Emilia Clarke‘s “Game of Thrones” character has long since moved on from her ill-fated husband, but former co-star Jason Momoa still has plenty of love for his onscreen queen.
Among the many memorable moments at the 91st Academy Awards was Momoa and Clarke giving “Game of Thrones” fans a fun throwback. The two Oscars presenters saw each other during the festivities, and Momoa reminded fans of his stint as Daenerys’s husband, Khal Drogo. He posted a photo of them to Instagram on Sunday night, writing, “So proud of you @emilia_clarke I love u with all my heart Aloha Drogo.”
Life after “Game of Thrones” has been good to Momoa. He most recently made a splash in the DCEU as the title character of “Aquaman.” Meanwhile, Clarke is also saying goodbye to the show. The final season starts airing Sunday, April 14 on HBO.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences hoped to have performances of all of 2019’s Oscar-nominated songs during the upcoming event, but one will be missing. Timing and logistics didn’t work out to get Kendrick Lamar and SZA on stage, a source told Variety. Alas, the show will have to go on without “All the Stars” from “Black Panther.”
The song’s Oscar nomination is one of the many nods it received this awards season. Some of its honors include Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice Movie Award, and Grammy Award nominations. Those came in addition to accolades the movie’s soundtrack as a whole garnered, including an American Music Award and another Grammy nomination.
Whether or not “All the Stars” wins an Oscar, the song is in good company. Its fellow nominees include “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” (Gillian Welch and David Rowlings); “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns” (Bette Midler and Marc Shaiman); “I’ll Fight” from “RBG” (Jennifer Hudson), and “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born” (Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper). Each will be performed during the 2019 Oscars, and there will also be a performance by Queen, the band that inspired the best picture-nominated film “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
The 91st Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC.
Variety reported today that after a Thursday night meeting with top cinematographers, Academy leadership including President John Bailey and CEO Dawn Hudson have vowed to air every awards category on the live show, which airs February 24.
This is after having lambasted on Twitter by the likes of past Oscar winners including Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, Russell Crowe and William Friedkin. And receiving an open letter signed by such luminaries as Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, and Quentin Tarantino expressing dismay at the lamebrained decision to not show the awards for cinematography, editing, makeup and hairstyling, and Live Action Short.
Bailey had previously explained that the only thing that would be left out of those awards would be “the walk to the stage,” since an edited version of the moment would be shown later in the show. That didn’t seem to appease anyone, so now we’re getting all 24 awards live.
The Academy and ABC have made a series of unpopular decisions this year in an effort to trim the show down to a mere 3 hours, including having only a few of the nominated songs performed live. And not having last year’s acting winners present. After much outcry (and, reportedly, nudges from Allison Janney and Lady Gaga, they’ve reversed themselves on every decision so far.
Last year’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner, Allison Janney, is responding to rumors that she and her fellow 2017 acting winners won’t be asked back to this year’s Oscars.
The first batch of presenters has just been announced and it doesn’t include any of last year’s acting winners. It’s been traditional for each set of winners to hand off the statuettes at the next ceremony, but it doesn’t seem to be happening this year.
Over the weekend, Janney wrote on her Instagram account @allisonjanneystyle that she is heartbroken by this evident break with precedent.
“It’s looking like they are not going to honor the tradition this year,” she wrote. “It breaks my heart.” She later deleted the post.
She was responding to commenters who wanted to know what she might wear to this year’s Oscars, since they naturally assumed she would present the best-supporting-actor category.
Last year’s other acting winners — Gary Oldman, Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell (who’s nominated again this year for “Vice”) — have yet to comment on this rumored snub. And reps for the Academy declined to respond when Vanity Fair asked them for comment.
Among the other controversial changes reportedly happening this year (besides that whole “popular Oscar” category that never happened): Some Oscars may be handed out during commercial breaks and original song performances will be limited to 90 seconds each.
New president of ABC Entertainment Karey Burke confirmed today that the show will not have a host and that she’s determined to keep the show to a “brisk” 3 hours.
After failing to secure a host, producers of this year’s Oscars have tried to whittle down the big night by (reportedly) not presenting certain awards like cinematography live. And — gasp — not having all the Oscar-nominated musicians perform during the ceremony.
They did an about-face on the last one, apparently thanks to Lady Gaga, who is nominated for Best Actress and Best Original Song.
The Academy — who reportedly wanted Queen to open the show at one point — had originally decided that only two songs would be performed on Oscar night: “Shallow” from “A Star is Born” and Kendrick Lamar/SZA’s “All the Stars” from “Black Panther,” according to Deadline.
That would mean we wouldn’t see Jennifer Hudson sing “I’ll Fight” from “RBG,” or Tim Blake Nelson reprise “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.” (Word is Emily Blunt might opt out of performing “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns.”)
Deadline reported: “The reason the Academy walked back that decision was because either Lady Gaga herself, or her reps, made it clear she felt it was completely unfair to eliminate the three songs — almost like the Academy producers were forecasting who they thought would win — and that she wouldn’t perform if a change wasn’t made. And that’s why the Academy tweeted that all the songs will be shown, even if the tunes are truncated.”
We might be hearing only 90-second versions of the songs, which means that Best Original Song performances will run less than 8 minutes, total.
And, more scandal, last year’s acting winners — Gary Oldman, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Allison Janney — have reportedly not yet been asked to present this year’s awards. Instead the Academy is rumored to be seeking “bigger stars” like Tom Hanks or Oprah Winfrey for the honor.
Let’s hope Sam Rockwell at least is invited as he’s nominated again this year!
And that all this gets sorted out before Oscar night, which is February 24.
“I got another pitch though — my co-star in ‘Fresh Off the Boat,’ Randall Park,” Wu said.
She gave Park a ringing endorsement. Not only did she describe him as “the best,” she compared him to comedian Steve Martin.
“He’s effortlessly funny the way that Steve Martin is,” Wu said. “He’s really likable and he’s so handsome.”
Wu and Park have starred together on “Fresh Off the Boat” since it premiered in 2015. They play Louis and Jessica Huang, a married couple based loosely on real-life chef Eddie Huang’s parents. They’ve both earned praise in their respective roles, including being nominated for multiple Critics’ Choice Awards each.
In spite of Wu’s support for Park, this year’s Academy Awards will probably remain hostless, according to Variety. The show was previously to be hosted by Kevin Hart, but the comedian stepped down in December after numerous old homophobic tweets resurfaced.
The 91st Academy Awards will air Sunday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC.
On Facebook, Wan called the omission a “f***ing disgrace.”
For months, he’s talked about the hard work in creating the underwater effects for the DCEU film, which was one of the reasons for the film’s many delays.
Before its release, Warner Bros. chief Toby Emmerich praised the “incredible job” that Wan and his team did on the film, which is “imagining the underwater world in a way you haven’t seen before.”
“You and your department are the unsung heroes of this film,” Wan told visual effects supervisor Kelvin McIlwain in a Facebook comment. “The fact that your VFX peers in the Academy aren’t recognizing or appreciating what we/you’ve all contributed to the film and cinema is a f–king disgrace.”
Mcllwain replied, “It was a complete shock to everyone that we are not in the final 10 films that will be presenting at the Academy VFX Bake-off.”
The films that have been announced for the VFX shortlist include a lot of Disney/Marvel films, which surely adds insult to injury.
The 10 films on the VFX Oscars shortlist:
“Ant-Man and the Wasp”
“Avengers: Infinity War”
“Black Panther”
“Christopher Robin”
“First Man”
“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“Ready Player One”
“Solo: A Star Wars Story”
“Welcome to Marwen”
At least “Aquaman” has lots of lovely gold coin in its coffer to ease the sting. It’s well on its way to becoming Warner Bros’ first billion-dollar release since “The Dark Knight Rises” in 2012.
It’s possible it could still get nominated in other technical categories.
Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 22.
The Academy of Motion Pictures is reportedly so “gun shy” after that whole thing with Kevin Hart, they might skip a host completely.
Speaking to Variety, a “top comedy agent” says that AMPAS is “freaking out” without a host in place for the February 24 ceremony.
Variety reports the Academy is “gun shy about going with someone, anyone who might be too edgy,” given what happened when Hart was asked to apologize for his homophobic tweets and instead stepped down from the gig.
Other “edgy” comedians might have some equally controversial tweets or stand-up material that would come under scrutiny, so that’s out.
Among the options being considered are not having a single host, but instead, “a bunch of huge celebs, something ‘SNL’ style, and buzzy people” which would be similar to this year’s Emmys, which was intro’d by a group including “Saturday Night Live” stars Kate McKinnon and Andy Samberg.
And then just a bunch or presenters with awkward patter, as usual?
There’s precious little time to prep anything like the elaborate openings from past hosts Jimmy Kimmel or Billy Crystal, who were given several months (instead of about two) to get ready for the show.
The more times passes, the harder it’ll be to line up a host. Good luck.
Comedian Kevin Hart just confirmed on Instagram that he’s hosting the next Academy Awards.
He posted, “I am so happy to say that the day has finally come for me to host the Oscars. I am blown away…. I will be sure to make this year’s Oscars a special one.”
It’s pretty late in the game to announce a host, for the awards, which will be held on ABC on February 24.
Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted the last two ceremonies, declined to come back for a third go-round.
Hart hasn’t made it a secret that he wanted the gig, telling Variety, “It would be something I would definitely do just to say I did it in my career. It would be great to say I had that moment.”
So, odds on him taking the stage as Black Panther? Or Black Panther’s shorter cousin?
Hart has presented at the Oscars before. Three years ago, he told ET that he’d be back as the show’s emcee one day.
His film “Night School” with Tiffany Haddish opened at number one at the box office when it debuted and marked the biggest comedy opening weekend of 2018.
So the Academy is clearly hoping all his fans will tune in to the show, which often struggles for ratings.
