but after the shock and controversy of her best-actress nomination, it’ll be interesting to see how the chameleonic British star navigates her career going forward. As has been the case for her entire life in film, things look very different from one screen project to the next: There’s an American thriller called Geechee that she’s leading, and two very different Kate Winslet projects she’s got juicy smaller roles in: the dramatic Lee Miller biopic helmed by Ellen Kuras, and the satirical HBO limited series The Palace, coming from the producers of Succession. A little bit of every shade of Andrea, just the way she prefers it. —D.C.
Steven Spielberg
Spielberg is executive producing and developing numerous projects at any time, and his upcoming work includes an EP credit on Apple TV+’s series Masters of the Air, which will star Austin Butler, and a documentary about John Williams. He’s also a producer on the new The Color Purple film and Bradley Cooper’s Maestro coming out later this year. As for what he might direct? That’s more up in the air. A year ago, he was attached to a new movie based on the Steve McQueen character Frank Bullitt that had Cooper attached, but there hasn’t been any recent news on this project. —R.F.
Michelle Williams
As you may have pieced together at this point in the list, Kelly Reichardt’s upcoming Showing Up, starring Williams—her fourth collaboration with Reichardt—has a true bonanza of 2023 Oscar nominees, with delectable supporting turns from Hong Chau and Judd Hirsch. Williams, who welcomed her third child in the fall, seems to be taking a bit of a break in the wake of the Fabelmans awards push, but based on her career thus far, it won’t be long before she’s busy again. —K.R.
Michelle Yeoh
Yeoh will soon be seen in Disney+’s series American Born Chinese, but we’ll be seeing a lot of the Oscar winner on the big screen very soon as well. She’s starring in Kenneth Branagh’s next Agatha Christie adaptation, A Haunting in Venice, which will also star Tina Fey,Jamie Dornan, and Kelly Reilly and will be released in September. And she’s wrapped work on the next installment in James Cameron’s Avatar franchise, though we don’t know much about her character on the supersecretive franchise. She’s reuniting with her Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu for Wicked. Currently filming, she’ll star as Madame Morrible in the highly anticipated two-part adaptation for the Broadway musical. —R.F.
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From unscripted moments to historic performances, this year’s ceremony had a number of highlights that kept audiences entertained throughout the entire show.
Take a look:
Topless Protester interrupts Avril Lavigne
Beginning with this totally unexpected moment when a topless woman crashed the Junos stage, Avril Lavigne didn’t hold back.
“Get the f**k off, b***h,” the singer cursed before security quickly escorted the woman off the stage.
From the very beginning, Simu Liu had us hooked, making audiences laugh when he used AI to help him create his opening monologue. Technology at its finest!
Later on in the show, Liu proved he’s a triple threat when he showed off his impressive singing and dancing skills, performing a medley of Lavigne’s greatest hits.
“This one is for you Avril!”@SimuLiu goes full Avril with a medley of her hits that even has @AvrilLavigne grabbing her phone to record the action
Another unexpected moment occurred when a pre-recorded message from Liu’s former teacher, Mrs. K, played onstage, only for everyone to find out that he wasn’t exactly the greatest student.
Simu’s teacher totally disowned (and destroyed) him: “You were always skipping class and playing games in cafeteria with your friends. Stop telling people that I’m your teacher, it makes me look bad.”
Ppl booing The Weeknd cos he couldn’t be arsed to come home and accept some awards lol #JUNOS
— Jules Sherred-He/Him – geekyjules@mstdn.ca (@GeekyJules) March 14, 2023
A Tweet From Trudeau
Lastly, ahead of the big show, Canada’s Prime Minister took to Twitter to offer our talented Canadian artists support, wishing them nothing but good luck. Thanks JT!
Get ready for Canada’s biggest night in music – @TheJUNOAwards are taking place today, and @SimuLiu is back as host. To all of the talented and creative Canadians who are nominated: Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, and good luck! #JUNOS
If you thought Paul Mescal was good in Aftersun, then just wait until you see him at an afterparty!
The 27-year-old Irish actor didn’t hear his name called at the Oscars, losing the Best Actor trophy to The Whale star Brendan Fraser, but that didn’t stop Mescal from being in a celebratory mood when he arrived at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party.
Speaking on the blue carpet to Tik-Tok correspondent Amelia Dimoldenberg, the Normal People alum appeared ready to be one of the best party people, even threatening to dance on some tables.
Even if he didn’t go home with an Oscar, Mescal still had good reason to be gettin’ jiggy with it. The critically-hailed Aftersun, in which he played a father on holiday with his young daughter, earned him widespread awards notice and positioned him as one of Hollywood’s hottest young actors, with directors like Richard Linklater and Ridley Scott lining up to cast him.
And, who knows, table-dancing might be part of his Gladiator 2 training.
Elvis star Austin Butler didn’t bring home the Oscar for best actor, but that wasn’t for a lack of support from the Presley family.
Riley Keough, granddaughter of Elvis Presley and daughter of the late Lis Marie Presley, attended the Vanity Fair Oscar party Sunday—and there was one person she couldn’t wait to run into. “I’m excited to see Austin,” the actress said, before revealing the duo had already interacted earlier that day. “I texted him this morning and said good luck, and I’m so happy I’ll see him tonight.”
Butler broke out as a bona fide movie star thanks to his performance as the King in director Baz Luhrmann’s best picture-nominated biopic Elvis. Having won multiple prizes in the leadup to the Oscars, the 31-year-old actor was viewed as one of the frontrunners for best actor. In the end, The Whale star Brendan Fraseremerged victorious on Sunday night.
“Playing Elvis made me think about the fact that you can have seemingly everything and yet still feel empty,” Butler previously told Vanity Fair. “You can have all your dreams come true and still be searching for something deeper and feel very alone. You experience a ton of public love, then you’re back in a silent room.”
Keough, at least, was far from alone when she walked the blue carpet at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. She was joined by a few of her costars from the new Amazon Prime series Daisy Jones & The Six, with Suki Waterhouse even interrupting her interview live—“just because I love you so much,” she told Keough.
Celebs gathered at the Dolby Theatre in California on Sunday night to celebrate the best of films at the 95th Academy Awards.
The Oscars, hosted by Jimmey Kimmel went (incident-less, as Kimmel highlighted at the end of the show) with strong punchlines, emotional performances, tear-jerking speeches by winners and foot-tapping dance performance.
Here are some top moments from the Oscars, this year:
Jimmy Kimmel Jokes About The Will Smith Slap (Of Course)
Host Jimmy Kimmel took aim at Will Smith’s actions last year in his opening monologue.
“We want you to have fun, we want you to feel safe, and most importantly, we want me to feel safe,” he began. “So we have strict policies in place. If anyone in this theatre commits an act of violence at any point in this show, you will be awarded the Oscar for Best Actor and permitted to give a 19-minute long speech.”
Pregnant Rihanna Stuns On The Red Carpet & Performs “Lift Me Up”
Rihanna turned heads and dropped jaws as she elegantly walked the red carpet in a stunning sheer black Alaïa gown while pregnant with her second child. She later performed “Lift Me Up” in the night during the ceremony as A$AP Rocky adorably lifted his glass in support.
Rihanna at the 95th Annual Academy Awards held at Ovation Hollywood on March 12, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/WWD via Getty Images)
— Photo: Gilbert Flores/WWD via Getty Images
Hugh Grant’s Awkward Moment
Grant’s excruciatingly awkward interview on the champagne carpet went viral as he seemed less than enthusiastic about attending this year’s awards show. When asked who he was most excited to see tonight the actor responded: “No one in particular.”
“Creed III” co-stars Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors were presenting the Best Cinematography award when they gave a brief shout-out to Angela Bassett. “Hey Auntie, we love you,” they said, paying respects to the Oscar-nominated actress.
Jimmy Kimmel & The Donkey
Jenny, who played the donkey in “The Banshees of Inisherin,” graced the Oscars stage wearing a bedazzled emotional support animal vest. “Not only is Jenny an actor, she’s a certified emotional support donkey,” host Jimmy Kimmel said. “At least that’s what we told the airline to get her on the plane from Ireland.”
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 12: Host Jimmy Kimmel speaks onstage during the 95th Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California. ()
Cocaine Bear’s Oscar Moment
Elizabeth Banks brought the titular creature from her “Cocaine Bear” to present — but unlike the movie, which featured an entirely CGI bear, this was clearly some guy in a suit.
Elizabeth Banks and Cocaine Bear speak onstage during the 95th Annual Academy Awards.
— Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Lady Gaga’s Last Minute Performance
After initially planning not to attend this year’s ceremony, Lady Gaga made a last-minute switch and decided to perform the Oscar-nominated “Take My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick”. The performance was stripped back than what Lady Gaga typically sports, with the actress and musician wearing little to no makeup and a black T-shirt and jeans.
Lady Gaga
— Photo: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
“Naatu Naatu” Performance
Bollywood superstar Deepika Padukone introduced the performance of Best Original Song nominee “Naatu Naatu” from the Telegu-language “RRR.” The performance was extremely high energy and featured dozens of dancers and vocals from Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj.
Happy Birthday At Oscars
An impromptu performance of “Happy Birthday” was conducted on the Oscar stage on Sunday night to celebrate the 31st birthday of “Irish Goodbye” actor James Martin. Martin has Down syndrome, and his awe-inspiring story from Starbucks barista to the Oscars has warmed the hearts of many.
Brendan Fraser Gets Emotional Winning Best Actor
Brendon Fraser took home the big win in the Best Actor category for his riveting performance in “The Whale”. During his acceptance speech, the 54-year-old actor became notably teary-eyed as he thanked the studio A24 and the director Darren Aronofsky for “throwing him a creative lifeline.”
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 12: Brendan Fraser, winner of the Best Actor in a Leading Role award for “The Whale,” poses in the press room during the 95th Annual Academy Awards on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
— Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Michelle Yeoh Becomes First Asian To Win Best Actress
Michelle Yeoh makes Oscar history as the first Asian to win in the Best Actress category. Yeoh said the award was for “all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight.” “This is the beacon of hope and possibility. Dreams do come true,” she added. “And ladies: don’t let anybody ever tell you, you are past your prime.”
Michelle Yeoh
— Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” Wins Best Picture
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” took home a whopping 7 out of their 11 nominations, proclaiming the film as the big winner of the night. Ultimately the cast and crew took home the coveted Best Picture category at the end of Hollywood’s biggest night.
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ cast and directors. Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
— Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Hugh Grant didn’t seem happy about being at the Oscars.
On Sunday night, the “Notting Hill” star walked the red carpet and stopped for an interview with “Countdown” co-host Ashley Graham, but things got pretty awkward.
Grant generally appeared disengaged, responding to a question about who he is most excited to see win with, “No one in particular.”
Asked what he was wearing, Grant said, “Just my suit,” and as for who designed it? “My tailor.”
Grant appears in the Oscar-nominated “Glass Onion”, but asked how fun it was to shoot the film, the actor said, “Well, I’m barely in it. I’m in for about three seconds.”
Graham asks if he at least had fun filming the the movie, to which he responded, “Almost.”
Hugh Grant just gave the most dismissive interview I’ve ever seen, it was amazing. I’m paraphrasing but: “I LOVED Glass Onion, didn’t you love being in that?” “Well I was in it for about three seconds.” “But you showed up and had fun!” “Yeah, not really.” pic.twitter.com/uMRrkNk1qQ
Hugh Grant giving Ashley Graham such a hard time in this #Oscars pre-show interview:
“Are you pulling for anyone tonight?” “No, not particularly 😐” “Did you enjoy shooting Glass Onion” “I was barely in it so…not really,” [awkward silence]
The producers of the 95th Annual Academy Awards were reminded of that old adage on Sunday: Man Plans, God Laughs. Glenn Close will now no longer present an award at the Dolby Theater, as she has tested positive for COVID, according to a report by the Associated Press.
A representative for the eight-time Oscar-nominee said that she is isolating and resting. It has not been reported who, if anyone, will replace her.
Sadly, Close’s appearance was meant to be a fun reunion between her and Harrison Ford, co-stars of the 1997 action picture Air Force One. (You can read more about that in V.F.’s report of the Oscars rehearsal.)
Two years ago, Close achieved an unusual moment of virality during the heavily COVID-restricted telecast in which she stood up and did “Da Butt.” As was later revealed, the moment between her and Lil Rel Howery was planned, but only to a degree. She knew in advance she’d be quizzed about classic hip-hop jams, but the decision to get up and dance was spontaneous.
The actress must surely have mixed feelings about the Oscars in general. (Her name having “no cigar” connotations can’t help much.) Her first Best Supporting Actress nomination came for the 1982 comedy-drama The World According to Garp. She was nominated for the same category each subsequent year, for The Big Chill and The Natural. Her first Best Actress nomination came for 1987’s Fatal Attraction, followed by Dangerous Liasons the next year. The 2011 film Albert Nobbs and 2017’s The Wife were the final Best Actress noms, and most recently was a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Hillbilly Elegy.
Last year, Lin-Manuel Miranda similarly bowed out of the Oscars telecast at the last minute when his wife tested positive for COVID. He was up for the Best Original Song category for “Dos Oruguitas” from the film Encanto. He did not win, which, in a way was lucky. When he does win an Oscar—and he will, eventually—he will achieve EGOT status. And we’d like him to be there for that, not in a hotel watching on television.
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After a year of movies and months of campaigning, the 95th Academy Awards are finally here.
This year’s top contenders include the critically acclaimed multiversal action comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once, which led the field with 11 nominations, including Best Picture, and the new adaptation of the classic anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front, which earned nine nominations, including Best Picture and Best International Feature. Presenters at this year’s awards include Andrew Garfield, Samuel L. Jackson, Donnie Yen, Sigourney Weaver, Michael B. Jordan, Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, and Pedro Pascal.
The 95th Academy Awards air on ABC at 8PM ET. Jimmy Kimmel hosts the show for the third time in his career. Here are all of this year’s winners so far: (NOTE: This post is being updated live.)
Best Supporting Actress
Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Hong Chau, The Whale Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Costume Design
Babylon Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Elvis Everything Everywhere All at Once Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Best Sound
All Quiet on the Western Front Avatar: The Way of Water The Batman Elvis Top Gun: Maverick
Best Original Score
All Quiet on the Western Front Babylon The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All at Once The Fabelmans
All Quiet on the Western Front Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Living Top Gun: Maverick Women Talking
Best Original Screenplay
The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All at Once The Fabelmans Tar Triangle of Sadness
Best Live Action Short Film
“An Irish Goodbye” “Ivalu” “Le Pupille” “Night Ride” “The Red Suitcase”
Best Animated Short Film
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse” “The Flying Sailor” “Ice Merchants” “My Year of Dicks” “An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It”
Best Supporting Actor
Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans Berry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Original Song
Tell It Like a Woman Top Gun: Maverick Black Panther: Wakanda Forever RRR Everything Everywhere All at Once
All That Breathes All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Fire of Love A House Made of Splinters Navalny
Best Documentary Short
“The Elephant Whisperers” “Haulout” “How Do You Measure a Year?” “The Martha Mitchell Effect” “Stranger at the Gate”
Best International Feature
All Quiet on the Western Front Argentina, 1985 Close EO The Quiet Girl
Best Animated Feature
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Marcel the Shell With Shoes On Puss in Boots: The Last Wish The Sea Beast Turning Red
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
All Quiet on the Western Front The Batman Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Elvis The Whale
Best Production Design
All Quiet on the Western Front Avatar: The Way of Water Babylon Elvis The Fabelmans
Best Editing
The Banshees of Inisherin Elvis Everything Everywhere All at Once Tar Top Gun: Maverick
Best Cinematography
All Quiet on the Western Front Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths Elvis Empire of Light Tar
Best Visual Effects
All Quiet on the Western Front Avatar: The Way of Water The Batman Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Top Gun: Maverick
Best Actor
Austin Butler, Elvis Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin Brendan Fraser, The Whale Paul Mescal, Aftersun Bill Nighy, Living
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Tar Ana de Armas, Blonde Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Director
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin The Daniels, Everything Everywhere All at Once Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans Todd Field, Tar Ruben Ostlund, Triangle of Sadness
All Quiet on the Western Front Avatar: The Way of Water The Banshees of Inisherin Elvis Everything Everywhere All at Once The Fabelmans Tar Top Gun: Maverick Triangle of Sadness Women Talking
The Worst Oscar Best Picture Winners
These movies won the Academy Awards for Best Picture over better, more deserving films.
The Razzies have announced their “winners” of their annual awards for the worst movies of the year. The top prize went to Blonde, Netflix’s bleak biopic of Marilyn Monroe. The film not only took home Worst Picture, it also scored the award for Worst Screenplay — ahead of other valid contenders like Morbius and Jurassic World: Dominion.
The Golden Raspberry Awards have been given out right before the Oscars every year for decades. But this year’s Razzies garnered unusual controversy, after the awards came under fire for nominating a young girl, Ryan Kiera Armstrong of the remake of Firestarter, for Worst Actress. The Razzies later apologized and removed Armstrong from contention, replacing her on their ballot with themselves for their “blunder” in nominating her. They then won their own award. (They’ve also said they will not allow minors to be nominated for Razzies in the future.
As for the rest of the prizes … they’re the Razzies. Sometimes they honor actually bad movies. (Blonde was not great, and neither was Morbius, although I’m not sure Jared Leto’s performance — which took home the Razzie for Worst Actor — was the biggest problem.) Sometimes they just take cheap shots; they gave the Worst Onscreen Couple Award to Tom Hanks and “His Latex-Laden Face” in Elvis. I don’t think Hanks was particularly good in Elvis (which is nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the Oscars) but that’s obviously not an onscreen couple? So why even give an award at all?
Here are all of this year’s Razzie winners:
Worst Picture Blonde – WINNER Disney’s Pinocchio Good Mourning The King’s Daughter Morbius
Worst Actor Colson Baker, Good Mourning Pete Davidson, Marmaduke Tom Hanks, Disney’s Pinocchio Jared Leto, Morbius – WINNER Sylvester Stallone, Samaritan
Worst Actress The Razzies, Nomination Blunder – WINNER Bryce Dallas Howard, Jurassic Park: Dominion Diane Keaton, Mack & Rita Kaya Scodelario, The King’s Daughter Alicia Silverstone, The Requin
Worst Remake/Rip-off/Sequel Blonde 365 Days: This Day & The Next 365 Days Disney’s Pinocchio – WINNER Firestarter Jurassic World: Dominion
Worst Supporting Actress Adria Arjona, Morbius – WINNER Lorraine Bracco, Disney’s Pinocchio Penelope Cruz, The 355 Bingbing Fan, The 355 & The King’s Daughter Mira Sorvino, Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend
Worst Supporting Actor Pete Davidson, Good Mourning Tom Hanks, Elvis – WINNER Xavier Samuel, Blonde Mod Sun, Good Mourning Evan Williams, Blonde
Worst Screen Couple Colson Baker & Mod Sun, Good Mourning Both Real Life Characters in the Fallacious White House Bedroom Scene, Blonde Tom Hanks & His Latex-Laden Face (and Ludicrous Accent), Elvis – WINNER Andrew Dominik & His Issues with Women, Blonde The Two 365 Days Sequels
Worst Director Judd Apatow, The Bubble Colson Baker & Mod Sun, Good Mourning – WINNER Andrew Dominik, Blonde Daniel Espinosa, Morbius Robert Zemeckis, Disney’s Pinocchio
The opening of the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday is going to be a “moment,” the show’s producers promise.
They won’t say what exactly it is – A montage? A Billy Crystal-inspired skit where Jimmy Kimmel pretends to be in all the best picture nominees? A secret performance? Tom Cruise landing a jet atop the Dolby Theatre? It will not, however, include Lady Gaga — the best original song nominee is currently in the midst of production on the “Joker” sequel.
But Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, this year’s executive producers and showrunners, are certain that it’s going to pull audiences in and keep them engaged for the duration.
Both Weiss and Kirshner are live television veterans. They’ve done the Grammys, Tonys, Emmys, the Super Bowl and even a presidential inauguration. But the Oscars is a first for Kirshner.
“There’s only a few shows on the bucket list,” Kirshner said. “I needed to go for the awards show EGOT.”
Still, it’s a job not everyone is cut out for. One might even wonder why Weiss, who was the director of the show when both Envelopegate and The Slap happened, would want to put himself through it again.
“I think part of what scares a lot of people away from what I love about live television is having to think on your feet and keep moving forward and changing despite what’s in the script,” Weiss said. “A lot of directors are all about what’s in the script. I think my energy comes from leaving that script and going forward. Any particular incident aside, I really love the thrill of live television.”
Their goal this year is to celebrate a great year of movies. And it doesn’t hurt that they have several billion-dollar blockbusters in the mix, with “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” both up for best picture. And though their involvement was decided much earlier than usual, it always ends up being a race to the finish: There’s only so much planning that can be done before they know who the nominees are.
“I really think that the nominations have put so much interesting material in front of us,” Weiss said. “We want to keep the audience who have seen these movies really wanting to see more and wanting to learn more about the creators. We’re here celebrating the movies. We’re celebrating the moviemakers both in front of and behind the camera.”
The show’s runtime is always an issue, with the goal being to stick to three hours. (“Three hours, yeah right,” Kimmel joked in his “Top Gun: Maverick” inspired promo for the show.) This year all the categories are being announced live on the show, which will also include performances of four of the best original song nominees. But they’re not sweating the runtime.
“All we really care about is that people have a great time,” Kirshner said. “There are things we can’t control. And if a speech is great, we’re not going to cut you off.”
And their plan should, say, an envelope gets mixed up, a streaker runs across the stage or a best actor nominee slaps a presenter? Well, frankly, that’s someone else’s job.
“When we do the inauguration, we don’t tell the Secret Service how to protect the president,” Weiss said. “We just make a show that entertains and keeps going. That’s our job here. We’re going to make sure it’s entertaining and keep it going.”
Academy President Bill Kramer has said there is a crisis team and security in place ready for any number of scenarios.
As for the host, Molly McNearney, who is the show’s executive producer and is married to Kimmel, she said he thrives on unexpected moments.
“When the ‘La La Land’/‘Moonlight’ thing happened I’ve never seen him so excited in my entire life,” McNearney said. “He loves moments like that. He loves to be in the moment.”
And the slap is fair game for Kimmel too.
“We’re going to acknowledge it and we’re going to move on. I think that’s what everyone wants. We don’t want to make this year about last year,” McNearney said. “It’s something we can and will address in a comedic fashion.”
Zillionaire Miles Bron builds an empire on a lie and pressures a team of influencers to help him maintain it.
By the Numbers: 32 smashed glass treasures (not including the onion itself)
The Payoff: When Bron (Edward Norton) is confronted with deceits from the past, his world literally collapses, taking an array of priceless statues and eventually the actual Mona Lisa down with him.
Score: 🔪🔪
Courtesy of Netflix.
BABYLON
At a fancy luncheon hosted by bigwigs, our leading lady takes messy revenge on Hollywood’s chew-’em-up-and-spit-’em-out legacy.
By the Numbers: 12 seconds of vomiting
The Payoff:Babylon dives nose-first into the decadence of a Dionysian era. When rising star Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) has swallowed too much, she returns it all to the industry elite in the most direct fashion possible.
Score: 🔪
Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures.
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
An exclusive cruise for the superrich capsizes following a bout of seasickness and a pirate attack.
With days to go before the 95th Academy Awards, Rebecca Ford and David Canfield make some educated guesses about what this year’s show will look like and how they’ll handle last year’s biggest controversy, the slap.
Rebecca Ford: I think it is safe to say that there will be a lot of scrutiny of this year’s Academy Awards broadcast. The past few years have been bumpy—the COVID-altered 2021 ceremony was followed by last year’s many layers of controversy, from the slap to the inclusion of the “fan-favorite award,” which went to Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead. I think we’d all like to forget about that one.
The Academy has brought in new leadership—CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang—along with veterans to produce and host the show. They’ve been hinting about what we can expect from this year’s show, but I would guess they still have a couple surprises up their sleeves. Let’s start with the biggest lingering question, and maybe the show’s biggest hurdle: David, what are you expecting them to do about the slap?
David Canfield: When I attended the Oscar nominees’ luncheon last month, I was surprised by how directly and forcefully Yang addressed what happened last year—communicating directly to the Academy’s selections for 2023 that the handling of that whole fiasco was unacceptable, and that they’ve learned from it. I sensed in her tone a broader commitment to smoothing out some rough edges that’ve been evident on the broadcast for years, as you note.
In short, I think the main response to the slap, as it were, will actually be pretty invisible: Going back to Oscar basics to devise a show that leaves little room for chaotic outbursts, and more for doing what Hollywood does best: celebrating itself. They’ve even got a “crisis team” on hand, and I’ve heard that the dinner table layout employed last year (which allowed Smith to more easily crash the stage) is being replaced by the traditional theatrical layout. So if you want to rush up, better have an aisle seat!
That’s not to say we won’t hear anything. Judging by Chris Rock’s recent Netflix-special ratings and our own internal barometers, public interest in the slap’s fallout remains high and you can count on Jimmy Kimmel—an old pro when it comes to Oscars hosting, who very much fashions himself as a voice for the casual viewer—to hit it hard. In preshow interviews, he’s stayed vague and a little glib about how he might respond, which is to be expected. Indications are that he’s not going to really lean into it in his monologue, though—and as a comic’s comic, we’ll see what kind of stops he can pull out in the process.
To zoom out a bit, Rebecca, you spoke with Yang for our Awards Insider issue about coming into the Academy at such a fraught moment. In the context of this year’s show, what did you sense about how she and Kramer are seeing things for this coming ceremony, and beyond?
Ford: During my chat with Yang, she promised a “slap-free” show, but she also made it clear that the goal was to move forward and not harp on the past. Kramer also recently went on Puck’s podcast and stated that the crisis team is there so that they can take action, should anything dramatic happen. One of the main criticisms last year of the slap was that there was no action taken after it happened. “We have to make a decision and we have to act quickly,” Kramer said. “It’s a live television show, and we have to be able to pivot and do something in real time, and now we’re set up to make those decisions.”
Say you’re playing a word association game and someone gives you “Oscars.” Somewhere in the first five words you might venture—statues, awards, Billy Crystal—will be the phrase “red carpet.” It’s such a ubiquitous element of the entertainment industry’s biggest awards show that E! built an entire franchise around it. Not to give too much of a glimpse behind the curtain here at VF.com, but we know how you search for awards show fashion—and there are two particular words that get you there.
Yet the Oscars are betting this year that a champagne carpet might be a change worth investing in. At a ceremony outside the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday, host Jimmy Kimmel, Academy CEO Bill Kramer, and Academy president Janet Yang were on hand for the rollout of the arrivals carpet, which this year will be a distinctly muted champagne/sand/beige shade. Kimmel was ready with a joke about the carpet that, perhaps inevitably, referenced The Slap: “People have been asking, ‘Is there going to be any trouble this year? Is there going to be any violence this year?’ And we certainly hope not,” he said. “But if there is, I think the decision to go with a champagne carpet rather than a red carpet shows how confident we are that no blood will be shed.”
It’s possible the production team will shed more light on the change at a press conference later on Wednesday, but they’re well aware of the precedent they’re breaking. According to ABC, the Oscar arrivals carpet has been red since 1961.
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As anyone who has entered the Vanity Fair Oscar party knows, the red carpet is a state of mind, even if said carpet is green-and-white striped or a particularly lovely peacock blue. Odds are you will still see a lot of TV hosts referring to the “red carpet” on Oscar Sunday out of force of habit, and we can only hope that anyone who was planning to wear a champagne-colored gown got some fair warning so they don’t risk blending into the background.
The main question this raises, though, is how many other changes are in store, as the Oscars continue their seemingly endless efforts to tweak traditions and gain new viewers. A new carpet is a much better gambit than, say, eliminating some categories from the telecast, or inventing new categories that are awarded by bots. Maybe the champagne carpet is a preview of potential other changes to come: subtle, classy, something you might not even notice at first.
Or maybe it’s just fixing something that wasn’t broken in the first place—another Oscar telecast tradition we may not be rid of yet.
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At the Academy Awards last year, Riz Ahmed dedicated his award for the live-action short The Long Goodbye, made with director Aneil Karia, to “everyone who feels like they don’t belong.” But because of the Academy’s decision to hand out eight awards before the actual broadcast, he was speaking to only a half-full theater.
The Academy has already reversed its decision about relegating certain awards to the preshow, but many filmmakers still fear that the three Oscar shorts categories, which have boosted the careers of everyone from Jim Henson to Martin McDonagh, might eventually get booted from the Oscar telecast altogether. The categories have actually become a haven for celebrities, with Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar both making shorts that qualified for Oscar consideration. J.J. Abrams, Alfonso Cuarón, and Malala Yousafzai all produced nominated shorts this year, but none of the other celebs ultimately got nods, which suggests that the shorts categories—for now, at least—still mostly belong to up-and-comers.
“These three categories don’t resonate with the wider audience,” admits Anders Walter, an Oscar winner who’s back in the race this year with live-action short nominee Ivalu. “Nobody knows about the films, and they definitely don’t know about the people behind them. Big names like Taylor Swift are a great way for the Academy to maybe find a way to keep the attention on these categories, so they don’t risk leaving the show one day.”
Kobe Bryant is still the most famous Oscar shorts winner, for 2017’s Dear Basketball. Celebrity is clearly not a sure path to a nomination—and a nomination is not exactly a shortcut to riches, either. “There are no guarantees,” says actor Colman Domingo, who cowrote the Oscar-qualifying animated short New Moon with his husband, Raúl Domingo. “You have to be a part of it because you love it and you want this story to exist.” Though the rise of streaming has introduced new buyers for short films, like Disney+ and Apple TV+, filmmakers suspect they will remain largely a labor of love. “I’m very selfish,” says Cuarón, who coproduced nominee Le Pupille. His chief criteria for supporting a short? “I want to see that film.”
Cuarón has Hollywood connections that may have helped Le Pupille get seen, but he faces some impressive competition. The 15 nominated shorts represent a wide swath of storytellers who will be competing as equals. Says two-time Oscar winner and Ivalu coproducer Kim Magnusson, “I have to congratulate everybody who opted in to see the films and has done a great job of watching and voting with their heart and maybe not buying into a lot of the publicity.”
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