Academy adapting Oscars ceremony to broadcast live from 'multiple locations'
SAG Awards 2021: The Nominees
Daveed Diggs and Lily Collins delivered the 2021 SAG Award nominations over IG Live Thursday morning.
The statuette is still golden, but the Oscars ceremony might look a little different in the pandemic era.
EW has confirmed the Academy is the latest major awards body to adapt its 2020-21 broadcast in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as the planned April 25 ceremony of the 93rd Academy Awards is set to proceed with notable changes to the typical run-of-show.
A spokesperson for the Academy says that, amid a trying year, the group "is determined to present an Oscars like none other, while prioritizing the public health and safety of all those who will participate." This will include the creation of an "in-person show our global audience wants to see, while adapting to the requirements of the pandemic" via a ceremony set to be broadcast live from multiple locations, including the show's usual venue: the Dolby Theatre. More details will be announced soon.
As previously revealed, Contagion director Steven Soderbergh will produce the telecast alongside Jesse Collins and Stacey Sher.
The move to a multi-location telecast comes after the Academy — and several other precursor awards groups — adapted their schedules and awards rollouts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic's decimation of the national movie theater system. The broadcast date was postponed to April, which prompted most industry ceremonies (including the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Golden Globes) to push back their events as well. The 2021 Oscars eligibility period was also extended from the end of 2020 through early next year to allow more time for films to be seen digitally.
Though the race remains the longest run-up to the Oscars in history, key contenders have begun to form on the precursor trail, including Chloé Zhao's Nomadland, David Fincher's Mank, Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7, Emerald Fennell's Promising Young Woman, Lee Isaac Chung's Minari, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, starring Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman — both of whom remain strong contenders in the lead acting categories.
Nominations voting begins Friday, March 5, and runs through Wednesday, March 10. Nods will be announced on Monday, March 15, followed by ABC's broadcast of the 93rd Oscars ceremony on Sunday, April 25.
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