Oscars: Glenn Weiss To Direct Academy Awards For 6th Straight Year; Still Awaiting Word On Whether Show Will Have A Host

No big shock here: Veteran director Glenn Weiss will be returning to helm the Oscars for the sixth straight year.

The producers of the 93rd annual Academy Awards, Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh, made the announcement this morning, while further emphasizing that this year’s pandemic-affected broadcast will have a look like no other before. Some of those details — including a ban on Zooms, so popular with other Covid-era shows including Golden Globes, Critics Choice and the upcoming truncated SAG Awards — were revealed in Thursday’s letter to nominees. The producers now have teased even more with the hiring of Weiss.

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“Our plan is that this year’s Oscars will look like a movie, not a television show, and Glenn has embraced this approach and come up with ideas of his own on how to achieve this. We’re thrilled to have him as part of the brain trust,” Collins, Sher and Soderbergh said in a statement.

Weiss has directed numerous live televised events, including five previous Oscars shows, for which he won two Primetime Emmys, and 19 Tony Awards shows, which earned him three directing Emmys. Weiss’s additional directing credits include this year’s multi-network Inaugural Night special Celebrating America, the Democratic National Convention, The Kennedy Center Honors, Billboard Music Awards, BET Awards, Peter Pan Live!, Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, Primetime Emmy Awards, Live from Lincoln Center, Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular, Garth Brooks, Live from Las Vegas and the American Music Awards.

Weiss created a viral moment during the 2018 Primetime Emmy Awards when he called his girlfriend Jan Friedlander to the stage, took a knee and proposed.

One huge missing piece of the Oscar puzzle still remains who will host — or, even more pointedly, if there will be a host. Surprisingly, there has been no word on that yet from the producers, and with only five weeks to go until the big night, it is highly unusual to still be in the dark on this aspect so close to the telecast. ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel was the last host the Oscars had, for both the 89th and 90th ceremonies. The Academy and ABC skipped the formal M.C. component the past two years.

Weiss directed all of those shows, so he clearly is experienced to go either way. If the host were to be a comedian, as is the common way to go, that choice normally would have been decided long ago and the person or persons likely would be deep in preparation for what this year could be a crucial part of this most unusual Oscars. Then again, this is definitely not a normal year for the Academy Awards. Stay tuned.

The 93rd Oscars will be held on Sunday, April 25, at L.A.’s Union Station and the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. ABC will air the ceremony live coast-to-coast starting at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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