The Oscars ceremony lands a pretty bad reputation. Annual complaints incorporate some variation of “It goes on for three and a half hours, the speeches are too long, the performance numbers are pointless and the montages are uninvolving.”
But for those who tune in religiously, the Oscar ceremony has actually had a surprising amount of vitality and reinvention. The show’s willingness to hire new producers each year gives it a chance to incorporate elements that work and try out new ideas. Last year saw the first time the show has used two hosts (Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin), while the 2008 ceremony introduced brief “tributes” given by actors to each nominated actor before each of those four awards.
This year, producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer have a few tricks up their sleeves, not the least of which is the dynamic and unconventional pairing of youthful hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway, who each bring a set of entertaining skills (not to mention more youthful viewers).
The show’s theme has been labeled as a journey through movie history, much in the same way the 2008 show was structured around the process of making a movie (where Best Cinematography was presented before Best Film Editing to coincide with the order a film is traditionally put together). What that means exactly is only being hinted at, though Cohen told the Hollywood Reporter this week it will involve a “virtual reality set.”
The set foregoes the ceremony’s traditionally decadent and nostalgic stage design almost entirely in favor of a system that lets the appearance of the stage change constantly throughout the evening. Hollywood Reporter paints this as “a trip through Hollywood history with six or seven scenic transitions.”
In an effort to streamline the ceremony, Cohen and Mischer have omitted the slew of movie montages that sometimes feel horrifically out of place (like last year’s salute to horror movies, even though no horror movies were nominated) and have further axed the five-presenter testimonials for the lead-acting categories.
Cutting out the fat may let them be able to add some lean meat back into the show — more interactions with Franco and Hathaway and more chances utilizing the “virtual” set.
Part of the fun of watching the Oscars year after year comes from the fact that it does retain an overall skeleton — it opens with some kind of grand performance and/or a monologue, it ushers out celebrity after celebrity to talk about the industry or present an award, culminating in the lead-acting categories, the directing category and finally, the best picture of the year.
But onto that skeleton each producer and each host can graft his or her own flair, such as host Hugh Jackman’s elaborate opening song-and-dance number for the 2008 show or Billy Crystal getting carted onto the stage in a Hannibal Lecter outfit for the 1991 honors.
Franco and Hathaway, each of whom balance the other in terms of comedy, showmanship and technique, have an opportunity to blow the relatively straitlaced emcee work of last year’s Baldwin and Martin out of the water, while the producers’ new stage concepts could redesign the whole show for years to come.